“Scarlet” A Blueprint For A Modern Music Rollout: A Case Study of Doja Cat's Provocative Marketing for New Album "Scarlet"

Introduction

With her rapid rise to fame in the last few years, Doja Cat has proven herself as an innovative and adaptable artist both musically and aesthetically. As she prepared to release her highly anticipated 3rd studio album "Scarlet" in 2023, Doja Cat and her team executed an unconventional marketing campaign that leveraged her unpredictability to generate buzz.

Background

Doja Cat first broke through in 2018 with her viral hit "Mooo!" showcasing her quirky personality. She achieved mainstream success in 2019-2020 with hits like "Say So", "Streets", and "Kiss Me More". Doja Cat has crafted a unique style that blends pop, R&B, hip-hop, and electronic music, appealing to a diverse audience. She is known for her bold, experimental fashion choices and dynamic visuals.

Objectives

The goals for the "Scarlet" campaign were:

• Generate excitement and intrigue leading up to the album release

• Expand Doja Cat's audience reach beyond her existing fanbase

• Establish Doja Cat as a genre-bending artist who constantly reinvents herself

• Increase streaming numbers, sales, and chart performance for the album

Target Audience

Doja Cat has a multicultural audience spanning genres, though her core base skews young [13-30 yrs old]. Her target audience for "Scarlet" was:

• Existing fans from previous eras looking for new music

• Younger listeners drawn to Doja's youthful spirit and memes

• Hip-hop, R&B, pop, and alternative music fans

• Culture vultures fascinated by Doja's audacious style

Marketing Strategy

The campaign emphasized Doja Cat's unpredictability and penchant for shocking visuals. Each single/video introduced a new personality:

• "Demons" depicted her haunting Christina Ricci in gothic fashion

• "Paint the Town Red" featured her as a devilish figure surrounded by blood and raw meat

• "Attention" channeled East Coast rap energy as she confidently walks down the streets of New York being harangued by critics.

• Doja Cat intentionally unfollowed fans and deleted her Threads account, sparking controversy. This fit her radical, unfiltered brand.

Marketing Channels

Doja Cat leveraged social media engagement, music videos, print/online media, live events, and strategic partnerships.

• Instagram: Teased provocative photos, behind-the-scenes looks

• YouTube: Premiered vivid music videos with millions of views

• TikTok: Shared dance challenges and memes inspired by her songs

• Twitter: Made candid statements about unfollowing fans

• Media

  • Variety Cover: Stylish photoshoot and interview about her new era

• Live Performances:

  • Coachella: Delivered a high-energy festival performance

  • 2023 VMA MTV Performance of “Attention”, “Paint The Town Red” and “Demons”

• Fashion: Attended the Met Gala as Christian Dior’s Cat & Victoria Secret Fashion Show in a divisive sheer dresses.

Content Strategy

Doja Cat stayed active on social media, posting regularly to engage her audiences. She varied her content between music announcements, fashion photoshoots, relatable humor, candid thoughts, and replies to fans. This balanced promotional material with raw, unfiltered personal content.

Doja Cat took an experimental approach to her music video content for "Scarlet", collaborating with different creative partners to develop unique visuals for each single.

“Attention”

• Director: Tanu Muino

• Producer: Robert Katz

• Label Producer: Sam Houston

• Creative Director: Brett Alan Nelson

• Production Company: UnderWonder Content

• Exec Producer: Frank Borin x Ivanna Borin

• Director of Photography: Nikita Kuzmenko

"Demons"

• Directed by Christian Breslauer and Doja Cat

• Styled by Brett Alan Nelson

• Featured haunted gothic aesthetic with original Wednesday Adam’s, Christina Ricci.

• Established dark, horror-inspired motif

"Paint the Town Red”

• Co-directed by Doja Cat and Nina McNeely

• Concept based on Doja Cat's original paintings

• Used bloody, sinister visuals and Devil/Grim Reaper

• Matched tone of confrontational lyrics about haters

“Agora Hills” 

• Director: Hannah Lux Davis & Doja Cat

• Executive Producer: Brandon Bonfiglio, Luga Podesta, Andrew Lerios

• Label Producer: Sam Houston

• Production Company: London Alley

Doja Cat pushed boundaries with the provocative imagery in her videos, leveraging shock value. But she balanced this with raw behind-the-scenes looks on social media. Each video introduced a new alter ego and expanded her artistic breadth. The varied visual directions kept fans guessing what she would do next.

The color palette for the album visuals featured darker, moodier tones like black, red, and brown. This supported the gothic, sinister vibe of music videos like "Demons" and "Paint the Town Red." The prevalence of red tied back to the album title "Scarlet" and matched Doja Cat's crimson outfits depicting devilish/demonic alter egos.

Imagery included Gothic fonts, crucifixes, horns, and other Satanic symbols. Doja Cat leveraged the provocative nature of this dark, devil-worshipping aesthetic to generate controversy and buzz. Associating an artist with Satanism and the occult has been used as a promotional tactic in the past by musicians like Marilyn Manson, Lady Gaga, Three 6 Mafia and Madonna. Doja Cat is drawing on this trope of using profane, blasphemous imagery to signal rebellion and rejection of traditional social/religious norms.

The devil epitomizes temptation, sin, and hedonism. By portraying devilish personas, Doja Cat is embracing female sexuality and freedom of expression unconstrained by conservatism. Her refusal to conform to expectations and willingness to shock aligns with the disruptive, unapologetic nature of the devil archetype.

Overall, Doja Cat is tapping into the provocative appeal of devil and occult symbols to highlight her bold artistry. The dark visual direction complements her unpredictable, unfiltered approach to marketing "Scarlet" and reinforces her brand as a rebellious, genre-bending artist.

Data & Analytics

Key metrics contributing to "Scarlet's" success:

• Music videos exceeded 100M+ views each

  • “Paint the Town Red” - 62 million

  • “Attention” - 21 million

  • “Demons” - 16 million

  • “Agora Hills” 4.5 million views in 72 hours

• 26 million TikTok followers

• 25 million Instagram followers

• 73 million current Spotify monthly listeners

Chart Data reported that Doja Cat broke the record, with Doja surpassing 65.7 million monthly listeners on the streaming platform. It appears that Doja beat out Nicki Minaj for the title, who currently holds an average of 61.6 million monthly listeners. Meanwhile, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion average around 33 million and 24 million, respectively. [source]

Promotions & Partnerships

Doja Cat partnered with fashion brands for sponsorship and appearances:

• Performed at Victoria's Secret fashion show

• Featured in Stuart Weitzman ad campaign

• Wore custom Mugler outfits for performances

In a series of now-deleted Instagram posts, she said the Victoria Secret dress was "unadjustable" and uncomfortable.

"It's crazy when you got a dress on and your whole vagina is out the whole night and the straps on the dress pull ur tits all the way down to your knees and all you asked for was a slip dress but i digress," she wrote in the first post she shared in a series of posts.

These partnerships expanded her visibility beyond just music fans but also represented her bold rebelliousness.

Fan Engagement

Her provocative statements kept fans and media outlets talking as they awaited her album. In addition to the official music videos, Doja Cat partnered with TikTok creators to make dance challenges and memeable content set to her new singles. This included videos using viral TikTok remixing techniques like speeding up/slowing down the music.

For example, a slowed + reverb version of her track "Woman" went viral on TikTok, garnering over 2 million video creations. Doja Cat herself duetted and reacted to many of these fan-made TikTok remixes, further boosting engagement.

Similarly, the #WomanDance challenge took off on TikTok set to the sped up "chipmunk" version of the song. Doja Cat did her own take, showing off her moves.

Leveraging TikTok remix culture allowed Doja Cat's music to spread through user-generated content. Tapping into viral sounds/memes expanded her exposure beyond just fans to the broader TikTok community.

Releasing multiple musical versions of her singles also added versatility for content creation. This innovative use of TikTok aligned perfectly with Doja Cat's experimental, internet-savvy approach to marketing "Scarlet."

The Creative Minds Behind “Scarlet”: Get To Know Team Doja

• Management: SALxCO x Gordon Dillard

• Production Designer: Alex Delgado [+ won a VMA for Best Art Direction Lil Nas X, Jack Harlow’s “Industry Baby”]

• Video Direction: Christian Breslauer

• Video Producers: Sam Houston, Brandon Bonfiglio, Luga Podesta, Andrew Lerios

• Production Company: London Alley & The Lucky Bastards Inc.

• Creative Director: Brett Alan Nelson

• Label Partners: Kemosabe and RCA Records

• Campaign Creative: Leonardo Araujo

• Art Director: Gavin James Taylor

• Label Marketing: Val Pensa, Gina Messeri, Nick Anderson

• Digital Marketing Manager: Carlos Cuadros

^{*if we missed you, feel free to message us and we’ll add your credit}

Challenges

The unpredictable marketing approach also posed risks:

• Relying too much on shock value over substance

• Alienating longtime fans with polarizing actions

• Overshadowing the music with extravagant and controversial imagery

• Spreading herself too thin across different styles and potentially alienated her pop base with grittier rap records like “Attention” and “Demons”

Results

The campaign achieved its goals and amplified "Scarlet's" success:

• Debuted with strong first week sales

• Drew new listeners and retained existing fans

• Expanded her audience reach in demographics

• Broke personal and industry records for streaming

• Earned critical praise for artistic evolution

Lessons Learned

Key takeaways from Doja Cat's marketing campaign:

• Leverage unpredictability and shock value in moderation

• Balance promotional content with raw, unfiltered personas

• Music and visuals should complement each other

• Controversy sparks conversation but may alienate some fans

• Reinvention must feel authentic to resonate with audiences

Conclusion

Doja Cat's innovative marketing for "Scarlet" generated substantial buzz by embracing her unpredictability. The campaign provides valuable lessons for developing artist mystique and engaging audiences through reinvention. It demonstrates the potential payoffs and risks of controversial marketing tactics. This case study is by no means exhaustive, so please reach out to us at [email protected] or leave a comment with questions, suggestions and/or additional insight.

A well-documented case study of successful hip-hop and R&B artist marketing campaigns should provide a detailed analysis of the strategies and data that led to their achievements. It serves as a valuable resource for understanding effective music marketing techniques in these genres and can be used as a reference for future campaigns.

Bonus Tip

To kick start your own music marketing strategy, try this prompt:

“Develop a content marketing strategy based on the AIDA model [Attention, Interest, Desire, Action] to create engaging content that attracts and converts music fans.”

• ChatGPT

• Bard

• Claude