New Dallas-Based Tech Platform Brings The Bachelorette and Bloggers to Deep Ellum

At this point, it’s not unusual to see a brand activation in action in Dallas. Most Deep Ellum visitors probably didn’t even bat an eye to see rows of millennial women doing side planks on bright orange matts outside of Jade + Clover on Main Street this past Sunday. But this particular event, featuring a Topo Chico mocktail station, offerings from a blogger’s new activewear line, and a recent Bachelorette contestant, was far more carefully and technologically curated than most thanks to Dallas-based Pairr, which, after successful launches Fort Worth and Austin, will expand to New York City and Houston later this year.

The modern experiential marketing platform was co-founded by Zach Jones, Garrett Greene, and Tinsley Merrill, the latter of which is an Southern Methodist University graduate and former staffer at the influencer marketing company, rewardStyle, where her main focus was matching brands with the right influencers. That was 2017, just as social media influencer marketing had become truly mainstream, but Merrill had an idea for how to make brand and blogger partnerships even more meaningful.

“I was seeing all these influencers monetizing through affiliate links and retail, but whenever I’m making a real connection with a brand or influencer, it’s usually in person,” Merrill says. “I’ll meet a blogger at an event and then follow them on Instagram.”

A chance meeting with Jones and Greene led to the 2018 launch of Pairr, a platform that connects its members with invite-only events from brands they would have a genuine interest in. They’ll also help brands add experiential event elements that cater to Pairr’s curated guest list.

“So rather than a push model of marketing, where you cast a wide net, we created a pull model, where you can actually find out what consumers are interested in and then layer in those experiences with the brand,” Merrill says.

The software officially launched in September of 2018 and Pairr’s first event took place with Red Bull on SMU’s campus in December of that year. “That kind of just immediately put us on the map not only at SMU and in Dallas, but also in the brand community,” Merrill adds.

Pairr hosted 48 events last year, including “Empower Texas” at Neiman Marcus’s downtown store, with a panel of female entrepreneurs including Catherine Lowe, Sol Society’s Taylor Madison, and the bloggers behind Dallasites101, along with activations from BeautyBio (which offered GloPro facials), Alice + Olivia, and Trish McEvoy.

“We created a way for Neiman Marcus to really be able to get to know that millennial women market,” Merrill says.

Next up, a Galentine’s Day event with Lushra, Bumble, Topo Chico, and Rent My Wardrobe that promises to be highly interactive and Instagrammable. Until then, feel free to relive this Sunday’s “New Year New Routine” event, which connected wellness-focused Pairr members with a Vive Fitness personal trainer, Connor Saeli of The Bachelorette and the upcoming Sael Wellness, blogger One Small Blonde’s new activewear line, Jade + Clover’s photogenic succulent wall, and a serious workout.