How Two Entrepreneurs Used TikTok and Trends to Create a Viral Launch

The COVID-19 pandemic is typically thought of as a time that was hard on business — and with good reason. Many brick-and-mortar stores struggled to stay afloat during lockdown, and online business owners or service providers had to deal with dramatic drops in sales.

Nat Delaney-John, of Melbourne, Australia, found her own business struggling as the result of a long, drawn-out lockdown. But this difficult time wound up leading to a spark of an idea — a game that would bring people together again in person, spreading joy once lockdowns ended.

Today, Delaney-John and her partner, Cam Jasson, are known as the creative forces behind That Sound Game, a party-ready game that’s entirely unlike anything else you might have played before.

Step 1: Find a Gap in The Market

“In the party game space, there’s Charades where you act and Pictionary where you draw,” Jasson said. “But we felt there was a massive gap. We thought, why isn’t there a sound-based game?”

When playing That Sound Game, participants draw cards with words on them — and then, like in Charades, they have to act out the word in a way their teammates will recognize. The catch is, though, that players can only make sounds and move their bodies. No hand gestures are allowed.

@thatsoundgame

That Sound Game is a fast paced, interactive and very noisy party game. The goal is to get your team to guess as many answers on the category cards as they can in a minute. Use any combination of sounds and movements, but your hands must be behind your back. You also get Lifelines. Use them strategically to help you win.

♬ original sound - That Sound Game

Jasson and Delaney-John spent much of Melbourne's long, 250+ day lockdown working out how their game should be played.

“We were just in our apartment making different sounds to each other,” Jasson said. “The rule was that if we had an idea for a card, but couldn’t make the sounds ourselves, the card couldn’t go in the game.”

For the next two years, the two worked on their game in private, narrowing down a list of possible cards and sounds, creating game categories, and developing rules. As they worked, Melbourne’s lockdown restrictions eased to allow some limited travel.

And finally, in October 2021, Jasson and Delaney-John’s world fully reopened.

It was time to play That Sound Game with other people.

Step 2: Get The Game in Front of Play Testers

The process of taking That Sound Game from the kitchen table to homes around the world had several stages.

First, Jasson and Delaney-John played their game with friends. After 20 play-throughs, they felt that they’d firmed up their idea enough to take a prototype to PAX, one of the biggest gaming conventions in Melbourne.

“We knew we felt it could be successful, but when you bring it to other people and they start clicking with it, when they say it’s so fun and they want to play it again — that feels amazing,” Jasson said. “It was really rewarding.”

@thatsoundgame Our very first PAX 😍 We learnt so many lessons, met so many people, did some interviews and had a bunch of people that loved played and wanted to take the game home. Couldn't have gone better! #paxaus #thatsoundgame #partygames #partygame #gamesnight #convention #startup #femaleowned #australia ♬ Violet - Connor Price & Killa

Based on PAX attendees’ feedback and positive reception to the game, the creators decided to skip attempting a crowdfunding campaign and head straight to product development and marketing.

Jasson had an idea of where they could turn for data that would help them leverage social media advertising and word-of-mouth.

“During my career as a project manager, I got really into technology and AI,” Jasson said. “I signed up for Exploding Topics to learn more about new trends and behaviors.”

This, combined with Delaney-John’s experience running product-based businesses, created a strong foundation on which the duo could successfully bring That Sound Game to others.

Step 3: Leverage Trends and Social Media for a Viral Hard Launch

Thanks to her experience monitoring trends, Jasson knew that an image- or text-based social media post couldn't convey the fun of That Sound Game as well as a video.

She and Delaney-John decided to invest in a paid TikTok post to announce That Sound Game to the world … and it paid off.

“We officially launched in February 2023,” Jasson said. “And when we did the hard launch on social media, it went a bit viral right away.”

“Creators who have hundreds of millions of followers naturally picked up the game and wanted to play it with their audiences,” Jasson said. “And when people create content for our game, it’s quite visual and loud. So social media, particularly Instagram and TikTok, are now embedded in our marketing plan.”

Step 4: Meet Customers Where They Are

Of course, for the game to truly be successful, Jasson and Delaney-John needed to make sure it got physically in front of players. But they knew they had a great game on their hands, and they were ready for That Sound Game’s viral success.

“Before we launched, we made sure we had products in different distribution centers around the world. We had it in the U.S., the U.K., China, and Australia, so that if we did happen to go viral, people could get the game almost anywhere in the world,” Jasson said.

Thanks to their good foresight — and savvy social media marketing — Jasson and Delaney-John have sold more than 400,000 copies of That Sound Game in six different languages … and less than three years’ time.

Their attention to consumer behavior and technology keeps the sales coming, too. The two creators are always looking for new ways to get That Sound Game in front of potential players online.

“When you think about a board game, it’s quite traditional, but it’s really important for us to know how our customers are buying and behaving,” said Jasson. “For instance, right now, we’re looking at an exploding trend around how consumers are going to start shopping in ChatGPT. If a customer wants to have a conversation with ChatGPT about what Christmas presents they should get or what game their family can play on Christmas Day, and they find our product, we want them to be able to buy it directly in ChatGPT.”

Jasson is spot on with her assessment that interest in ChatGPT shopping is increasing. Just look at how interest in instant checkout capabilities, like those in the chat tool, is exploding:

But no matter where That Sound Game’s ideal customers want to shop, they’ll be able to get their hands on the game. It’s currently sold in retailers around the world, including Walmart, Target, Kmart, and Barnes & Noble.

Step 5: Transition From Side Hustle to Full-Time Job

The success of That Sound Game has allowed both Jasson and Delaney-John to quit their previous jobs and focus on game development full-time.

“I think that adults take themselves too seriously, and I feel lucky that my career can be something that brings joy to people’s lives,” Jasson said.

She hopes that other people will take the That Sound Game story as an inspiration to explore what they can launch, too.

“There are so many ways to make your side hustle come to life now — it’s just absolutely incredible, the fact that you can write a few sentences and bring something like an app to life in minutes,” she said. ““If you have an idea you’ve been developing, don’t wait for the ‘perfect’ moment to test it,” she said. “Put your idea in people’s hands and see how they react. We learned more from five minutes of raw laughter around a table than we ever could from a spreadsheet.”

And like Jasson and Delaney-John, new entrepreneurs can turn to Exploding Topics for information about what people are interested in, where they’re talking about it, and what’s set to be the next most popular trend in an industry.

If you’ve got an idea brewing, and want to learn more about how and where you can introduce it to the public, start your research with a seven-day free trial of Exploding Topics Pro. You might just find that it’s an idea that changes your life — and brings joy to others around the world at the same time.