Quinn moves fast
How the team tapped 'Heated Rivalry' stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie to narrate their newest audio romance.
Like many of you, I’ve been watching a lot of Heated Rivalry over the holidays. Both in the form of actual episodes and in the form of cinematic fan edits. The stars of the show, Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie, have each gained around 1M followers in the past 30 days. The content surrounding the duo’s GQ HYPE cover garnered over 8M likes. Actual professional hockey teams are winking at the plot. To say the show has taken off would be an understatement. Of course, my brain goes to, What brand will be the first to tap into the fandom?
I wasn’t planning to send another newsletter this year, but then a post from Quinn, an audio erotica app, came across my feed. They were teasing their new romantasy series narrated by none other than Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie. The caption? “We did what had to be done.” It was filled with comments like “SHAKING” and “Whoever secured this deal deserves a raise omfg GOATTTT”. Less than one month from the premiere of Heated Rivalry, the Quinn team had pulled off a full blown campaign with the two leading actors.
Today, the tease is over. Quinn released Ember & Ice, an audio romance about “two fae princes from feuding courts, bound together by a years-long forbidden affair.” Their app almost immediately crashed due to demand.
Below I spoke with Caroline Spiegel, CEO and Founder of Quinn, Brooke Wilczewski, Director of Social & Community, and Michaela Kelly, Social Media Manager, about how they pulled it all off. We talk about when the idea was developed, the team that made it happen, and how this is on track to become their biggest Quinn Original yet. They also shared exclusive photos from set.
Rachel Karten: First, congratulations. The reception to this announcement has been amazing. When did you first come up with the idea to have Hudson and Connor be your next celebrity narrators?
Quinn: We first developed the idea in mid-November, before Heated Rivalry premiered. We’re fortunate to have a very engaged community that’s also active in the BookTok space, and there was a great deal of excitement around the series ahead of its release. After seeing that enthusiasm, it felt like a natural opportunity to reach out to Hudson and Connor’s teams early and begin the conversation. Thankfully, they were interested!
RK: One of the top comments your account is getting is how quickly this seemed to all come together. Can you give me a timeline of just how fast you worked to make this happen?
Q: While we initially connected with Connor and Hudson in November, the series was recorded in mid-December, and the promotional campaign was shot on December 16. Bringing everything together so quickly wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible work happening behind the scenes. A huge shout out to our whole team for their dedication and hard work in executing this campaign on such a tight timeline!
RK: Was Ember & Ice already in the works or did you also write the Quinn Original in that time as well?
Q: While we had a general outline of the story we wanted to tell with Ember & Ice, the author, Colleen Scriven, wrote the full story between the end of November and early December. She is truly exceptional, and we couldn’t be more grateful for her work!
RK: Talk to me about the social rollout. The captions, the mystery, the tease. It was flawless. How did you think about building that tension online?
Q: As fans of Heated Rivalry ourselves, we were connected to the ongoing conversation around the series. We were in those comments, tags, fan edits, commentary, news coverage, Reddit threads, inside jokes, and more!
From there, our team was constantly collaborating—living in our group chat, brainstorming, refining, and iterating—until we felt genuinely excited about the captions, storytelling, and overall teaser narrative we were putting out.
RK: How does the engagement on those posts compare to your usual engagement?
Q: Engagement consistently peaks when we feature celebrity guest narrators, and this series has been no exception, particularly given the moment Connor and Hudson are having right now. Across all social platforms, we’ve seen a significant increase in comments, shares, fan videos, reposts, and likes, compared to our typical content.
RK: Your team is known for moving quick and getting celebrity narrators at an exact moment when audiences really want them. I think about the Chris Briney rollout. What role does timeliness play in your overall strategy at Quinn?
Q: Timeliness plays a significant role in our overall strategy. The internet moves quickly from one story, trend, or obsession to the next, so it’s essential that we move just as fast to meet those cultural moments as they emerge.
RK: What does the team look like that’s making this all happen? What sort of culture internally allows you to move quickly and take big swings?
Q: We’re genuinely passionate about the stories we’re telling and the communities we’re sharing them with, so we’ve been able to build a highly collaborative environment rooted in enthusiasm and creativity. While we’re a small team, our approach allows us to move quickly and create meaningful moments for our audience. We’re down to take risks, experiment with different video styles, push creative boundaries, and be scrappy!
RK: How big is the team?
Q: We’re 11 people total at the company and our social team is three people (me, Brooke, and Michaela). Obviously that doesn’t include the many people involved with the video production from colorist to gaffers to set design etc.!
RK: Any early indications of how this is performing? An uptick in app downloads?
Q: We don’t want to jinx anything, but so far Ember & Ice is on track to become our biggest Quinn Original yet! We have seen a massive spike in new Quinnlings and are hoping to share this series with every HudCon fan out there. Happy listening!
RK: Finally, any BTS shoot photos that you can share with the Link in Bio community?
Q: Here are a few unseen moments!
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I’m so glad you did this! I’ve been marveling at how fast they rolled this out and how on point the social was and it’s great to get a little more insight from them
Quinn did an amazing job and wow the timeline, but also major kudos to the Tim Hortons team for their HR social content! And so many other Canadian brands on social who rarely get shoutouts in coverage like this, but all were ON IT over the holidays!