Soul & Science : #96: Hinge CMO and President Jackie Jantos | Long-Term Thinking in a Short-Term World
SHOW NOTES
In a world obsessed with instant results, Jackie Jantos makes the case for brand building that lasts.
From Coca-Cola to Spotify to Hinge, Jackie has spent two decades shaping brands that endure by focusing on cultural insights, inclusive teams, and work that actually serves audiences. Now, as President and CMO at Hinge—the dating app “designed to be deleted”—she’s proving that long-term growth comes from products that deliver real outcomes.
In this episode of Soul & Science, Jason Harris sits down with Jackie to explore why usefulness beats flash, how empathy and courage guide her leadership, and why staying patient pays off in brand building.
Key Takeaways:
✅ Design for outcomes, not vanity metrics—Hinge optimizes for “great dates,” not swipes
✅ Big insights upstream fuel creative ideas that can scale globally
✅ Credibility-rich programs compound more than week-long activations
✅ Empathy and courage work best as operating systems inside the company
✅ Long-term brand consistency beats short-term distraction every time
Memorable Moments:
💡 “What better way to encourage people to try your product than to be a product that really works?”
💡 “I get most excited upstream—at the insight—when it feels unique and true.”
💡 “Not every brand needs another stunty activation. Put resources where they’re genuinely useful.”
💡 “Empathy and courage mean saying the hard thing, even if you botch it the first time.
”Brought to you by Mekanism.
From Coca-Cola to Spotify to Hinge, Jackie has spent two decades shaping brands that endure by focusing on cultural insights, inclusive teams, and work that actually serves audiences. Now, as President and CMO at Hinge—the dating app “designed to be deleted”—she’s proving that long-term growth comes from products that deliver real outcomes.
In this episode of Soul & Science, Jason Harris sits down with Jackie to explore why usefulness beats flash, how empathy and courage guide her leadership, and why staying patient pays off in brand building.
Key Takeaways:
✅ Design for outcomes, not vanity metrics—Hinge optimizes for “great dates,” not swipes
✅ Big insights upstream fuel creative ideas that can scale globally
✅ Credibility-rich programs compound more than week-long activations
✅ Empathy and courage work best as operating systems inside the company
✅ Long-term brand consistency beats short-term distraction every time
Memorable Moments:
💡 “What better way to encourage people to try your product than to be a product that really works?”
💡 “I get most excited upstream—at the insight—when it feels unique and true.”
💡 “Not every brand needs another stunty activation. Put resources where they’re genuinely useful.”
💡 “Empathy and courage mean saying the hard thing, even if you botch it the first time.
”Brought to you by Mekanism.
Soul & Science
Does marketing live in the heart, or in the head? Should you trust your instinct, or your integers? If the answer is both, should you lead with one more than the other? As a creative agency, Mekanism has been asking these questions of ourselves and our clients for over 10 years. Join co-founder and CEO of award-winning creative agency Mekanism, Jason Harris, on his quest to answer these questions with the world’s leading marketers from the brands we’ve all come to love. Named CEO of the Year by The Drum Magazine, Jason will draw from his experience during these easily digestible 20-minute episodes to explore the Soul of these famous brands and the Science of staying relevant, exploring how they’ve become culture defining emblems in our modern world.
Brought to you by Mekanism
Brought to you by Mekanism
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