Courting customers
Austin-based Bumble and Serena Williams serve up Super Bowl 2019 commercial

Austin-based dating and networking app Bumble seeks to score a marketing touchdown February 3 with its first-ever Super Bowl ad.
The TV ad will kick off a year-long campaign called “The Ball Is in Her Court,” designed to empower women to make the first move in life, love, and business. The campaign stars tennis pro Serena Williams, who’s been tapped as global adviser for the woman-centric app “to reinforce the brand’s mission to end misogyny and empower women around the world.”
“Society has taught us as women to kind of sit back and not necessarily be the first one to speak up. We want to take that and flip the story,” Williams told Reuters.
“We are letting people know we are not afraid,” she added. “We no longer want to cower. We want to stand up.”
The spot will air during the first half of CBS’ broadcast of the Super Bowl LIII matchup between the Los Angeles Rams and the New England Patriots.
Bumble hasn’t divulged how long the ad will be. Whatever the length, the commercial won’t be cheap. This year, the cost of broadcasting a 30-second Super Bowl spot on CBS reportedly exceeds $5 million.
Earlier this month, Bumble posted a video teaser of the Williams ad, which was produced by an all-female creative team and crew. “Partnering with Serena Williams has been a dream of mine since we launched Bumble, as she is one of the most inspiring women in history and a shining example of someone making the first move in all facets of her life,” Whitney Wolfe Herd, founder and CEO of Bumble, says in a release. “She is a role model, a mom, an entrepreneur, and a fierce athlete. She is the epitome of strength, integrity, kindness, empowerment, and everything Bumble stands for.”
Williams says she wouldn’t have achieved the success she had if she’d let fear of making the first move hold her back.
“Like Whitney Wolfe Herd, I am a firm believer in striving to achieve greatness, as every single one of us holds the power to write our own stories,” Williams says in a release. “I look at my daughter and know it is my duty to pave a powerful path for her, and as Bumble’s global adviser, I can encourage her and women everywhere to think like a champion, define their lives and, ultimately, embrace the power we have within.”