内容来源：https://www.wired.com/story/sora-app-store-daves-hot-chicken/

内容总结：

【科技与快餐的榜首之争：免费鸡块如何撼动AI巨头？】

在连续霸榜近一个月后，OpenAI旗下视频生成应用Sora于近日被一款意想不到的应用挤下苹果应用商店榜首——美国连锁餐厅"戴夫辣鸡"通过生日营销活动实现逆袭，印证了"免费食物永远比算法更吸引人"的市场定律。

这场逆袭的核心策略简单直接：为庆祝品牌投资人、说唱歌手德雷克39岁生日，该餐厅在10月26日向下载应用的用户免费赠送迷你鸡肉汉堡。据应用分析机构Apptopia透露，这项促销活动使应用单日新增用户激增14倍：平日每周新增2-2.5万用户，而活动当日新增注册量达34.3万，令品牌总会员数单日增长超10%。

虽然Sora自9月30日上线后表现惊人——据Sensor Tower数据，该应用在美国iOS平台前23天获得320万次下载，增速甚至超过同期的ChatGPT（230万次）——但仍不敌免费食物的吸引力。这是自10月3日以来Sora首次失去榜首位置，对于仍采用邀请制的高热度应用而言已属难得。

餐饮行业借数字营销实现跨越已成趋势。应用分析公司Appfigures数据显示，汉堡王、唐恩都乐、奶品皇后和麦当劳等连锁品牌近年都曾通过促销活动跻身应用商店前二。其中唐恩都乐今年愚人节赠送百万杯咖啡的活动，曾创下单日下载量激增545%的纪录。

戴夫辣鸡首席技术官莱昂·达沃扬指出，应用生态对品牌发展具有战略意义："我们的核心客群年轻且数字化程度高，加上餐饮数字化销售持续上升，投资数字渠道符合行业趋势。"目前该应用正持续优化用户体验，包括开发类似星巴克的便捷复购系统，并针对产品7种辣度定制个性化点餐界面。

尽管业内人士预测Sora将在促销热度回落后重登榜首，但此次短暂易主再次证明：在吸引用户下载的战场上，精心设计的营销活动有时比尖端技术更具爆发力。随着数字渠道成为餐饮业必争之地，未来应用商店榜首或将出现更多"舌尖上的逆袭"。

中文翻译：

自9月30日上线以来，OpenAI的Sora应用凭借轻松生成AI视频的功能以及对版权法规的宽松解读，长期占据iOS应用商店榜首。而就在上周五，这一统治地位被打破——新晋冠军竟是戴夫辣鸡堡。

没错！不是ChatGPT、Gemini、Threads或其他常见应用。戴夫辣鸡堡如今雄踞应用商店榜首，其标志性的歪嘴大眼吉祥物图标仿佛也在为这次逆袭感到惊讶。它是如何做到的？如何打破了OpenAI这款抖音式爆款的垄断？答案正是人们比对大语言模型更热衷的东西：免费食物。

应用分析公司Apptopia公关总监亚当·布莱克透露："他们正在推出庆祝德雷克生日的免费小汉堡活动。免费食物总能引爆下载量。"若好奇德雷克与此事的关联——这位说唱歌手于2021年投资了这家快餐连锁店，当公司以约10亿美元向私募股权公司Roark Capital出售多数股权时，他很可能赚得盆满钵满。这已是该品牌连续第三年通过下载应用为德雷克庆生而赠送免费小汉堡。（这位猛龙队球迷说唱歌手于上周四迎来39岁生日。）

戴夫辣鸡堡首席技术官莱昂·达沃扬表示："我们既为当红名人庆生，又让消费者品尝美食。"这场活动的辐射范围远超寻常：达沃扬透露，平时每周新增会员约2-2.5万人，而上周四单日新增账户达343,531个，使品牌总会员数单日激增超10%。

此举足以终结Sora自10月3日以来持续霸榜的局面——对于仍处邀请制阶段的应用而言已堪称奇迹。据Sensor Tower数据，Sora在美国上线前23天即获得320万次iOS下载，增速甚至超越同期下载量230万的ChatGPT。（该应用尚未登陆谷歌商店但即将上线。）OpenAI对此不予置评。

虽然德雷克庆生活动结束后Sora很可能重登榜首，但戴夫辣鸡堡已持续收获推广红利。Sensor Tower数据显示，去年同类活动结束后四周内，该应用下载量较活动前一个月增长超50%。所有免费汉堡的投入都转化为了长期收益。

这并非快餐连锁首次通过免费策略取胜。Appfigures数据显示，过去几年汉堡王、唐恩都乐、奶品皇后和麦当劳都曾在促销期间跻身美国iOS商店前二。这种爆发通常持续一两天，却能带来海量安装——Appfigures洞察主管兰迪·纳尔逊指出，今年唐恩都乐在愚人节赠送百万杯免费咖啡期间，日均下载量激增545%。他认为戴夫虽难达此高度，但任何增长都意义非凡。

达沃扬强调："我们的应用对长期成功至关重要，因为核心客群是热衷数字化的年轻人，且餐饮业数字化销售正持续上升。投资数字化符合行业趋势。"直达客户的模式减少了戴夫等连锁品牌对外卖平台的依赖，同时让复杂点餐流程更可控。"我们提供7种辣度等级，应用与门店具有同等定制功能。这需要定制化前端界面与极致用户体验，将复杂选择转化为优势。"

这款应用仍在持续进化——虽不及全球顶尖初创企业的迭代速度，但正稳步推进如星巴克便捷复购系统等功能创新。或许这些改进尚不足维系其应用商店王座，但不必担心：距离下个德雷克生日，不过一年之遥。

英文来源：

Since its launch on September 30, OpenAI’s Sora app has dominated the iOS App Store charts, thanks to its easy breezy AI video generation and an initially loose interpretation of copyright laws. On Friday, its reign came to an end. Your new champion is … Dave’s Hot Chicken.
Yes! Not ChatGPT or Gemini or Threads or any of the other usual suspects. Dave’s Hot Chicken now rules over the App Store, where its slack-beaked, bug-eyed mascot icon expresses appropriate surprise at its ascent. How did it do it? How did it break the grasp of OpenAI’s golem TikTok? With something people love even more than large language models: free food.
“They’re running a promotion for free sliders in celebration of Drake’s birthday,” says Adam Blacker, PR director of the app analytics firm Apptopia. “Free food always gets the downloads flowing.”
If you’re wondering what Drake has to do with any of this, he invested in the fast casual restaurant chain in 2021, and presumably made a mint when the company sold a majority stake to private equity firm Roark Capital for a reported $1 billion. For the third consecutive year, the company gave away one (1) free slider to anyone who has downloaded the app in honor of Drake’s birthday. (The rapper and Raptors fan turns 39 today; the giveaway was Thursday.)
“We’re celebrating a celebrity that’s popular and that’s currently relevant, and also getting food in people’s mouths,” says Dave’s Hot Chicken chief technology officer Leon Davoyan.
And it truly is a lot of people. On a typical week, Davoyan says, Dave’s sees between 20,000 and 25,000 new sign-ups to its loyalty database. On Thursday alone the promotion drove 343,531 new accounts—a more than 10 percent bump to the brand’s overall membership in a single day, according to the CTO.
It was enough to knock Sora out of the top slot for the first time since October 3, an impressive stretch for an app that’s still invite-only. In the first 23 days since it launched, Sora racked up 3.2 million iOS downloads in the US, according to app analytics company Sensor Tower. That’s a much faster pace than even ChatGPT, which while similarly viral notched 2.3 million US downloads in the same time. (Sora is not yet available in the Google Play Store, but it's incoming.) OpenAI declined to comment.
While Sora is likely to reclaim the top spot after the Drake promotion dies down, Dave’s Hot Chicken should continue reaping the benefits of its giveaway. Last year, according to Sensor Tower, downloads of the app in the four weeks following the same marketing push were more than 50 percent higher than the month leading up to it. All those free sandwiches are worth the long-term gains.
Dave’s is hardly the first or only quick-service chain to find success with freebies. Burger King, Dunkin’, Dairy Queen, and McDonald’s have all hit number one or two in the US iOS App Store during promotional periods over the last few years, according to data compiled by app analytics company Appfigures. The bump usually lasts a day or two, and can drive a huge number of installs—Dunkin’s April Fools Day promotion this year, which gave away a million free coffees, yielded a 545 percent day-over-day increase, says Randy Nelson, Appfigures’ head of insights. Nelson doesn’t expect Dave’s to hit quite those highs, but every little bit helps.
“The Dave’s app is very important to our long-term success because of two things. Our core demographic is young and very digital forward,” says Davoyan. “And generally speaking, digital sales in the restaurant industry are on the rise … It makes sense to invest in digital because that’s the direction that everything’s going in.”
Having a direct relationship with its customers helps restaurant chains like Dave’s not rely so much on third-party platforms like DoorDash and Uber, although Davoyan says he’s agnostic about what app people order their hot chicken from. It also gives Dave’s more control over what can be a complex ordering experience.
“We have seven spice levels,” says Davoyan. “The app allows you to have the same level of customization on the app as you do in-store … You need that custom front-end, that custom interface and a strong focus on UI and UX to turn that into a benefit rather than a frustration.”
The Dave’s app continues to evolve, although perhaps not at the pace of the world’s most valuable startup. Its ambitions are slightly more modest, like introducing a convenient reordering system similar to what you’d find in the Starbucks app. That may not be enough to keep its App Store throne. Then again, another Drake birthday is only a year away.