One of my favorite podcasts asked, “If your life’s on the line, someone has a gun to your head, and you have to rap one song front to back without f*cking up, what’s that song?” (around 59:23)
It got me thinking about how the songs would differ across age groups (e.g., millennials vs. baby boomers) and naturally, it also got me thinking about marketing.
One of the generational distinctions that stuck with me is that, on average, I’d argue the songs that Millennials choose to save their lives would have way more ad-libs than those from their older counterparts…and the ad-libs would be crucial to saving their lives.
Don’t you want your brand in your consumers’ consideration set when their lives (read: needs) are on the line?
Strategically integrating ad-libs into your marketing campaign can make your brand more memorable and increase your impact if we take a deeper look into how rappers have used ad-libs to brand themselves in a crowded music scene.
Unique + Social
Ad-libs can attract new customers to your brand because they express uniqueness and ease social interaction. Let‘s look to rappers.
Rapper ad-libs that have the most traction with listeners are those that either emphasize something unique about the artist (think: Gucci Mane’s “brrr!” or French Montana’s “haaanh”), or are distinct from other artists’ ad-libs (think: Pusha T’s “yuck” or Chance the Rapper’s “igh!”).
Something magical happens when an artist (and your brand) shares this unique element with the audience through ad-lib: nearly everyone keys in on that part of the song (or campaign) and that ends up being the most memorable! After all, who can resist:
In this way, ad-libs help your brand use an adaption of call and response that is bound to engage your audience.
Scheduled Spontaneity
Ad-libs are unplanned utterances by definition, but don’t let that fool you. Artists (and marketers) may come up with ad-libs spontaneously in the studio (or branding meetings), but their placement is anything but unplanned.
With rappers, ad-libs connect bars together. They either complement a bar that precedes it or sets up a bar that follows. Your branding ad-libs can take the same approach.
Think about what you can offer or communicate around a regularly scheduled offering that can enhance consumers’ experience with your brand. Remember GOOD Fridays before Kanye dropped his best album (according to Complex), My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy?
Here, Kanye released seemingly random songs on a predictable schedule. Some of them would be included in the upcoming album (e.g., Monster), but some of them were just gifts to the culture (e.g., Take One For the Team).
Is it just appropriate for millennials?
While writing this, I started to think ad-libs were only useful for marketing to younger demographic groups. An eye-opening article made me think differently about the millennial label, but surely, Gen Xers appreciate some spontaneity here and there. Baby Boomers can’t always be opposed to social engagement. After all, this happened:
You can bet that the lady waving the American flag won’t ever forget this day.