Hily Encourages Daters to Look Beyond Pictures in a New Campaign

The dating app praises compatibility over looks when seeking a match

Las Vegas, March 20, 2025 — As TikTok’s “March theory” makes a comeback, people expect to fall in love, and dating app Hily unveils its first-ever spring ad campaign, “Look Beyond Pictures.”

According to a survey by Hily, 80% of people don’t look past a person’s first profile picture before liking or skipping. The campaign challenges this habit, reminding daters that true compatibility matters more. The ad draws a parallel between a picture-perfect film set and real-life dating, inviting users to take Hily’s Icks & Clicks compatibility quiz.

“Dating happens in real life, not in perfect pictures. We want people to trust their instincts, look for real connections, and focus on how they feel with someone — rather than chasing the filtered idea of perfection so prevalent in apps and social media,” says Julia Kolesnyk, Head of Brand & Communications at Hily. “Happy dating is about finding someone who truly clicks with you, and that’s exactly what we strive to help our users with at Hily.”

The campaign was developed by Hily’s internal team and produced by AMO Pictures. It supports Hily’s Icks & Clicks compatibility feature, updated earlier this year. In 2024, Hily revamped its brand platform to promote authentic and fun dating instead of treating it as a numbers game. The team aims to bring fun and ease back into dating, reminding users that the process was never meant to feel overwhelming or stressful. The new tagline, “Date as you are,” reflects this shift.

“For a long time, we focused on product and user acquisition. Over the past eight years in the market, we’ve often heard in interviews that people choose Hily because the experience they get feels more real and authentic. That has organically become the foundation of our brand strategy and shapes the experience we want to champion — making dating feel natural and rooted in real connections,” says Dmytro Kononov, CMO & Founder at Hily.

The “Look Beyond Pictures” campaign launched on March 18 and will run for eight weeks across various digital platforms, reaching Gen Z and Millennial daters in the United States.

About Hily

Hily (pronounced like ‘highly’) is a dating app designed to connect singles with new people while supporting them in remaining authentic. Short for “Hey, I Like You,” it invites users to have fun and not look for a perfect match. By encouraging everyone to date as they are, Hily is breaking one of the biggest curses of online dating — feeling pressured to hide your true self. Praising self-exploration, self-acceptance, open-mindedness, and inclusivity, the app helps people put real connections first and keep competition at bay by unlocking their unique, fabulous selves. With features like icebreakers, compatibility checks, messaging, Major Crush, and zodiac synastry, Hily helps users express who they really are and connect in genuine ways.

Launched in 2017, Hily has become one of the top 5 dating apps in US app stores, with over 35 million users worldwide.