Verzuz TV has unofficially emerged as the entertainment star of 2020 if ever such an award category is declared. Verzuz IG battles created by mega Hip Hop producers Swizz Beatz and Timbaland pairs selected industry heavyweight artiste in a 20 round musical battle against each other. The concept simple in execution was sometimes flawed with technical difficulties but these glitches were insufficient to deter it from becoming the quarantine entertainment brand people trust.
Personal Brand Reputation
Creating a trustworthy and successful brand always contains some key ingredients: reliability, proven results and quality are a few of the staples necessary to achieve this feat. Fortunately, the idea which turned into an entertainment brand had all these factors combined with the stellar personal brand each founder brought to the concept. With superstar producers spearheading the idea their personal brand’s reputation brought credibility to the initiative.
Product Quality
Selecting artiste such as Babyface, Neyo, John Legend, Kirk Franklin and Jill Scott to name a few was a genius move as it ensured the brand’s quality would be built using entertainment of a certain caliber. The artistes selected have all attained enormous success in their respective careers, and their catalog of music spans decades. By bringing these artistes to the Verzuz platform it guaranteed viewership by tapping into their respective fan bases. The presence of these artiste drew the interest of sponsors resulting in Ciroc owned by P Diddy becoming the official drink of the event.
Understanding the Consumer Market
Verzuz IG platform initially required each artiste to “go live” on their respective IG accounts. This simple but genius business move was accessible for both artiste and fans to enter. Swizz Beatz and Timbaland paid attention to the way audiences are consuming content during quarantine.
Social distancing restrictions resulted in cancelled concerts and other entertainment events. These cancellations left a gap in the entertainment market that needed to be filled. Verzuz TV provided the answer by bringing the concert to audiences’ living rooms. Through real-time interactions and reactions viewers were able to engage in the comment section of each battle keeping the essence of the concert atmosphere.
Versatility
Music is a universal language therefore showcasing music outside of the urban American market of hip hop and r&b would undoubtedly garner fans from other genres of music. This was clearly evident when the Verzuz TV battle series entered the dancehall arena. The battle between legends Bounty Killa and Beenie Man generated the most views for the platform and has been labelled by fans as the most electrifying performances.
Tapping into the Caribbean market brought lovers of that genre of music to the event and increased brand awareness. It also produced a cross pollination of fans by exposing unfamiliar Verzuz TV fans to dancehall music.
Intellectual Property (IP) Intelligence
As the concert series continued to enjoy success, all subsequent battles were hosted on the Verzuz TV IG account created to drive viewership to the series. This was an intelligent IP business move by the series creators as they began securing the brand’s IP assets.
The Verzuz TV brand owns the www.verzuztv.com domain name, although to date the landing page does not have significant content. In a bid to further protect all the brand’s IP assets a trademark application is pending for both Verzuz and Verzuz TV. The application filed with the United States Trademark and Patent Office (USPTO) indicates the applicant has sought registration for the brand in the classes of entertainment services, beverages, apparel and jewelry to name a few.
By applying for a registered trademark for Verzuz and Verzuz TV the creators have positioned themselves to take the brand to unlimited markets through mechanizing and are seeking to protect the brand from infringement
Proven Results
The best way to determine the success of a brand is by examining their track record for delivering results. Verzuz TV has not only emerged the entertainment quarantine saviour for people seeking entertainment, it has been financially beneficial for several artiste showcased during the series.
According to a Bet article: “Nielsen Music and MRC released its mid-year report for the first half of 2020 that showed that Verzuz has been a significant boon to artists’ music streams.
The article also noted: “Erykah Badu and Jill Scott saw the most substantial jump after their sole female-fronted battle in May, with a 217 percent increase in their streaming numbers. In close second right behind them was Beenie Man and Bounty Killer’s Labor Day affair, who led to a 216 percent increase for their music catalog. Teddy Riley and Babyface were third with a 90 percent increase. Lastly, Ludacris and Nelly’s battle on May 16 raised their streaming numbers by a combined 30 percent.”
The Verzuz TV blueprint on how they achieved their success is a business lessons many entertainment brands should carefully observe.
