If you were on Tinder in Austin on Saturday, you may have come across a sneaky -- if brilliant -- viral marketing campaign.
Timed perfectly with SXSW, it appears that the marketing minds behind the new film Ex Machina decided to use the popular dating app to raise awareness about the sci-fi thriller.
As reported by Adweek, it looks like the marketing team from the film created a Tinder profile for Ava, a character in Ex Machina that is part human, part android.
In the film, Ava is played by Swedish actress Alicia Vikander. Using photos of Vaikander from the film, the crafty marketers appeared to have created a Tinder bot that asked hopeful swipers questions about what makes a person human, where they would like to meet and what attracts them to Ava.
After answering the questions, the user was directed to an Instagram account promoting the film.
As luck would have it, Ex Machina made its North American debut at SXSW on Saturday.
We reached out to Tinder and A24 Films, the U.S. distributor of the film for comment, but hadn't heard back as of press time.
Marketing users in the right place
Choosing SXSW as a launching place for this kind of viral marketing campaign is a stroke of genius. Not only does it target potential viewers for the film -- the typical SXSW audience, who is likely to be tech savvy and impressed by smart marketing -- is a perfect hook.
It's likely Tinder wouldn't approve of using its platform in this way. The company has shut down fake accounts for far more noble causes in the past.
It's also possible this sort of promotion might not work in a different context. Tinder already has a problem with spambot accounts, if users have to also be on the lookout for marketing bots, some of the appeal of the service could disappear.