How Tinder Told the Thoroughly Modern Tale of a Woman Swiping Right Around the World

Girl meets boy. Girl travels the world with boy. Happiness ensues. Tinder's ad for the paid version of its dating app, Tinder Plus, follows one woman as she travels to some of the most romantic locations with her new online beau. Given its relentless pace, the 90-second ad was one of the most logistically challenging for Magna Carta, which produced the video for Tinder. Dating in the digital age, it is safe to say, is certainly different than what our parents experienced. One minute the heroine's at a football match in London's Wembley Stadium, and the next thing you know, she's in front of the Louvre in Paris. "It all sort of began as an experiment, seeing how much information we could throw at an audience all at once," says the video's director Matthew K. Firpo. Magna Carta used quick flash cuts featuring a series of iconic landmarks including Paris' Eiffel Tower, London's Big Ben and Istanbul's Blue Mosque to highlight the distance the woman traveled—"Otherwise, she could have been anywhere," says Magna Carta's founder Maximilian Guen—set to the Broncho tune "Class Historian." Says Firpo: "We had some songs in mind going into the edit and then just sort of stumbled onto this perfect, bouncing song. We fine-tuned the flash-cut technique just messing around in our studio." Four cities, including New York, were shot across 10 days. "We immediately gravitated toward the most dynamic, metropolitan and romantic cities that we could think of," says Guen, executive producer. "We were knocking off nine to 10 locations per day with a small team of local fixers, and every other day was a travel day." This was used to highlight one of Tinder Plus' unique features: swiping left or right on individuals in far-away places. Istanbul might not seem an obvious choice, but Guen says the team was drawn to the vibrant colors of the Grand Bazaar. "The hot air balloons in Cappadocia were also a big selling point for us," he says. The video also aims to combat the perception that Tinder is losing favor with women. "We've heard about women having great experiences on Tinder every day," Guen insists, noting that nearly half the app's user base is female. "We wanted to amplify this." Message received. Read more about (and watch) all of this year's Watch Awards winners: • 16 Programming Winners • Programming Spotlight: R/GA's Soaring, Viral PSA About Love • 6 Talent Winners • Talent Spotlight: Joel McHale, Indefatigable Host of The Soup • 9 Production Winners • Production Spotlight: Tinder's Tale of Modern, Globe-Trekking Love This story first appeared in the Aug. 17 issue of Adweek magazine. Click here to subscribe.

Performance Marketing

How Tinder Told the Thoroughly Modern Tale of a Woman Swiping Right Around the World

Globe-trekking video shot in 4 cities and 10 days

Tim Baysinger

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Tim Baysinger