Analysing Central Cees marketing Strategy.
Central Cee is arguably one of the biggest UK rappers to emerge out of 2020 / 2021. Although it may seem like he simply wrote a hit song and got lucky, there is a lot more contributing factors to his success than what meets the eye. In this article we will analyse some of the key tactics and marketing decisions that made Central Cee one of the biggest artists on the GRM platform.
Fashion
TO BE THE BIGGEST ARTIST YOU HAVE TO LOOK LIKE IT.
He often matches his clothing to other objects in his videos such as cars or walls (as seen in the examples below). The use of colour co-ordination is aesthetically pleasing to the audience and demands attention. This helps him stand out amongst other artists on the platform in a world where thumbnails are seen before music is heard.
His focus on fashion has helped him break into avenues other than music, such as working along side clothing brand Trapstar giving him more financial stability to support videos, studio time and promotion.
Central Cee has amassed over 1.9 Million instagram followers over the space of a couple of years. Almost reaching the same number of followers as GRM Daily currently at 2.2 Million. His instagram brings a whole load of traction to his music every time he uploads.
He posts high quality photos of him and his outfits. As a mogul in the fashion industry now, people look up to him and his fashion choices. This helps him get sponsorships and collaborations from brands as his traction increases their sales giving more and more exposure.
Re-branding his sound
Cench jumped into the scene rapping to hip hop in his Street heat freestyle in 2015 and then developed into a trap wave artist with songs such as “wake up” and his “Drip too hard remix”.
The auto tune style of music didn’t seem to be connecting with his audience as much as he may of hoped. He then released instagram freestyles showing people that he can still rap and fluctuate in his style. After releasing his first drill track “day in a life” everything changed. He hit his first million views and never looked back.
Billboards and Murals
In the lead up to his album release he used billboard promotion around London. Billboard promotion targets a high concentration of people in specific areas which can be good if your target audience are of a certain demographic or location. He also has a mural painted of him. This was perhaps more effective than a billboard as onlookers would appreciate the artistic value and look for longer.
Releasing Merch
Merchandise is another avenue for music artists to create another income stream. It can be financially rewarding, bring you closer to fans and increase artist exposure. Central released Cd’s in march 2021 promoting his eagerly awaited album “Wild West”. He also collaborated with Chicken Kitchen giving out 200 free meals in return for fans taking photos with his mural or floor stencil (fans post to their instagrams promoting his album).
Remixing popular songs
A more recent marketing strategy of his has been to make drill remixes of popular songs outside of his genre such as “Obsessed with you” (remix of PinkPantheress - “Just for me”) and “Ruby” (remix of Foreigner - Cold As Ice”).
This tactic allows him to draw fans from other genres that may not usually listen to his music and has nostalgic value for people who like the original tracks.
Conclusion
There is a whole lot that comes into being an artist than just making good music, regardless of how talented you are. Think of your music like a product… It can be the best in the world but if no one knows about it, it can’t get very far.
