The Marketing Success of Drake

Drake has done it again. In just 24 hours following his latest album's release date, over 600,000 copies were sold. While many of my fellow classmates probably will, or already have, posted about "Views" or Beyoncé's new album "Lemonade," I decided to take this blog a step further. I looked into all of the marketing ploys and techniques utilized over the years that have built up the rapper's popularity and immense wealth, and ultimately resulted in "Views" overwhelming success.
    
Even before becoming a rapper, Drake was a decently well known actor on the television show "Degrassi: The Next Generation." While I personally am not the biggest fan of the show, through television, Drake was able to establish himself as a face in media before entering the music industry. More recently, Drake signed an endorsement deal with Sprite. Producing several commercials together over the years, the two have had mutual benefit advertising in both televisions an movie theaters worldwide. Just last summer, Sprite produced a line of limited edition cans with some of Drake's most iconic lines on them.

Drake has also pushed his marketing by building a strong association with hometown of Toronto, Canada. He relentless references his home, friends, and family in his music, and also on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Such a rapper who openly expresses his love for family, friends, and home city undoubtedly appeals to some audiences. Drake's strong influence over his media followers has had such an impact, that many now refer to Toronto as "The 6."

Aside from advertising his music, Drake has utilized social media to build his own clothing brand, "October's Very Own." What better way for die-hard fans to show their love for a rap icon, than buy and represent their merchandise. I myself have bought a t-shirt from Drake's website that I wear on a weekly basis. When people purchase Drake's clothing, they post images on social media of them wearing it, others see the items, and then they are urged to buy it for themselves. Brand giant Air Jordan by Nike released a collaboration shoe with Drake's brand. Sneakerheads and Drake fans alike clamored over social media bout when this highly desired pair would be released. When the pair finally released, they sold out instantly, and are currently reselling for up to $1,000. A week before the release of "Views," Drake took advantage of the hype by opening up a pop-up clothing store in New York City to sell apparel. All in all, Drake has capitalized on a fairly simple but effective marketing technique: Design an identifiable logo that people associate you with, then sell products with that logo printed on them .

Months before "Views" release, Drake built fans' excitement and anticipation by releasing ambiguous posts across his social media accounts. As millions were exposed to these posts, rumors about the official release date swirled for nearly a year. Originally titled "Views from the 6," when Drake announced that the album would instead simply be named "Views," the hype for the album grew to the next level. Such a basic title change yielded Drake even more publicity, and possibly more copies sold. In this sense, Drake truly took advantage of social media to market his album long before it finally dropped.

Finally, comes Drake's latest partnership with Apple. The rapper and his marketing team have "Views" "exclusively available on iTunes until May 6." With Apple undoubtedly paying Drake a generous sum of money for this privilege, both sides are benefiting from the rapidly accumulating album sales. With 18 of the album's 20 songs being available strictly for the purchase by "album only," millions are bound to pay $14 to indulge in the iconic rapper's latest tacks. Drake's marketing team have utilized media and partnerships to advertise the rapper perfectly, and the resulting products of incredible success and high profits are only climbing.