The Verzuz Effect: What Hip-Hop Can Teach Brands About Becoming Multi-Generational

Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds.

That name rings bells with any fan of R&B, but for those unaware, Babyface rose to prominence in the 90s as one of the founders of Laface Records; the record label responsible for acts like TLC, Usher, OutKast, Toni Braxton, and more.

In short, he’s a legend.

But the thing about music is that it’s generational. While Babyface is the architect of the R&B sound, many fans from this generation (looking at you Gen Z) were unfamiliar with him… That is, until Verzuz.

YOU KNOW WHAT VERZUZ IS… RIGHT?

If you don’t, Verzuz is a musician battle created by music producers Swizz Beatz, and Timbaland.

Two opposing musicians play their best 20 songs, and the crowd gets to crown the winner based on catalog, hype, and presence.

At the height of the pandemic, when the world was closed, you could look forward to a Verzuz match happening on IG live. The battles were so massive that they caused IG to change their platform to allow live streams with audiences larger than 100k viewers.

At its height, some battles even reached the millions on Instagram, alone!

To bring this into focus a little more…

While appearing on the podcast ‘Million Dollarz Worth of Game’ to talk about his life and career, Face announced that he’s dropping a new album soon and credits his new inspiration to Verzuz — an endeavor that gained him 700k Instagram followers.

Yes, you read that correctly. After one event, Babyface went from 300k Instagram followers to 1 million, and in the process, a new generation of fans found his music.

Ladies & gents this is what Babyface, and others have called:

THE VERZUZ EFFECT

The Verzuz effect refers to the boost in popularity that many legacy musicians received after doing their virtual battle on Instagram. Many artists, like Babyface, saw a noticeable bump in their streams and social media followings, and others were even able to land new deals because of the renewed popularity.

This is the blueprint for brands who are hoping to become multi-generational.

HOW DOES “THE VERZUZ EFFECT” WORK?

Glad you asked. Consider this…

Business strategist Douglas Holt talks about the need for brands to create new myths to stay relevant in the minds of consumers in his book How Brands Become Icons.

That means that the product can be the same but the myth surrounding it has to be new.

Apply this to the Babyface vs Teddy Riley match, and the other Verzuz matches for that matter.

In any other world, if these two said they were headlining a tour together it would surely excite fans of R&B, and New Jack Swing (and probably sell out with that crowd).

However, by taking the battle to Instagram, they crafted a new myth around themselves: One where two musical heavyweights, both reclusive, make a rare appearance when the world is at a complete standstill.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR OTHER BRANDS?

Remember what we talked about earlier. Musicians are generally confined to their generation.

Without the Verzuz Effect, legacy acts would have little exposure or incentive to work with the new generation of talent. The same goes for brands in other categories.

In a nutshell, for brands, that means exposing yourself to new platforms, even unproven ones, to see what the next generation is doing is a major key.

Because, at its core, Verzuz is a hip-hop platform. And Hip-hop is about the youth. It dominates as a genre is because Hip-hop is all about what the next generation of youth is doing and how they’re transforming the landscape.

For brands hoping to be multi-generation, their mission should be the same: See what the youth are doing, and engage with them.

LONG STORY SHORT…

Take a risk and try something new. At first, Babyface wasn’t sure if Verzuz was for him, but he agreed to participate.

If that wasn’t scary enough, when the battle initially took place, technical difficulties sparked an onslaught of internet ridicule (though not necessarily at Babyface).

He almost didn’t do the rematch, but something magical happened.

The older generation started sharing his music with the younger generation on social media and in the end the match HAD to happen.

And in the end, Babyface went ahead the rematch. Now he’s reaping the benefits.

Anyone’s brand can experience the Verzuz Effect. The trick? Try something new this week.

Peace.