The Marketing Bestie Podcast with zoeunlimited - the hottest 𝙢𝙞𝙙 brand

Starting point is 00:00:00 Okay, when I sell my business, I want the best tax and investment advice. I want to help my kids, and I want to give back to the community. Ooh, then it's the vacation of a lifetime. I wonder if my out of office has a forever setting. An IG Private Wealth advisor creates the clarity you need with plans that harmonize your business, your family, and your dreams. Get financial advice that puts you at the center. Find your advisor at IG Private Wealth.com.

Starting point is 00:00:30 Rosen lasagna, medium power, 15 minutes. Sounds like Ojo time. Let's play. Feel the fun with Play Ojo, the online casino with all the latest slot and live casino games. What you win is yours to keep with no wagering requirements, instant payouts and no minimum withdraws. Hey, I just won.

Starting point is 00:00:49 Woohoo! Feel the fun, play Ojo. Honey, forget about the lasagna. Let's celebrate. 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Concern about your gambling or that of someone close to you. Call 16-531-2600 or visitconnxontera.ca.

Starting point is 00:01:00 Money can buy you virality, but it cannot buy you brand. And for a long time, Tate McCray had neither. Tate McCray. Tate McCray. Tate McCray. Hello! So close to what is the Abbey? Ow!

Starting point is 00:01:15 Who the hell is this? Do you know who Tate McCray is? If there was one person doomed to be background famous, it must be Tate McCray. Despite having a major label deal, a TikTok hit. The Hot Girl Asked. assets and phenomenal dance power. No one cared.

Starting point is 00:01:51 It is just kind of like anything generic pop. Who the hell is this? I just know Tate McCray and her team have gotta be pissed on. For years, she lived in pop limbo. Not indie enough for the cool kids, not mainstream enough for the masses. Her songs charted, but her name didn't trend. She had all the makings of a star,

Starting point is 00:02:09 but no gravitational pull. She thought girl would have all those hits, but you wouldn't know who the girl was. Just another high school. copying other pop stars with a record deal, a TikTok hit, and a brand that wasn't branding. Britney Spears is the blueprint. Then suddenly she's everywhere. Topping charts, headlining festivals, becoming the face of rolled skims Adidas,

Starting point is 00:02:37 and most importantly, making people care. Oh my god! The vocal, the delivery, yes! The craze so close to what is the Albaea? So what changed? It's all marketing, babe. The reason he didn't like your story is because he loved it and there's not a button for that. As your marketing bestie, who graduated top 1% UCLE business economics. With a background in marketing, we're going to explore how a shift in branding finally unlock Tate McCraight's success after eight years

Starting point is 00:03:19 and how you can take things from her story and apply them to your dreams. How does it feel being the greatest song rate of all time? Shut up! Because branding is not about putting your name and body on a hood. a brand is about how your dream college, dream job, dream boyfriend sees you. And yes, you have one. I'm creating this series to analyze public culture brands from a marketing perspective because I want all of us to unlock the potential to either be or create brands that can change our future.

Starting point is 00:03:51 And this is the truth about full-time influencing. Is it really worth it? Since I know a lot of you want to or already create content, I'm going to level with you, Views do not mean revenue. There were many instances in my career where I was generating multi-millions of views, but stressed about paying my bills. Why? Because it's about monetizing smarter, not just working harder.

Starting point is 00:04:20 Whether you have 100 followers or 1 million, Collective Voice is a platform I don't want you to sleep on. When I introduced them to my TikTok community, 1.7 million people were so excited to generate more income by doing what they already love. Collective Voice is the go-to platform to grow and monetize the content you are already making because if you show any product in your digital profile, including the shirt you're wearing, you should be generating passive income from that.

Starting point is 00:04:44 Collective voice helps you do this. By easily allowing you to make any of your content shop-able for your audience on any social media platform. It also has a link in bio solution called tap to shop that literally works anywhere. YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, you can use it across any and all of your platforms work smarter, not just harder. Like how I'm in Asia right now, but can generate revenue just as efficiently. So start earning today with collective voice for free with a link in the description below. I'm starting email list and if you want early access to this exclusive community of trends,

Starting point is 00:05:20 insights, deeper dives, make sure to sign up through the link in the description. It's completely free. But what was not free were the two marketing mistakes that almost killed the multi-million dollar potential of Tate McCraight's brand. What the fuck oh. Tate 1.0. Who wants to hear a song I wrote? Okay, let's go!

Starting point is 00:05:42 Yon Tate McRae was born to be an influencer. As young at 7 years old, she began uploading music to her YouTube channel, shared her competitive dancing, performed at Justin Bieber's concert in 2016. Justin Bieber picked you to come on stage during his purpose world tour. He'd pick like four kids. It wasn't that big of a deal. Went on the album, The Generous Show. I swear, she began influencing before influencing was even a thing. Whether it's Lucky Girl Syndrome or persistence or Pursons or P.

Starting point is 00:06:09 both. Her song one day went viral leading to a deal with RCA records in 2017. But what broke her to the world was a little algorithm magic called TikTok. You Broke Me First, hit 1.6 billion streams on Spotify, stayed on Billboard 100 for 38 weeks, got her on Fallon, made her Forbes 30. You're not even 20, right? No, I'm 19. Yeah, 18, oh god. 18 is the earth. Life is great.

Starting point is 00:06:38 Congratulations. How's it feel? Crazy. You would think Tate McCray is set for life to be the next pop princess, right? I performed at Lollapalooza, and they're like 30,000 people on like. Wrong. There's like, does something that cannot get them to stand her? Literally pop gold, just horrible management. I'm miserable.

Starting point is 00:06:56 It's really funny because up until a month ago, when I saw Tate McCray live, I didn't know who she was and thought I'd never listen to one of her songs, until I pulled up my phone and realized, of course you broke me first, is in my spot. But much like the Charlie X-EX curse, a faceless hit song after his song. People mistook me for lore. Tate McCray seems to fall to the dark side of TikTok fame, where after this massive spotlight and attention, it's like a fever dream that never happened.

Starting point is 00:07:26 Because a viral moment invites people to come, but a brand is what make them stay. She just keeps on losing me. Her music is not very good. I'm not the biggest Tate McCray fan. Unlike Olivia Rodriguez, who, who went on becoming the next pop princess. Both talented and pretty and sweet.

Starting point is 00:07:44 Both blew up from TikTok. Why was Tate's brand not branding? Tate McCray is bland and overrated. I got a lot of opinions. Two branding crises. First, generic visual identity. Dark, pitch black hair. It was so ugly on me.

Starting point is 00:08:01 And I had a short little haircut. It was like a medium length. It was so ugly. And everyone told me I looked amazing. Except for my best friend. She was like, never again. She was like, I hate it. Tame McCray's early visual identity was bland.

Starting point is 00:08:14 No signature aesthetic, no standout imagery, and nothing that made her instantly recognizable. Having a good visual brand and pop, it's like running a good PBC and SEO campaign in the sea of brands and advertisements. How else can you stand out in a world of icons? Ariana's high ponytail, Billy's neon green roots, Sabrina Carpenter's ultra-feminine blonde, Charlie XAX's Asid Green. Tate? Cute and Hot Girl, check. But that is literally everyone tried to break into music. Without strong visual branding, she wasn't just an artist with a visibility problem.

Starting point is 00:08:48 She had a memorability problem, which leads to. Second, manufactured playlist filler. Because she sounds like a damn kazoo in a wind tunnel. Tame McCraight's brand hit two red zones. A, she wasn't speaking to a specific audience. She wasn't the alternative cool girl like Billy Elish, nor the relatable heartbreaker like Olivia Rodrigo, and without clear positioning, even the best PPC advertising management wouldn't have been enough to make people care.

Starting point is 00:09:18 The TikTok virus song was there, but the story was not. B, she was marketed in a way that felt too polished, too adult, and too disconnected from the raw Genzi experience. While her peers like Olivia Rodrigo were fully embracing teenage angst and relatability, Tame McCray was being presented, as a hyper-styled, mature pop act. She was placed in sexy, edgy outfits that felt like a Britney Spears knockoff. The issue? You can't help Britney Britney Britney.

Starting point is 00:09:49 Quote, she is gross and trashy, I think STDs when I see her. No class. That is so mean, but the moment you begin to be perceived to be copying someone, you'll only be second best. On top of which, this hypersexualized and polished image for an 18, 19 year old makes no sense when she's also singing sad girl anthems, and that is a song that she is known for, which makes both this Britney wannabe diva image and the music feel inauthentic.

Starting point is 00:10:21 Greedy was a bit premature or they just weren't ready to follow up Greedy with an album full of things just like it. It was a bit of an experiment because it does sound different to everything else that's on the record. Thus, once the algorithm wave wears off, so did her brand because it created no strong connection with the audiences in the first place. Now, someone may argue, wait, aren't her recent sports car and revolving door image, also hyperpolished and giving Hot Girl? Why is that working?

Starting point is 00:10:46 Yes, my dear, be patient. Tate's transformation wasn't accidental. It was a calculated, data-driven, and high-CPM marketing blueprint. She went from just another industry girl, almost a TikToker, to a profitable premium brand that commands attention and revenue across multiple verticals. So watch carefully for all. three marketing strategies to fully understand how Tate McCrae went from an unmemorable girl copying pop stars to a pop star girls want to copy

Starting point is 00:11:19 Hello, I'm Shelley Duvall Heyte 2.0 What's the number one secret of becoming number one that no one can ever beat you in being yourself and that's the secret sauce every single it girl? Sabrina Carpenter, Chapo-Rome Charlie X-EX had to find out the hard way. Despite their years of industry-guided quote-unquote shoulds and shouldn't, which leads to success marketing factor, number one. Bold Realness

Starting point is 00:12:03 Ditching the overly mature aesthetic, Kate's new visual brand leans into a cool girl, slightly effortless, sporty chic aesthetic. Think streetwear influences, slick back hair, and high-energy dance performances that actually feel authentic to who she is. Bang! Bang, bang, bang, bang, yeah.

Starting point is 00:12:23 And this no longer feels like forced maturity or out of sync. She's feminine and magnetic, not just externally. I call her Tatiana. It's an aura that has to come within, that has to take time to develop. Tapping into the most state she can be, of course she has to lean into dance as her strength. That's what I'm like known for. Rather than a distraction,

Starting point is 00:12:45 instead of making her seem like a pop star in training, revolving door position her as a fully real, high-performance artist. A singer-dancer hybrid whose choreography became THE moment. And this is her unique selling point, that even if someone wants a copy, cannot. The Revolving Door music video was executed extremely well. Simple, clean, powerful.

Starting point is 00:13:14 Just dancing, no crazy set, effects. Why? Because Tate is the moment. And the imagery is genius in two ways. two ways. A, it symbolizes career evolution. Tate McCray is no longer standing still. She's stepping into her main pop girl era and a revolving door represents that non-stop forward movement. The revolving door positions Tate as someone who is always stepping into the next big thing. So move fast, like you're in the sports car. B. Luxury and high society vibes. Where do you see

Starting point is 00:13:49 revolving doors? Luxury hotels, fashion houses, high-end retail stores. It reinforces that she not just in the industry, she's moving through elite spaces and creating a more elevated association that ties with beautiful and elegant white visuals. If I were on her team, I would highly push her to continue this clean, powerful, but still the nasty gal type of visual. I would call this the elevated nasty girl aesthetic. Classy, but playful. It makes her instantly recognizable and more importantly, marketable. Speaking of ways, which someone on her team is crushing. Second, brand partnerships.

Starting point is 00:14:32 Not every person of influence needs to launch a brand. Seriously, because the game of using brand endorsements to elevate a personal brand is sometimes more on brand and can use the borrow credibility from an existing brand to help establish a newer brand. Just think how the 171 years of legacy of Louis Vuitton helped Emma Chamberlain. And every single partnership I would dive into,

Starting point is 00:14:56 further brought out Tate McCraight's new visual brand and reinforces a new lens to see her as a Gen Z fashion and beauty icon. First, road collab and association with Haley Beaver, which is shot so beautifully. How does Road get it right every single time? Clean Girl classy, playful, a signal that Tate was part of the exclusive A Girl Club and placed her in the same cultural spaces as Haley Beaver and Gen Z luxury minimalism. Because what is Haley Bieber if not a walking Pinterest mood board and Gen Z Beauty Standard? By association, Tate McCray is now seen in the light of being the Gen Z beauty standard. Say, I heart Haley!

Starting point is 00:15:42 I heart Haley! Which of course would not be the same without. Second, Skim's ultimate main pop girl stamp of approval, which is so on brand. for the sexy brand that Tate McCray has been growing into. Quote, gonna buy the entire Skims holiday collection because of you. And Skims is known for curating a whose next energy in pulp culture. Sabrina Carpenter, I spies Charlie X-E-S, Rose, you name it. It tapped into the sexy but not over-the-top image that Tate was crafting,

Starting point is 00:16:13 balancing her sporty, high-energy appeal with a more confident grown-up rebrand. Everybody's wearing skins. Which makes her more desirable for fuel. future partnerships. Because once you work with skims, other brands want in. Therefore, third, Adidas. Which again, is such a good alignment. With her sporty, high energetic aesthetic, she makes a brand feel sexy, young, feminine.

Starting point is 00:16:41 While the brand gives her an effortless chic, relatable, yet aspirational feel, and of course the luxury houses. Mugler, Mew, and High-end Beauty Collabs positioned her as an aspirational Gen Z brand. This wasn't just about aesthetics. was strategy. Luxury brand alignments boosts CPM rates and makes an artist more valuable to retail digital advertising. So now with an actually impactful brand, she can build the third marketing principle. Sustainable virality. Tame McRae's early TikTok success with You Broke Me First was huge but fleeting. It was algorithm-driven, not brand-driven.

Starting point is 00:17:18 The song blew up but Tate herself didn't. Her new songs are still trendy on TikTok. The lyrics are still very clippable, tic-tokable. But now the virality is by design, not by accident. Instead of the songs going by people's heads, now having a strong visual brand people can remember, every time her song comes on from a trend, it's free organic advertising for Tame McCray, instead of Tate's music, advertising a trend.

Starting point is 00:17:50 Therefore, just like how espresso was everywhere. Not just through trends, but by tying the common everyday object, Espresso. Every time you see one, you think of Sabrina Carpenter. Now every time you see a sports car, you think Tate McCray. Every time you enter a revolving door, you think Tate McCray. The level of priming and association is crazy powerful. And that's how Tate went from background noise to an omnipresent icon of Gen Z pop culture. Tate's rebrand isn't just about getting a hit song. It isn't about being lucky or hot. It was about turning herself into a profitable aspirational. brand since over 13 years ago sharing her love for music on YouTube from

Starting point is 00:18:32 forgettable to a paid social advertising agency's dream I for one changed my opinion on how she's a ticotker to a real performer but can she continue creating long impactful art and earn the brand of an artist time will tell and if you're Tate McCray watching this only if you're Tate McCray I'm a huge fan of your rebranded direction if you want to do a dive or chat about brand together in person, contact me. This couch is yours. Until then, this is your marketing best to use Zoe Unlimited. Comment which brand you'd like me to analyze next through a marketing perspective. Episodes are available on all podcast networks, Apple, Spotify, YouTube.

Starting point is 00:19:11 Sharing something valuable is the best gift you can give to someone. So share this episode with someone you love and care about to level up together. And I will see you next week.

The Marketing Bestie Podcast with zoeunlimited - the hottest 𝙢𝙞𝙙 brand

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.