NETFLIX · INTERACTIVE CAMPAIGN · WEB EXPERIENCE
ManiAPP.
Matching people by
their anxieties.
A digital experience for Netflix, built with the London-based agency The Dude, that turned the idea behind the series Maniac into something viewers could try themselves.
Summary
To promote its original series Maniac, starring Emma Stone and Jonah Hill, Netflix wanted more than trailers and banners in Italy. The series is about two strangers who connect during an unusual pharmaceutical trial, and the campaign idea was to let the audience experience that kind of connection themselves. Leavingstone was contracted by the London-based agency The Dude to build ManiAPP, presented as the first dating app based on shared anxieties. It launched at maniapp.it a few days after the series premiered.
Client
Netflix
With The Dude, London
Industry
Entertainment · Digital campaign
Services
Web design
Front-end & back-end development
Profile-matching logic
The Challenge
A shared worry.
A real connection.
The experience had to turn the theme of a series into something people actively do and want to share. It needed to treat anxiety with humour and warmth without mocking it, in the same ironic tone as the show. It was tied to a fixed launch date, with no room for delay, and it had to hold up under the traffic of a national Netflix campaign. Behind the playful surface it also needed real logic: thousands of profiles had to be compared and matched in a way that felt personal and accurate to each user.
Our Solution
Meet your
twin anxiety.
Leavingstone designed and developed ManiAPP as a web experience that works on any device with no installation. Each user chooses up to ten anxieties from a database of nearly 200 everyday worries and receives a personal Anxiety Profile with a playful diagnosis.
A matching algorithm then compares profiles and introduces each user to their "Ansia Gemella", the twin anxiety: the person whose worries most closely match their own. Matched users can send each other supportive GIFs, which makes shared worries a reason to connect. Leavingstone's team covered web design, front-end development and back-end development, including the matching logic.
Key features
- An Anxiety Profile built from up to ten selected anxieties.
- A database of 195 everyday anxieties.
- A personalised, humorous diagnosis for each user.
- A matching algorithm that finds each user's twin anxiety.
- Supportive GIF messages between matched users.
- A responsive web experience with no app download required.
Key results
Shared anxieties.
Thousands of matches.
The Italian press published the campaign's figures one week after launch. The experience had produced 7,518 twin-anxiety matches at 80% compatibility. People from 1,018 Italian cities took part, and Milan alone accounted for more than 12,000 profiles. Users built their profiles from a database of 195 anxieties. The launch was fronted by Italian TV personality Costantino della Gherardesca.
Campaign figures published by the Italian press one week after launch
7,518
Twin-anxiety matches
At 80% compatibility.
1,018
Italian cities
People took part across the country.
12,000+
Profiles in Milan
Milan alone accounted for more than 12,000 profiles.
Technology
A web experience.
A personal match.
Experience
Responsive web application · No installation required
Matching
Custom back end · Profile-matching algorithm
Let's work.
Tell us about your product. We'll respond within one business day to arrange a conversation with a senior partner.