Lynx’s online tools for offline dating

Lynx does something smart and very “of its time.” It takes the messy, awkward first 20 seconds of talking to someone offline, and it turns that moment into a mobile toolkit.

BBH London releases a second round of mobile “pickup tools” for Lynx’s “Get In There” campaign. The promise is simple. Give young guys digital tips, tricks, and small utilities that help them make the leap from online confidence to real-world interaction. The tools are built as icebreakers you can actually use in the moment, not just a brand message you nod at and forget.

The idea in one line

Turn “offline dating” anxiety into a set of mobile utilities that create an opening.

What the toolkit looks like

The campaign centers on a suite of mobile experiences backed by video content. Three apps sit at the heart of the set: “Say Cheese,” “Spin The Bottle,” and “Perfect Man Revealed.”

Say Cheese plays with the “take my photo” moment to create a surprise reveal.

Spin The Bottle gamifies group energy and removes the “who do I choose” tension.

Perfect Man Revealed reframes a quiz into a playful personal reveal.

The pattern matters more than the specifics. Each tool is designed to create a socially acceptable reason to start an interaction, then let the person take it from there.

Why this works as marketing, not just “a funny app”

Most brand campaigns try to persuade with claims. This one tries to equip with utility.

  1. It inserts the brand into behavior, not media.
    If the tool gets used, the brand is present at the exact moment the customer cares, not ten minutes later in a recall survey.
  2. It makes “digital to physical” a real bridge.
    A lot of digital work stops at clicks. Here, the mechanic is literally about translating screen confidence into real-world action.
  3. It scales with video and gets remembered through the gag.
    The utility is the hook. The humor is the memory device. Video content becomes the distribution layer that makes a niche behavior hack feel like a mainstream campaign.
  4. It is brand-consistent without being product-heavy.
    The “Lynx Effect” idea is not explained. It is implied. The campaign behaves like an accomplice to confidence, which is exactly what the brand wants to stand for.

What to borrow if you build mobile experiences

Start with the awkward moment

Pick the one moment people avoid because it feels risky. Then design a tool that reduces the social friction in that moment.

Make the utility the hero

If the only payoff is “branding,” people drop it. If the payoff is a usable social script, they try it once, and that is often enough to create talk value.

Design for respect and consent, even when the creative is cheeky

When you play in dating and social dynamics, the difference between playful and creepy is not subtle. Build mechanics that keep choice and comfort with the other person, not tricks that corner them.

The deeper point

This is early evidence of a direction many brands move toward. Marketing that ships as tools, not just communications.

Instead of asking for attention, the brand earns a place in real life by being useful in a situation people actually want help with.


A few fast answers before you act

What is Lynx “Get In There” trying to do?

It aims to help guys get offline and start real-world interactions, using tips, tricks, and mobile tools as icebreakers.

What makes these tools different from standard mobile ads?

They are designed to be used in the moment, not just consumed. Utility first, branding second.

Which apps are part of the toolkit?

“Say Cheese,” “Spin The Bottle,” and “Perfect Man Revealed.” Each is designed to create a simple opening for real-world conversation.

What is the reusable marketing lesson?

If you can turn a customer’s friction point into a simple tool that helps them act, you move from awareness to behavior.

What is the main risk with this kind of idea?

If the mechanic crosses into manipulation, it backfires. The tool must stay playful, optional, and respectful.

Coca-Cola: Where Will Happiness Strike Next

A vending machine that behaved like a brand promise

In global FMCG marketing, the simplest activations often travel the farthest when the “idea” is visible in one glance. Coca-Cola’s Happiness Machine is a clean example of that kind of instantly understood storytelling.

A Coca-Cola vending machine was transformed into a happiness machine delivering “doses” of happiness.

How the Happiness Machine mechanism worked

The mechanism was a familiar object with an unexpected behavior.

A vending machine is supposed to be transactional. Insert money, get a product. By breaking that script and delivering more than expected, the machine turned an everyday moment into a surprise experience that people immediately wanted to share.

The physical interface did the heavy lifting. No explanation was required because the “before versus after” was obvious in real time.

Why the surprise felt contagious

Surprise creates attention, but generosity creates warmth.

The experience worked because it did not feel like a trick. It felt like a gift. That distinction matters. People are happy to share content when it makes them look human, not gullible.

And because the moment happened in public, reactions became social proof. Other people saw it. Then they gathered. Then the story grew.

The business intent behind “doses” of happiness

The intent was to make Coca-Cola’s “happiness” positioning tangible in a way advertising rarely can.

Instead of describing a feeling, the brand staged it. The vending machine became a repeatable format that produced real reactions. Those reactions became content, and that content extended the experience far beyond the original location.

What to steal for your next experiential idea

  • Use a familiar object. If people understand the baseline instantly, the twist lands faster.
  • Break a script with generosity. “More than expected” creates goodwill and shareability.
  • Design for public reaction. The audience is not only the participant. It is everyone watching.
  • Make the brand promise physical. If your positioning is emotional, create a moment people can feel, not just read.

A few fast answers before you act

What is “Happiness Strike” in Coca-Cola terms?

A surprise activation that delivers an unexpected positive moment in a public setting, designed to be witnessed and retold.

What is the core mechanic?

Trigger a small, delightful interruption of routine, then let the crowd reaction and sharing behavior spread the story.

Why does surprise travel so well?

Because it creates a clean narrative. Normal situation. Unexpected twist. Human reaction. That structure is easy to capture and share.

What can brands steal from this?

Keep the setup simple, make the payoff instantly legible, and design for spectators as much as participants.

Blu Dot: The Real Good Curb-Mining Experiment

Twenty-five great chairs appear on New York City curbs, free for the taking. Some are quietly GPS-enabled. Then a camera crew follows the trail to see where “free design” actually goes.

“Curb-mining” is the act of finding furniture and art on the streets. Blu Dot decided to conduct its own curb-mining experiment. On November 4, 25 Real Good chairs were dropped around NYC, free for the take. Many were GPS-enabled. Watch the film to see what happened.

How the experiment is staged

The mechanism is deliberately simple. Give away something that normally has clear value, place it in the exact context where curb-miners hunt, then track movement to learn how quickly people claim it, how far it travels, and what stories people attach to it once it is “rescued”.

In urban retail and design-led consumer brands, street-level seeding works best when the giveaway is designed as a story people can retell, not just a free item people can take.

Why GPS changes the meaning of “free”

Without tracking, this is just generosity. With tracking, it becomes a narrative engine. The chair is no longer only an object. It is a moving plot point that creates suspense, location hops, and a human follow-up that turns a giveaway into a documentary.

Definition-tightening: curb-mining is not “dumpster diving”. It is the practice of taking items left out on the curb before they enter the waste stream, which is why the find can feel legitimate and even communal.

What Blu Dot is really buying

This is brand meaning built through behavior. The chairs prove that modern design can live outside showrooms, and the film turns that proof into a piece of shareable content that travels further than a poster ever could.

What to steal for your own product-seeding play

  • Seed with intent. Give away something that is unmistakably “worth taking”.
  • Make the context do the targeting. Place the product where the right behavior already exists.
  • Capture the human aftermath. The owner stories are where meaning and memorability come from.
  • Design for repeatable proof. Track, document, and package the journey so it becomes content.

A few fast answers before you act

What is curb-mining?

Curb-mining is the practice of finding and taking usable furniture or objects left out on the street, typically before they enter the waste stream.

What did Blu Dot do in this experiment?

They placed 25 Real Good chairs around NYC for free, with many chairs GPS-enabled, then documented what happened as people took them.

Why add GPS tracking to a giveaway?

Tracking turns a giveaway into a story. It lets the brand show the journey, not just the drop, and it creates a documentary-style narrative that people will watch and share.

What makes this different from a normal stunt giveaway?

The follow-through. The value is not only in the moment of discovery, but in the documented trail and the human stories that emerge afterward.

What is the main execution risk with street seeding?

If it feels staged in a manipulative way, people reject it. The giveaway has to feel authentic to the street context and respectful of public space.