1 thing about Drake, he’s a Marketing Genius
There’s very few people in this day and age that are as influential as Drake. He literally has the Midas touch at this point because everything he does turns to gold whenever he’s involved. However the focus here is on Drake’s marketing strategy.
As one of the biggest celebrities on the planet, you would think to yourself, why would he even need any more PR or advertising. And despite all of that he still does better marketing than most artists in the music industry. In other words nobody and I mean nobody builds as much hype around an album release than Drake. Here we take a look at some of his best marketing stunts leading up to a release.
If you’re reading this
In February of 2015, Drake made a surprise drop of his mixtape “If you’re reading this it’s too late”. Not only did the mixtape do extremely well, the album cover created a buzz on Twitter. Taking into consideration how simple the design is, it’s obviously made with Microsoft Paint, fans started making their own memes. And naturally doing what Drake does, it trended. Thus creating even more hype around this mixtape.
The beauty about this, is that Drake didn’t even have to initiate this, the fans did, through the use of user generated content.
Hotline Bling
When Drake released “Hotline Bling” in 2016, many people didn’t know how to feel because it felt quite cheesy and very “pop”. However in a matter of days it became the biggest song that year. Once again he trended on the internet.
The music video for the song turned Drake into the official meme king. Somehow he is able to walk on this tightrope of being cheesy, yet cool but still relatable to most consumers.
Scorpion
In My Feelings Challenge
After the release of his 5th studio album Scorpion, Shiggy, created a dance to one his singles — “In my feelings”. Within a few days it turned into the “In my feelings challenge”. And everybody was involved, and I mean everybody! From Ciara & Russel Wilson to Will Smith and Odell Beckham Jr.
Certified Lover Boy
Album cover memes
Billboards
Haircut
Her Loss
The roll-out for his joint album with 21 Savage “Her Loss” was absolutely genius if you ask me. They did the kind of promo that most artists would do after releasing a new album. The catch is, all the promo they did was fake/rehearsed — and they used that content as the actual promo for their upcoming album.
1. In the bag
This is a parody of shows like “10 things …… can’t live without” from the 10 Essentials series created by GQ.
2. Fake Vogue cover
3. Tiny Desk promo
4. Interview w/ Howard Stern
Howard Stern is known to be a controversial broadcaster where he asks some very spicy questions. In this parody he asks Drake & 21 Savage about porn and relationships.
Spotify 50 Billion streams celebration at El Clasico
As a celebration for reaching 50 Billion streams on Spotify, European Football giants, Barcelona donned the OVO owl on their jersey instead of their main sponsor, Spotify. This happened at the El Clasico against Real Madrid in October 2022, the El Clasico is the most watched derby in world football.
Ironically this celebration also occurred in October, no surprises there.
In the end it’s hard to deny how much influence Drake has in popular culture. So much so that fans stay creating user generated content on his behalf — that’s how much his music impacts ordinary everyday individuals. At this point, Drake barely has to put money into promoting his albums because more often than not, his fans do it for him. However that doesn’t take away from the fact that when it comes to marketing his music, he’s a genius.
