Motto

Founded by the creator of Grindr, Motto is an exclusive, elevated, and inclusive hookup app for the gay and queer community focused on cultivating deeply satisfying experiences.

Services

Brand Name
Brand Strategy
Brand Identity
Verbal Identity
Merchandise

The TRUFFL

Make a Statement. Have a Motto.
Motto is the first gay dating and hookup app to position sex positivity as premium, exclusive, and aspirational.  

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Process

Over an eight month discovery process, Truffl engaged in deep research through consumer studies, focus groups, interviews with prospective users, and workshops with the Motto team. Through this process, we uncovered deep dissatisfaction with legacy apps found to be toxic, addictive, and wasteful of time and energy. We also dove deep into the personal story of Grindr's founder, who sought the opportunity to develop an app that would resolve some of the negative cultural impacts of that service with this new app and brand. These findings informed a holistic business design across all aspects of Motto's brand and offering.

Business Model

We led business model development workshops in which we identified white space for a more premium gay dating app that verified every profile to reduce catfish on the platform and encourage more positive interactions. Furthermore, we identified a series of premium features that would improve consumer experience by helping users find ideal matches with less wasted time and energy.

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Brand Strategy

Motto's brand strategy is build on the purpose of placing a premium on authenticity based on the belief that quality connections are made only when individuals are real about their intentions and desires. The brand's positioning is rooted in combatting Grindr, the dominant competitor in the space, by emphasizing its premium feature set that addresses the complaints many users have on that platform. Finally Motto's personality is aspirational, rebellious, and playful -- perfectly blending naughty and nice qualities inherent in its offering as a more friendly dating and hookup app.

Brand Identity

Motto's brand identity is notable for icon created from an intervention in the TT of the company name. Each T represents the male symbol. The coming together of both symbols represents two individuals coming together for a good time. The brand's rich color palette provides sophisticated relief from its competitors' bright, in-your-face primary colors. The brand's type system is bold, yet minimal in order to demonstrate the app's curated experience and exclusive positioning. A collection of brand merchandise and advertisements builds upon Motto's position as a premium gay lifestyle brand.

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Brand Name & Voice

Motto's brand name is memorable and familiar, representing the brand's call for individuals to share their authentic desires, or their "motto," in order to spark quality connections with others. The brand's voice blends provocative, playful puns with confident and succinct prose through a series of taglines and long form copywriting.

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We came to Truffl with very little about our brand identity figured out. Raphael walked us through a very thorough process to help us identify what made us unique. He helped develop our brand identity and aligned us internally. We’re so happy with the final brand identity and brand book. Raphael and his team went above and beyond to get us here. Raphael was so passionate about our company and brand that we felt like he was part of our team. Thanks Truffl!

Joel Simkhai, CEO & Co-Founder MOTTO