This week we are doing things a little differently.
I'm doing a bit of a deep dive into the brand of the moment (well, on LinkedIn anyways) Thursday. Rather than just showing you what they have done, I’m going to get under the skin of their strategy and share observations and insights that you can build into your business
What is Thursday?
Born out of frustration with the current landscape of online dating, Thursday is a new dating app that, unlike its competitors, is only available one day a week- on a Thursday. Any other day and you are directed to a holding message and instructed to come back on the correct day.
This in itself is smart, as it elicits a sense of drama and scarcity- if you miss logging in on Thursday, then you miss out. FOMO can be a powerful tool to incite trial and uptake, however, there is a fine line between exclusivity and making people believe that something is scarce when it’s not- the latter very much falling into the unethical marketing camp, and should be steered well clear of.
Being only available on one day of the week does pose a challenge to be kept top of mind. The brand will need to think about the overall customer experience and ensure that there is always a reason to come back time and time again. This could be through creating new features and unlocking new functionality. Ensuring newness and novelty will be core to Thursday’s long term success.
In terms of channel execution, nothing that Thursday has done is particularly groundbreaking (they have predominately used OOH and guerrilla tactics), what has got people talking is their tone and the reactivity of their content.
From clever signs in Leicester Square, jumping on the petrol crisis to avoid a 'panic-date' situation to calling out competitors on a billboard (Hinge, you can have the kids 6 days a week), and even a sandwich board ‘cheating scandal’ confession. Everything has been designed to get noticed and shared. With the past couple of years feeling very serious, humour is proving a very successful mechanic from cutting through.
As a brand they are inherently clear on their target customers, what is important to them in dating online and the language that they use. They do not waiver from this in any part of their communications mix.
I alluded at the beginning that Thursday is big on LinkedIn and I don’t believe for one second that this is by accident.
Founder George Rawlings has made it clear that his goal is “to turn Thursday into a £50million company in 12months”. The marketing stunts have been designed to get the creative, marketing and start-up communities talking and sharing. George he has amassed over 17,000 followers on LinkedIn and gained a write up in the Independent. All of this will proliferate out to investors- either enabling discovery, or cue'ing to them that this is a brand worth watching.
What’s next?
Thursday announced last week that they will be holding real-life dating nights ‘The AfterParty), this hybrid model will be a great way to introduce the brand to more people via it being posted about on social media- after all “it doesn’t matter if they go, they will know”.
They have also partnered with Strut Safe, the volunteer phone service dedicated to walking people home safely. Again inherently understanding the challenges in the online dating space.
Love it or are indifferent to them, Thursday is a great case study for thinking and acting like a challenger brand.
Have a great week all, would love to know if you found the deep dive helpful and would like me to cover more?
Carly
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Sprowt is a creative marketing studio that helps purpose-driven challenger brands that believe in the triple bottom line - people, planet and profit - stand out and scale.
We apply the tried and tested strategies of building memorable brands and then rip up the rule book to create disruptive brand and marketing strategies; growing the brands that matter into the household names of tomorrow.
