Cray Cray’s Slideshow Empire: the UGC Era
For more than a year, Cray Cray scaled almost exclusively with faceless slideshow farms, all the way to 144M+ views without a single talking head.
They started in French, then replicated in English.
Same structure, different hooks -> predictable virality.
In the last few months, a new format has entered the mix.
They’ve started testing UGC creators who record themselves speaking about long-distance relationship (LDR) struggles.
tt@chloeandrobbie, 741.8K views
tt@emma, 1.3M views
tt@theocraycray01, 49.3K views
The app isn’t the main character anymore, the LDR struggles are. The Cray Cray app slides in as the solution now, in a more subtle way than ever.
They’ve also expanded into a new language, and they seem to now be testing Russian/CIS audiences.
What’s interesting is that they also replicated their two parallel formats:
One faceless slideshow account, with which they hit 153.8M views:
- tt@questions_for_us (#1 account in views)
And one in the UGC-style:
- tt@ritalivesaway 1.8M views
Although their faceless format keeps feeding their reach, UGC creators will help them to build trust.
Now the only questions left are which market they will unlock next, and how far they’ll push this new UGC play.
You can check out all their accounts here: https://app.shortimize.com/c/2b10yw0eX9uzPq
