Manchester City and Tinder Swipe Right on Each Other

A look at the Tinder/Man City blimp that helped announce the partnership. (Photo via Mancity.com)

In the game of who can win Tinder’s partnership, it looks as if Manchester City was able to take the early win ahead of this weekend’s Manchester derby.

Last year, Manchester United and Tinder had conversations about partnering up over United’s sleeve sponsorship but talks never formalized into an agreement.

Now, United sees its biggest rival team up with the dating app in a multi-year partnership.

To announce the partnership, the club and app created a City-branded blimp to soar over Manchester, proclaiming the #perfectmatch between the two.

As part of the partnership, Tinder will switch its colors across its social platforms to sky blue as they show their support for City in the build-up to derby.

The deal, which is Tinder’s first significant foray into the world of sport, will also see City’s men and women’s first teams as well as New York City FC included.

For Manchester City, the deal gives them the opportunity to deepen their brand awareness and relationships with fans in a unique way.

“Tinder is a huge global platform which, just like football, is bringing millions of people together every day all around the world,” said Tom Glick, City Football Group’s Chief Commercial Officer. “Together with Tinder, we have a great opportunity to explore how we can combine Tinder’s significant appeal and reach with our global audience to create even more relationships in a new, fun and creative way. We believe this will be a perfect match for Tinder and for City.”

For Tinder, the deal allows the app to capitalize on its user’s love for football.

“Tinder’s global presence and highly engaged user base gives us a unique understanding of what people all over the world are passionate about,” said David Wyler, Tinder’s VP of Partnerships. “And they’ve made it clear that they have a love for sports, particularly football.”

Over the course of the deal, app users and football fans from around the world will benefit from a range of exciting and unique fan engagement activities, such as exclusive access to games, once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, and stadium events.

As more teams and clubs try to grow their brand in new ways, look for more partnerships like these to emerge.