Dave's Hot Chicken's promotion for free sliders on Drake's birthday led to a surge in app downloads, surpassing OpenAI's Sora app. This highlights the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements and promotions in driving app engagement.

On September 30, OpenAI launched its Sora app, which quickly gained popularity and dominated the iOS App Store charts. However, this reign ended when Dave's Hot Chicken ran a promotion offering free sliders to celebrate Drake's birthday, resulting in a remarkable increase of 343,531 new app downloads in one day. This promotion not only boosted the app's downloads but also increased the brand's overall membership by more than 10 percent. The success of this strategy underscores the effectiveness of leveraging celebrity endorsements in marketing. Historically, similar promotions by other fast-food chains have also led to significant spikes in app downloads, indicating a trend where free food incentives can effectively drive customer engagement and loyalty.