Anheuser Busch Inbev SA's Bud Light Promo Hooks Up With Dating Site

Anheuser Busch Inbev SA

will reprise its Whatever, USA, promotional campaign this year, hooking up with the dating site Tinder to round up contestants. The campaign was confirmed by Anheuser in February, and will select 1,000 Bud Light fans and send them to an undisclosed town for a weekend party with celebrities. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/whatever-usa-returns-for-an-encore-performance-in-2015-300038970.html But Adweek reported Friday that Anheuser will enlist IAC/InterActiveCorp's

Tinder dating service to entice contestants. http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/bud-light-partnering-tinder-populate-town-whatever-usa-163820 "There's a lot of synergies between the Tinder audience and the audience we're looking for," Hugh Cullman, director of marketing for Bud Light told Adweek. Tinder, launched in 2012, currently has a user base of about 23 million, which may double by 2016, according to a recent estimate by Maxim Group's John Rippy. IAC also runs Match.com as well as Ask.com, About.com and Citysearch.com among other properties. Last year's Whatever USA contest, aimed at 21 to 27-year-old beer drinkers, sent winners to Crested Butte, Colorado, and drew mixed reviews from the town's 1,487 residents. http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_26404271/crested-butte-up-whatever