vero - true social
breaking the internet (AND FINDING BANKSY)
NUMBER #1 APP STORE RANKING
OUTPERFORMING WHATS-APP AND INSTAGRAM DOWNLOADS WITH COMMUNITY ACTIVATION, THUMBSTOPPING CONTENT MARKET TIMING AND PERFORMANCE SOCIAL
the brief:
“make vero a contender”
THUMBSTOPPERS CREATED A POWERFUL SOCIAL CONTENT ENGINE FOR VERO TRUE SOCIAL
WE COMBINED COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, ORGANIC CONTENT AND PAID PERFORMANCE TO DRIVE THE APP TO THE #1 SPOT ON THE APP STORE:
‘BREAKING THE INTERNET’
‘FINDING’ BANKSY
After an unprecedented NUMBER OF INSTALLS FROM creatives and cultural mavens from Instagram to Vero, the ultimatE cultural maveN JOINED THE PLATFORM posting one picture only…
beyond installs and into culture
As creators and micro-communities migrated to Vero, mainstream media amplified the momentum, with CNBC, Mashable and Inc. positioning the platform as the social network suddenly taking on Facebook and Instagram.
Vero became the number one downloaded social app in the App Store and the conversation evolved from challenger platform to genuine cultural phenomenon.
influencer, artist and publisher partnerships powered the the ecosystem with short-form sticky and lean-forward content to drive the funnel
we hit a viral tipping point of 800k global installs in one day effectively crashing vero servers
the breakdown
overview
Vero challenged Thumbstoppers to make it a genuine contender in a category dominated by Facebook and Instagram.
The proposition was simple: an ad-free, chronological social platform built for a more conscious, creatively driven audience. But to compete with the scale and habit of incumbent platforms, Vero needed more than awareness. It needed a movement.
The challenge was clear:
• Deliver 1 million tracked installs globally within two years
• Achieve a cost per install below $4
• Position Vero as the social platform for people who had fallen out of love with traditional social media
execution
We began by identifying the perfect Vero customer: culturally influential people already frustrated with the direction of Facebook and Instagram, particularly around data privacy, algorithmic feeds, and the erosion of authentic creative communities.
Rather than target everyone, we focused on the subcultures most likely to care first. Photographers, illustrators, musicians, creators, streetwear communities and digital tastemakers already looking for an alternative.
We built a bespoke social ecosystem around them.
A trusted network of creators and influencers was recruited and activated globally, each speaking credibly to their own community. Their role was not simply to post. It was to legitimise Vero from within culture.
At the same time, we re-versioned Vero’s core brand assets into snackable, social-first content designed to perform in-feed. Passion-first editorial content sat alongside multi-variant performance advertising, allowing us to test messaging rapidly and optimise globally.
The campaign was built in layers:
• Passion-led content to build intrigue and affinity
• Influencer and community activation to trigger migration
• Paid media optimised aggressively to install
• Retargeting sequences converting the most engaged users into downloaders
Over a six-week period, this created something far bigger than a launch campaign.
It created a mass migration of Instagram creatives and subcultures onto Vero.
outcome
The campaign exceeded every target and turned Vero from an unknown challenger into a globally discussed social platform.
Within six weeks, the campaign hit a viral tipping point.
• 800,000 installs in a single day
• 4,000,000 installs delivered within the first three months
• Four times the original target, achieved in under a quarter of the planned timeline
• Final cost per install: $1.20
More importantly, the campaign successfully seeded the Vero proposition inside the communities that mattered most. Creator advocacy and paid media combined to generate genuine momentum, resulting in widespread online conversation and mainstream press coverage.
Three months after launch, the ultimate proof arrived.
After an unprecedented exodus of creatives and cultural tastemakers from Instagram to Vero, Banksy appeared on the platform.
One image. One post. One cultural endorsement.
Thumbstoppers did not just help launch Vero.
We made it impossible to ignore.