Brands and Black Culture: The Verzuz Effect

As the world continues to develop innovative ways to make life feel “normal” in the midst of a global pandemic, one standout solution has cemented itself in the R&B and Hip-Hop communities with record-breaking (organic) numbers. Verzuz is a product of mega-producers Timbaland and Swizz Beats looking to find a way to bring back the live rap battles that birthed modern rap. The output is an Instagram Live of two artists, producers or DJs considered "Black Legacy" artists going head to head on the platform. What makes it better than your typical Twitter beef between celebrities? The artists come together to hype up and celebrate their history instead of battling things out the old-school way.

Verzuz was a nearly accidental solve for the mega-producers. With an Instagram following of over 3 million since its April inception, Verzuz has established itself as a cornerstone for music lovers to engage with Black Legacy artists and celebrate music catalogues together. The account amplifies black voices while also successfully providing nostalgia-filled long-form entertainment - and brands should take note. Here’s why:

• In the week and a half from the announcement of a battle between Monica and Brandy to the actual Live coverage, top tier outlets like People, Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, Variety, E! Online and more garnered over 5 billion (yeah, that’s billion with a ‘B’) impressions across social and media coverage.
• Beyond that, the lead up also saw over 1.2 million engagements on social across Monica, Brandy and Verzuz’s Twitter and Instagram accounts.
• And the Live battle garnered over 4 million views.
• A brand partnership with Ciroc garnered over 1k tweets (800 of those were during the Live or within the day following the battle) with users commenting about the Ciroc bottles set up in the background.
• This event had more social conversation buzz than the 2020 VMA’s.
• Ciroc has partnered with Verzuz and has branding on social posts from the platform as well as a physical presence in each video.
• Ciroc partnerships with Verzuz have gained 3k tweets within the last 90 days of partnerships.
• Ciroc isn’t the only big brand that sees the value of working with Verzuz. In a bidding war for streaming rights between every major streaming service, Apple TV+ was the ultimate winner. The streaming giant will simulcast the live battle and also host it for post-live viewing.
• The new partnership has reportedly increased viewing numbers, as there is more of an opportunity for post-live viewership.
• Verzuz’s most watched battle to date - Brandy vs. Monica, garnered over 1.8 million streams in the 3 days since the battle alone.
• Apple and Ciroc aren’t the only ones benefiting from the massive success of the new battle scene, artists who perform on the stream see a rise of 200-300% in streams of their music catalogue in the weeks following.
• Lena Waithe is working on a Verzuz documentary that’s highly anticipated.
• The battles aren’t stopping with hip-hop and R&B, Swizz and Timbaland have plans to expand, “We haven’t even hit the Latin space, we haven’t even hit the African space, we haven’t even hit the global space that we’re definitely going into.”

At this point, Verzuz is nearing cultural cornerstone status. Based on the fact that they’ve been able to organically grow their channel and sustain quality at such a fast rate is indicative of future growth and the endless possibilities that a partnership could entail. Hopping on board earlier rather than later is key to a mutually beneficial partnership.