Rollout Roundup 11: The Best Marketing Rollouts of the Week
Including the rollout of one of my own clients by popular demand.
This week was filled with inspiring single, and not as inspiring album rollouts. Let’s get into it.
Vince Staples - Vince Staples (Album)
A self titled masterpiece, Vince always keeps us guessing.
Strengths: Short, sweet, simple, just what we expect from Vince. He covered all the bases on socials and the creative direction gave us an heir of mystery, which I think is what Vince Staples fans like.
Vince has definitely crafted his brand on being minimalist, and he followed through on that with this project.
Weaknesses: Would love to see some more innovative concepts applied. Vince did a lot of the classic “new project out now” copy on socials etc around the week, but I didn’t see much that set this project apart. I’ll be watching to see if he does anything post-release!
IDK - USee4Yourself (album)
One of the week (and maybe year’s?) most holistic rollouts. It feels like IDK has been buzzing for months.
Strengths: Now if you know me you know the DMV will forever hold my heart! The city (region?) where I lived as a child, went to college, and worked my first music job, so naturally, my eyes are glued to any artist from the DMV committed to giving back to our community. And IDK is doing just that. He also clearly put a lot of thought into cohesive creative direction for the album, which if you’ve been reading Rollout Roundup, you know is a huge must.
Weaknesses: Would love to see him lean in to in-person activations in LA and NYC, but who knows, maybe we will see those soon.
Johan Lenox - World on Fire feat. Kevin George (Single)
I’m really excited about one of my newest clients, Johan Lenox. Johan is quickly becoming a master of visual arts, with the help of a highly curated team, Johan delivered one of the most beautiful single rollouts of the year so far.
Strengths: The World on Fire trailer was stunning, and one of the biggest things I discuss on this blog - the actual, physical appearance and participation of the featured artist, was there 100%.
But perhaps the most exciting part of this single rollout was the early listening party on Discord. Johan’s discord listeners were filled with people from all walks of the music industry, who asked all the juicy questions. And what set this apart from other virtual listening parties, is Johan gave the audience exactly what we wanted - real, honest, candid conversation. It’s been a while since we’ve seen an artist like this. And in turn, the listeners only became more engaged as the night went on.
Weaknesses: For a single, this was a wonderfully thought-out rollout. Some things we have coming with the album will fill in the gaps.
The duo have another collaboration dropping next week, All in my Head - Kevin George feat. Johan Lenox