Free to Date

As dating apps increasingly put connection behind a paywall, the cost of putting yourself out there has never been higher. From subscriptions to boosts to premium filters, modern dating often asks users to pay just to participate. Free to Date positioned Facebook Dating as a fundamentally different alternative, one that removes financial friction and brings dating back to what it should be: human, open, and accessible.

SpecialGuest partnered with Facebook Dating on a multi-market campaign across Austin and Dallas, launching out-of-home, social, and online video. The work appeared on campuses, in bars, across city streets, and throughout social feeds.

Free to Date takes aim at the hidden costs of modern dating with a simple, provocative truth: connection shouldn’t come with a receipt. Using the visual language of dating app receipts, the campaign called out familiar frustrations, paying to flirt, paying to see mutuals, paying to avoid getting ghosted, and flipped them into clear, benefit-led statements.

The work showed up in highly relatable moments, from late-night bar encounters to campus walkways, reinforcing the idea that with Facebook Dating, core dating features like matching, mutual friends, and shared interests are available without cost. By pairing humor with cultural insight, Free to Date reframed “free” not as a compromise, but as a feature worth choosing.