The Unconventional Marketing Strategy of Kanye West by Zachary Smith

The Unconventional Marketing Strategy of Kanye West

By Zachary Smith

Who is Kanye West

• Award winning hip-hop artist and producer
• 24x Grammy winner
• From Chicago
• One of the most succesful fashion designers of all time
• Founder of the brand Yeezy
• Pop culture icon
• Known for pushing boundaries in music, fashion, and more

3 Main Categories of Kanye's Marketing

Creativity and Innovation

Controversy and Provocation

Album Rollouts/Branding

Album Rollouts

Kanye is known for his unusual album rollout marketing techniques. One tactic he is synonymous for is delaying and teasing albums to build hype. This was best exemplified during the rollout of his seventh studio album "The Life of Pablo". The album went through multiple name changes, delays, and tracklist changes before finally being officially released. These changes built an immense amount of hype for the project.

"West knows how to get people talking, and often does so by creating a sense of exclusivity and buzz around his music. He changed the title of his latest album,“The Life of Pablo,” several times, helping to increase the audience's hype and anticipation. He then announced it would only be available to stream on Tidal, which further boosted the buzz by creating an element of controversy."

Jenna Gross

Six Lessons Kanye West Can Teach Us About Marketing

Branding

In addition to extensive album rollouts, Kanye has always excelled at branding. His first three studio albums all included a bear on the cover called the "Dropout Bear". This quickly became sort of a mascot that represented Kanye and his music. Furthermore, every album he comes out with consists of a different theme or character that he lives/enacts during the time period of the albums release. An example of this would be during the time period when "808's & Heartbreaks" was released. Kanye was continuously seen wearing a heart pin that was also featured on the album cover.

"The Dropout Bear represents the pursuit of happiness and living life on Kanye's own terms, not by societal standards. He didn't need to go to college to pursue his dreams and the bear offers a similar symbolism of hope for his fans."

Luke Fox

How an Oversized Teddy Bear Symbolized the Defiance of Kanye West’s The College Dropout Album

Controversy and Provocation

Controversy = Publicity

One of the most notrious ways that Kanye markets himself and his music is through controversy. He understands that being controversial gets his name in the news, which is why he often will say something that he knows will get clicks right around when he wants to release new music. Kanye is seemingly a believer that all publicity is good publicity, and he has used this to his advantage. Whether people like him or hate him, everybody has an opinion on Kanye.

According to the data from the survey I conducted, 100% of the participants knew of Kanye West. Additonally, regarding their opinions on Kanye, I asked whether they liked him, loved him, disliked him, hated him, or didn't have an opinion on him. Only 10% answered that they didn't have an opinion.

“A celebrity can be defined as an individual that is known for being well known and occupies space in the public spotlight. Kanye's controversies perhaps have been a strategy to assist in the development of his own brand— the outspoken hip hop creative genius with a flair for couture.”

Hazel James Cole

Kanye West: A Critical Analysis of Mass Media's Representation of Cultural Icon's Rhetoric and Celebrity

Creativity and Innovation

Everything Kanye involves himself with, whether it be music or fashion, always centers around his creativity and innovative ideas. The best example of this is with his brand Yeezy. Founded in 2015, Yeezy is one of the largest fashion brands in the world and the Yeezy sneaker with Adidas has become a staple in sneaker/fashion culture.

Yeezy Exclusivity

While Kanye has gone on record saying "eventually, everybody who wants to get Yeezys will get Yeezys", what makes his products so succesful are their unqiue designs and exclusivity. To this day, fans join Adidas raffles in order to try to get their hands on a fresh pair of Yeezy's. Price seemingly is never a factor as most of his sneakers retail at a starting price of $220, yet they almost always sell out in seconds. Additionally, Yeezy's have extreme resell value with some sneakers selling for well over $1,000.

"There is something to notice that price seems not to be the most crucial factor that Yeezy fans pay most attention to. The brand’s target audience can be categorized as those who are less sensitive to price. Their intention to buy depends more on how they perceive the actual value of the products."

Xinyuan Zhang

The Successful Strategy of Yeezy in Digital Marketing

“Hip-Hop fans are extremely loyal individuals. Hip-hop carries with it a so-called 'street credibility' that young consumers are highly tuned to. Music plays a key part in their lives, that’s why hip-hop stars are very effective advertising vehicles. Fans will buy almost anything the hip-hop lifestyle endorses: basketball sneakers, clothing lines, beverages, and even automobiles.”

Árpád Ferenc PAPP-VÁRY

HOW TO REACH THE NEXT GENERATION: THE HIP-HOP MARKETING

Innovation

"I'm Not a Musician. I'm an Innovator"

Kanye West

Kanye's ability to innovate when it comes to both music and fashion has led to him being considered one of the greatest at both. An example of this in fashion is the Yeezy Foam Runner. The design of the shoe combined practicalty and streetwear which ultimately became one of the most succesful and recognizeable Yeezy models. On the music side, an album such as "Yeezus", suprised many fans because of it's expirmental production, and "in your face" lyrics. "Yeezus" is another Kanye product which is now considered iconic and was ahead of it's time. This all connects to his marketing as people believe they are buying a product or listening to a song that doesn’t sound like anything else at the current moment. Because of how culturaly iconic many of Kanye's creative works have become, fans feel like they are apart of something special by partaking.

75%

40%

85%

Own or have thought about buying a Yeezy product.

Feel that Kanye's marketing influences their perception of the quality of the product or event he's promoting.

Believe that Kanye's marketing is innovative and unique.

All data conducted from my survey

Conclusion

Ultimately, Kanye West's unconventional marketing strategies have undeniably left a distinguishing mark on both the music and fashion industries. Through a combination of bold creativity, strategic controversy, and leveraging his personal brand, Kanye has challenged traditional marketing norms. Additionally, Kanye has found a way to expand his intial target audience, the likes that very few have. While opinions on his methods vary, there is no denying the impact of his unconventional approach in redefining the boundaries of traditional marketing.

Resources

• https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=XbK-AAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA195&dq=kanye+west&ots=lChkHxleCI&sig=5-TMvmN4yJsJKSMj7rZit7OCfas#v=onepage&q=kanye%20west&f=false
• https://www.clausiuspress.com/conferences/LNEMSS/EAIS%202022/Y0854.pdf
• https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=3364cfc9995ac3c2c8f1f54c64a7416355fb5343
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2016/04/22/six-lessons-kanye-west-can-teach-us-about-marketing/?sh=84c6b9499d10
• https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/kanye-west-im-not-a-musician-im-an-inventor-44953/
• https://www.xxlmag.com/kanye-west-the-college-dropout-bear/#:~:text=The%20Dropout%20Bear%20represents%20the,ultimate%20risk%3A%20following%20one's%20dreams.
• https://www.biography.com/musicians/kanye-west
• https://fashionista.com/2015/02/kanye-west-adidas-yeezy-fashion-week