How an Intern Doubled Dating App Thursday’s Weekly Downloads With a $35 Budget

What do start-ups and interns have in common? Both need to produce results fast and cheap. To do this they need to feature inspired creativity, as one marketing intern recently discovered when she participated in some major attention-grabbing stunts while working with the recently relaunched dating app Thursday. Currently studying for a master's degree in management at the University of Bath, Anya Jackson found herself working with the app and its digital creative lead, Jess Wreford, as part of her studies. The app, which has a history of running such stunts since being founded in 2018 as Honeypot before its rebrand earlier this year, assigned Jackson the brief of gaining as many downloads as she could on a budget of no more than $35 (25 pounds) per activation. This budget is standard for Thursday, whose founders launched the app by running stunts that generated over 25,000 downloads combined within its first month, each for less than the set $35. The startup has since branched out to include out-of-home and digital campaigns within its marketing strategy, but social media attention continues to be a major source of brand recognition. Grabbing attention The first eyebrow-raising idea was realized following the sponsorship of the Bournemouth 7s sport and music festival, which Jackson had been working with the marketing team on activating, giving her a feel for their marketing. Following this, founders Matthew McNeil and George Rawlings set targets for the whole team across downloads and active users. Thursday's stunt at the Bournemouth 7s sport and music festival. With one day to stage something to meet those targets, Jackson and Wreford discussed possible ideas for what they could achieve. “We were already running ads and we had billboards and bus shelter posters out at the time, so we wanted to do something on the ground and this was on a Tuesday—so it had to be on Wednesday,” Jackson said of the first stunt’s creative conception and its limitations. I was branded ‘the most famous intern on LinkedIn,’ which made me laugh.Anya Jackson Thursday’s founders had initially run stunts by simply writing messages on cardboard that would be posted to social media—Anya initially discovered the business when her sister came across one of their stunts online. “We decided on this as the best approach and ran down to the recycling bins in our office to find the best pieces,” said Jackson. This would lead to both Jackson and Wreford composing a sign, which read: “Two girls, One app, Get your head out of the gutter. Single? Download Thursday,” which they displayed while walking outside Liverpool Street Station in London. Hinge Users Break Up With Their Dating Profiles in the App's New Ad Jackson admits that the pair were disappointed by the initial response, as people didn’t stop to take pictures. A rethink was needed. “With even less time now to do something, we ended up blowing up at least 100 balloons—which were leftover from the festival—and decided that it would be funny to make a joke about me being the intern. I headed out around lunchtime and walked around for two hours with all the balloons, which was a bit tricky when the wind blew, and people loved it!” The stunt really “blew up” when Jackson posted a picture of herself with the sign and balloons on LinkedIn, which gained widespread commentary, both positive and negative as some found the image of a young woman holding such a sign in poor taste. It also gained coverage in British business newspaper City AM, which covered the stunt from the reaction over LinkedIn. The Thursday brand was gaining notice as planned, however, the success of the first stunt added pressure to go bigger with the follow-up. Playing on words to catch eyes Another of their stunts saw the duo decide to play on the term “Cuffing Season,” when people get into relationships during the colder months of the year. This time Jackson appeared to be handcuffed to a pole on the street next to a sign that read: “World’s most embarrassing internship. Single? Download Thursday. #CuffingSeason”. Once over, each stunt image would be posted to Jackson's own LinkedIn channel to gain attention and shares, with one proving a viral hit. The "Cuffing Season" post not only drew over 14,000 likes and over 1,000 comments, but also attracted the attention of the world's press, with one title in India outright condemning the stunt. Anya's 'fancy a date' stunt. A further stunt involved bowls of fruit, playing on Jackson's sign offering dates: "I think it was George that came up with the idea of saying "fancy a date on Thursday" with 1000 dates and we all loved it so we ordered all the dates and that was the next stunt!" Aristotle would’ve called it nailing the three audience appeals of logos, pathos and ethos.—Professor Jonathan A.J. Wilson The negative response to some of the stunts caught Jackson by surprise, she admits. “It had never even crossed my mind that people would be offended by my posts. I understood where they were coming from. However, I had clearly stated that it was my idea and was completely voluntary. I would never do anything I wasn’t comfortable with.” But both co-founders were pleased with the outcome and felt the promotions were on-brand. Jackson said she's proud of her achievements during the internship. Praising Jackson’s work was Professor Jonathan A.J. Wilson, branding professor and consultant. “Anya hit the sweet spot. Aristotle would’ve called it nailing the three audience appeals of logos, pathos and ethos. We’d call it producing funny, edgy, vulnerable, authentic and arresting content with creative flair,” he told Adweek. While she has now returned to her management studies, Jackson said she's still considering a profession in marketing, with companies such as MOB Kitchen and Gymshark, which are both highly active through social media, on her radar. If it ain't broke ... Meanwhile, Thursday will clearly continue with the stunt strategy moving forward—judging by social media reactions on October 12 to the sight of a young man outside Liverpool Street station wearing a cardboard sign reading: "I cheated on my girlfriend on thursday and this is my punishment". https://twitter.com/sheldonlt/status/1447997970369110020?s=12 What Marketers Can Learn From TikTok and Dating Apps About Loyal Customer Relationships