Written by: Vickie Sullivan | April 27, 2021
Branding Lessons from a Supervillain
Earlier this month, we explored how to get away with being a renegade. The Showtime documentary series Supervillain: The Making of Tekashi 6ix9ine puts that dynamic into overdrive and offers branding lessons.
Tekashi 6ix9ine is a hip-hop artist who rose to fame and notoriety through his mastery of social media.
While a difficult task, let’s move past his bad behavior. What this series really spells out is how people create fame from nothing. The interview in episode one conducted by Rolling Stone senior editor Jeff Ihaza has great insights about branding and mythmaking that all thought leaders can apply.
Two branding strategies you can apply:
• Make your role your North Star. Ihaza lists five other rap artists and the role they play in the same marketplace. And he discusses how those roles drove every strategic decision about partnerships, physical appearance, and even song choice. That kind of discipline can work for you, too. Your next best step: Determine your role and dedicate branding decisions based on that.
Listen: How Fame Is Manufactured
• Popularity drives opportunities. The producer (and gang member) who discovered Tekashi 6ix9ine said it best: There are a lot of rappers better than him, but his videos are fire. Tekashi’s villain role in video created a “can’t look away” reaction to get millions of views. That popularity created a bandwagon that others (such as the Blood gang) wanted to jump on.
Yes, Tekashi used the extreme. But we don’t have to. These dynamics work for good causes, too.
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