MDC Partners (NASDAQ: MDCA) agency 72andSunny has been awarded the Entertainment Grand Prix at this year’s prestigious Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
The Grand Prix – the highest award level an entrant can receive in a single category – recognizes 72andSunny’s extraordinary work with Match Group to launch its “Swipe Night” campaign, an original branded content experience that has transformed the dating experience for millions of users.
The post-apocalyptic, choose-your-own adventure experience integrated short video streaming into the app for the first time in Tinder’s history. Each week, users were asked to swipe left or right on various clips – choices that then determined who users could match with in the future and offered new conversation starters between prospective pairs.
By reshaping the impact of the repetitive “swipe,” 72andSunny gave the platform’s main action new meaning. “Swipe Night” embodies the future of brand marketing; digital, powered by unrivaled creativity, and supported by rigorous data, insights, and analytics.
“Swipe Night has had an incredible week at the Cannes Lions Festival. We couldn’t be prouder that the Entertainment Jury selected 72andSunny as the winner of its distinguished Grand Prix prize, following several Silver and Bronze Lions for the work in other categories,” said Mark Penn, Chairman and CEO, MDC Partners.
He added, “The campaign proves the real-world impact of marketing that marries best-in-class creative talent with modern technology and further validates the investments we have made at MDC in empowering our agencies to drive innovation for their clients.”
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The impact of Swipe Night on Tinder’s user base is unmistakable: the campaign earned 4 billion impressions, and drove a 26% increase in matches between users over a typical Sunday night.
The series garnered higher viewership than some of television’s most popular shows, such as Saturday Night Live and ABC’s The Bachelorette, and its premiere drew four times the viewership of the pilot episode of HBO’s Gen Z hit Euphoria.
Overall, Swipe Night boosted Twitter engagement by 1,640%.
“Swipe Night channels Tinder’s spirit of spontaneity to transform what the dating experience looks like for the modern user and we’re thrilled to see it receive a Grand Prix for Entertainment at this year’s Cannes Festival of Creativity. This work was also recognized in several other categories including Media, Digital Craft, Mobile, Brand Experience & Activation and Social & Influencer,” said Matt Murphy, Global Co-Chief Creative Officer & Partner, 72andSunny.
Murphy also notes, “We are so proud of how our work showed up for all of our brand partners. It’s a true testament to the relationships we’ve built and the focus on making creativity that wins.”
Ranked 6th in The Drum’s 2020 World Creative Rankings, “Swipe Night” has also won accolades across many of the industry’s top award shows for its creative use of technology, data, and branded content, including the 2020/2021 Clio Awards, the 25th Annual Webby Awards, the 2021 D&AD Awards, The 2020 Cresta Awards, ADC 100th Annual Awards, 2020 AICP Post Awards, 2020 ANDY Awards, Adweek Experiential Awards, Epica Awards, 2020 Gerety, and 2020 One Show, among others.
