Opal · screen time and focus app
Buy a New York billboard saying "Scrolling Kills" with no app link
No effect on downloads or revenue; helped close one school deal
Mixedoffline-ads
What they did
Bought a large billboard in New York with the message 'Scrolling Kills', intentionally without clear attribution (no opalapp.com or 'get Opal'). Intended as a brand statement; the phrase is now tied to Opal in search (scrollingkills.us).
What happened
No impact on downloads or revenue; the head of a New York school later said seeing it made him more comfortable signing with Opal. Founder calls it a half failure.
- Stage
- scale
- Effort
- one large billboard in New York
“It's a fail in the sense that no impact on downloads, no impact on revenue, but that wasn't the point.”
“Because he saw the billboard, he actually was more comfortable signing.”
Get tactics like this every Monday
New tactics from the week's founder interviews, each linked to where it was said.
More from Opal
All 10 Opal tacticsMore from this episode
- Opal: Drop the hard paywall and give the core app away for freePaying share of users fell 20% to 9%, but organic growth, 1M+ DAUs and revenue rose
- Opal: Test how many app blocks free users get; settle where free users still love it3 free blocks gave free users a great experience while power users still pay
- Opal: Sell the app to schools as a phone policy after students asked for itGrew from one school to many US high schools; front-page LA Times coverage
- Opal: License a stranger's viral video about phone overuse and run it as your adSeen by dozens of millions; still running 1-2 years later
- Opal: Hire a user who posted about you to run her own educational channel for you0 to ~700K followers and millions of views in a few months
- Opal: Add focus streaks with an animated flame and gemstone rewards at milestonesBiggest win of the year for retention and growth; no numbers
- Opal: Let users tap to crack open a gemstone when they hit a focus milestoneThe app's most loved moment; users remember it and talk about it
- Opal: Hand out thousands of "Scrolling Kills" stickers that don't mention the app