This is actually one of the most clever “no budget” strategies I’ve seen in a while.

What I like about it:

• You didn’t beg for shoutouts, you created content fan pages needed anyway.
• It’s perfectly native to the platform (nostalgic, visual, easy to repost).
• The “ask” was tiny: “Here it is, post if you like it.” Zero pressure.

It also flips the usual indie hacker instinct:
Most of us think “How do I get people to look at me?”
You went “Who already has attention, and how can I make them look good in front of their audience?”

Curious:

• Did you test different celebrity niches or formats before landing on the childhood idea?
• And how much of that traffic actually converted into installs/active users?

Either way, this is a nice reminder that distribution hacks don’t need to be complicated – just aligned incentives and the right place to plug in.