Rapper Coi Leray Holds Court for Tinder Matchmaker

Need help deciding whether to swipe left or right? Tinder’s got you covered.

The brand engaged rapper Col Leray to help introduce Matchmaker, a new feature that lets friends and relatives chime in on potential dates and give advice and guidance through the app.

She appears in a fantastical :60 set in a royal court. Potential suitors endure a very modern, tongue-in-cheek grilling, fielding queries about their streaming habits and spewing bad romance rhymes in an effort to score.

Mattress on the floor = rejected? That disqualifies half the loft-dwellers in SoHo from finding true love!

“Handing your phone over to the friend group was the original vibe check,” Coi says in campaign materials. “Obviously, you want your friends to like whoever you’re crushing on, and Tinder Matchmaker is a fun way to get the bestie seal of approval.”

Mischief @ No Fixed Address teamed up with Pretty Bird director Calmatic to create the commercial. It follows the agency’s spirited passion plays for the brand, and channels the visual elan Calmatic (aka Charles Kidd II) displayed for Mailchimp and the NBA.

“For years, singles have asked their friends to help find their next match on Tinder, and now we’re making that so easy with Tinder Matchmaker,” says brand CMO Melissa Hobley. “Tinder Matchmaker brings your circle of trust into your dating journey and helps you see the possibilities you might be overlooking from the perspective of those closest to you.”

So, let Mom and Auntie pick your dates. What could possibly go wrong?

As for casting Leray, “We wanted someone that appeals to the next generation of young daters,” Dylan Wagman, ACD at Mischief, tells Muse. “She’s unapologetically herself and someone who really values her friendships. We actually cast one of her best friends to star alongside her to keep the vibe on set authentic.”

Her song “Players,” with its on-point lyrics about relationships, plays at the end—but what’s up with the costumed royal weirdness?

“We’re essentially bringing the whole Matchmaker experience to life—friends getting together to judge potential matches who’ll perhaps one day be entering into their circle of friends,” Wagman says. “It’s a colorful, fun, futuristic court of popular opinion that mixes the familiar and surreal.”

Any BTS stuff to share?

“Yanking our left-swiped suitors out of frame over and over and over again had us half-laughing, half checking to see that they were alright,” he says. “They were fantastic and unscathed, and we love how those moments amplify the spot.”

CREDITS

Tinder
Faye Iosotaluno, COO
Melissa Hobley, Global CMO
Stephanie Danzi, SVP, Global Head of Marketing
Philip Price Fry, VP Communications
Marielle Donahue, Head of Culture and Social
Rodrigo Fontes, VP Global Marketing
Devin Colleran, Global Brand Director
Melenie Becerra, Global Brand Marketing Coordinator
Rachel Lewis, Director, Global Media
Kyle Fagan, Senior Media Manager, North America

Mischief @ No Fixed Address
Greg Hahn, Co-Founder & CCO 
Bianca Guimaraes, ECD & Partner
Kevin Mulroy, ECD & Partner
James Leake, Associate Creative Director 
Dylan Wagman, Associate Creative Director
Kaitlin Kehoe, Art Director
Patrick LaBelle, Copywriter 
Will Dempster, EVP Production
Jeff McCrory, Head of Strategy
Ed Gunn, Group Strategy Director
Oliver McAteer, Head of Development
Kerry McKibbin, President & Partner
Tyler Harris, Managing Director 
Taylor Jerome, Account Director
Maddy Vonderhaar, Senior Account Executive 

Flying Television
Lori Levine, Founder
Rebecca Horn, Talent Executive 

Production: Pretty Bird
Calmatic, Director
Jeanne Stawiarski, Executive Producer
Tracy Hauser, Head of Production
Melissa Larsen Ekholm, Line Producer

Editorial: Arcade
Sila Soyer, Executive Producer
Dave Anderson, Editor

Post FX
Andrew Cravotta, Producer