Blurring the Lines with Maggie Gillespie at Match Group

To celebrate cuffing season, I spoke with Maggie Gillespie at Match Group , the parent company to ARCHER , Hinge , OkCupid and Tinder . Maggie Gillespie joined the company in 2022 after working at 爱德曼 and DKC .

Tell me about your career journey up until this point. How did you get where you are today?

I spent the first five years of my career at PR agencies, which I'm really grateful for. Working at an agency gives you the chance to dive into all aspects of the job, get your hands dirty, and figure out how to multitask. It teaches you to be creative and scrappy with PR angles. The goal at a PR agency is often to secure as much press for a client as possible, and that really helped me understand how to generate visibility and raise awareness for a company.

After that, I moved to Match Group, which was my first in-house job. It’s been a great experience, as I’ve been able to take a step back and be more strategic for the company. Now, I focus on getting the smartest press for the company, rather than chasing the most headlines, which was more of a priority when I was at an agency.

I think my career has evolved well. My agency experience taught me a lot about press, what makes a story, and the value of media relations. Then, my time at Match Group has helped me become more strategic—always thinking about what makes the most sense for the brand. Moving from agency to brand side really felt like a shift from quantity to quality.

Another thing that’s really driven me is that I’ve been lucky to have people advocating for me at every stage of my career. My boss now, who brought me to Match Group, was actually my boss at DKC, in my very first role out of college. She has been an incredible mentor. Having someone who not only supports you but also helps guide your instincts and ensures you're progressing in your career has been invaluable. I’ve been fortunate to have several people like that throughout my career.

When people hear the term public relations, they often think about consumer communications and event or talent management. Can you share a bit more background on what the role of a corporate communicator entails?

I think the goal is ultimately the same, whether you're in consumer communications or corporate communications: you want to make your company look good and ensure people understand the value your company brings. The main difference is the audience you're targeting.

For consumer communications, the goal is to reach consumers and get them to use your product—whether that’s downloading the app or engaging with your service. In corporate communications, though, my target audiences are different. I’m focused on investors, regulators, and other tech industry professionals.

The channels we use to reach these audiences are also different. For instance, when I’m speaking to publications read by investors, it’s important for them to understand not only the product but also the company’s business strategy, leadership, and vision. With consumer communications, the focus is more on the product itself and how it benefits the consumer. Unlike in corporate communications, consumers don’t necessarily need to know about the broader business strategy, just how the product can meet their needs.

So, while the goal remains the same—building understanding and a positive perception of the company—the audiences and the messages tailored to them are what differ.

You are on the corporate communications team at Match Group, which is the parent company to Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid and several other leading dating apps. What does your day-to-day look like, and how do you collaborate with the individual brands??

My day-to-day involves talking to press about the work that each individual brand is doing, but I approach it by stepping back and highlighting the overall strategy that runs across all of them. For example, if Hinge releases a feature that solves a particular problem, and Tinder releases another feature addressing the same issue but in a different way, as the portfolio communicator, it’s my job to be able to explain both features to a reporter, ensuring they understand each one individually.

More importantly, I also want them to grasp the broader strategy behind the problem these features are solving. It’s about showing how Match Group as a whole is addressing industry challenges, while also highlighting how each brand remains unique in the way it serves its specific audience. Ultimately, all of our brands are solving similar problems, but in ways that are authentic to each of them and their individual user bases.

There’s a lot of messaging to keep track of, so I really need to understand the ethos and messaging for each brand and product. I make sure to know the products inside and out, so I can connect the dots and communicate them effectively.

Last year, APCO's survey found that 80% of Gen Z believe that a company should speak out, take action or advocate on current events and issues if it's important to employees, customers, or relates to their business. How do you at the Match Group level decide what causes or initiatives to champion?

The two main lenses we use to guide all of our advocacy work are:

1. Does it align with our business? There are many challenges in the world, and you can't tackle them all. We focus on issues that directly relate to our business, ensuring that our involvement makes sense and supports our objectives.

1. Will it be meaningful? Simply speaking up for the sake of speaking up isn’t enough anymore. If you're advocating for a specific community, your efforts need to drive real change. We always ask ourselves whether our actions will have a tangible impact.

When we evaluate issues through these two lenses, it’s usually very clear whether or not we should engage. A great example of this is when the Violence Against Women Act was up for reauthorization a few years ago. We got involved because it directly aligned with our business—domestic violence can be an issue in romantic relationships. One in four women will be the victim of violence from a partner during her lifetime. We? partnered with the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) to put our resources behind advocating for the legislation’s passage. We also launch campaigns across our dating apps asking users to call their representatives and senators to ask them to support the legislation. In the end, the law was passed. It was a clear and meaningful cause, and it was a no-brainer for us to be involved.

What are the biggest challenges and opportunities you see in 2025 for the dating app category from a communications marketing perspective??

We have a big opportunity to educate people about our business, our business model, and why we do what we do. Right now, there’s a lot of skepticism toward corporations in general, and people often assume that all businesses are out to take advantage of them. The dating app industry is especially affected by this, with many people misunderstanding the true motivations behind our work. Social media can amplify this, with people speaking about our business without fully understanding our business model.

Next year, I’m excited to tackle this issue and continue working on resetting these misconceptions. For example, many people assume that we rely heavily on ad revenue, thinking we want to keep users scrolling on the apps to serve them more ads. In reality, ad revenue is a very small part of our business, usually less than 2-3% of our revenue. We don’t have anything to gain by keeping people swiping endlessly. Our true focus as a company is on creating meaningful connections—helping people go on dates and form lasting relationships that lead to marriages and families. That’s why I show up to work every day, and I believe it’s why everyone at our company does too.

Some people might say we just want to keep people on the apps to make money, but the truth is, if the apps aren’t working for users, they won’t stay. They won’t continue paying for subscriptions or using the service. The way our business model works is actually based on creating positive outcomes for people. When someone finds their partner, they tell their friends about it, and that’s the best form of marketing we can have. If they come back to the app later, it’s because they had a good experience, and that benefits our business in the long run.

What advice would you give to someone that wants to work in communications?

My biggest piece of advice for anyone wanting to get into the industry is simple but fundamental: read the news. Whatever field you're interested in, stay informed. For example, I work in corporate communications, so I read a lot about what other companies are doing and the current economic landscape in the U.S. I interact daily with reporters from publications like The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and Axios. To do that effectively, I need to be familiar with the stories these reporters are already covering.

The more you understand what’s happening in the media and what makes a good story, the more successful you’ll be. Reporters will be much more receptive to your pitches if you have a solid understanding of their coverage and the types of stories they’re interested in.

Rapid Fire Questions:?

What’s your favorite song right now? Opendoors by Jitwam

What’s the last book you read? Freedom is a Constant Struggle by Angela Davis, and Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe

Who’s one person in your industry that everyone should go follow? Eleanor Hawkins at Axios . I find her Axios Communicators newsletter incredibly valuable.

In a world that is chronologically online, what offline activities do you enjoy? I'm really into hobbies and always looking for new ones to try. Right now, I'm focused on learning how to surf. I took a few surf lessons before it got too cold in New York, and when I head to Florida for Thanksgiving, I'll take more lessons since it's warmer down there. I'm excited to keep working on it!

If you could meet one person for coffee, who would it be? Amanda Gorman

What is one word you would use to describe 2024? Frenetic