Sunday, September 8, 2024

By Aniefre Essien

Kendrick Lamar is the best brand marketer of 2024, and it’s not even close! He’ll likely collect a couple of grammys for his musical accomplishments this year, but that’s another topic. We're here to discuss HOW Kendrick Lamar strategically dominated the last six months, and he isn't finished.

If you’re not aware of the Kendrick and Drake rap battle, hit YouTube to catch up. Regardless of which artist you support, as a marketer, I’m impressed with how Kendrick has completely dominated our collective consciousness, in an era where people have the musical attention span of gnat. 

Kendrick has outperformed any other brand in 2024 with a classic less is more approach. He does this by not over saturating his brand. In fact, you rarely see him, and when you do, he commands the world's attention—like today’s announcement that he’s performing at the Super Bowl.  

After dominating pop culture for the last six months and releasing music that has broken records, Kendrick has been off the radar. The advertising for his releases during his infamous battle with Drake was him simply posting YouTube links. No memes, no IG lives, no TikToks. 

To kick things off, Kendrick dropped a surprise verse on the Future and Metro Booming hit track “Like That,” with Kendrick’s verse breaking the internet. This was March 22nd. As the song shot to #1 on the charts, you heard nothing from Kendrick. He let the power of his product speak for itself.

Then Drake responded with "Push Ups" and "Taylor Made Freestyle" (a track he later deleted). He challenged the “boogeyman” directly, but there wasn’t a peep from Kendrick. That silence built up anticipation. “Will Kendrick respond?” Podcasters like Joe Budden and Mase could only talk about one topic. Then on a random Tuesday, Kendrick popped out! And what followed was a legendary marketing campaign. 

Tuesday, April 30th: Kendrick’s first product release was “Euphoria,” a six minute “lyrical miracle” track where he showed why he’s the only rapper to ever win a pulitzer. And demonstrating genuine marketing prowess, Kendrick removed copyright claims on YouTube, inspiring an army YouTube reactors to create hours of earned media coverage. Kendrick repeated this strategy throughout the summer.

Friday, May 3rd: less than a week after "Euphoria," Kendrick dropped another surprise release with “6:16 in LA.” The track, in essence, was a warning laid over a soulful Al Green sample. It's all the music world talked about. 

Later on May 3rd: Drake dropped "Family Matters," with a cinematically stunning music video that he thought was his kill shot. This track was supposed to win the battle and contend for song of the summer. 

30 minutes after that on May 3rd: Kendrick dropped a hard-hitting, dark, almost horror film style track tiled "Meet the Grahams" to step on Drake's moment. No one felt like partying, but you couldn’t help but listen. Kendrick had successfully blunted Drake’s product launch. 

Saturday, May 4th: after the music world woke up on Saturday, still trying to process what they had experienced the night before, people had questions: have we ever heard a song that dark and scathing? How did Kendrick respond so quickly? The mysterious legend of Kendrick grew!  Then out of nowhere, everyone’s phones started going off all over the world with messages reading, “Kendrick dropped again!”  

No ads. No hype. Just a YouTube link to "Not Like Us." Sonically, the song was a classic California bop, produced by DJ Mustard. It was Saturday afternoon on Cinco de Mayo weekend, and this was a certified club banger (in spite of the subject matter). It was in all of the nightclubs that same night.

As the song spread like wildfire, you couldn’t escape it. Viral videos from LA to Harlem were dominating social media; Portugal, Nigeria, and Argentina were a part of the wave too. The song was global.

Then a couple of weeks later, Kendrick announced a surprise concert in LA titled “The Pop Out” that would happen on Juneteenth (June 19th). This added fuel to ”Not Like Us” and streams kept piling up. For good measure, Kendrick performed the song five times at The Pop Out. A feat that garnered even more earned media.

Then a week after The Pop Out, Kendrick shot a music video in Compton. Community members that attended the video shoot flooded the internet with user generated content, but Kendrick stayed silent. This kept people talking, almost rabid, while they wondered “when will the video release?!”

Then on July 4th, America’s independence day when everyone is barbecuing and listening to music, Kendrick releases the video for “Not Like Us,” which will likely win a grammy for music video of the year. 

The momentum from this series of strategic marketing choices made the Summer of 2024 the Summer of Kendrick Lamar. People kept waiting for more music from him. Many assumed an album was coming while others feared Kendrick would go on another hiatus. How could you know? Kendrick was totally silent and nowhere in the public eye. 

Then today, the NFL and Kendrick announce that he’ll be performing at the Super Bowl! This is absolutely brilliant marketing. Kendrick will benefit from earned media for the next six months. Salute to Kendrick Lamar, the best brand marketer in 2024.