The Marketing Bestie Podcast with zoeunlimited - the step by step rebrand of Doja Cat

Episode Date: September 11, 2025

✍🏻FREE EMAIL LIST ⁠⁠https://tapx.it/stanzoeunlimited⁠nobody markets like Doja Cat (because nobody DARES)did Doja Cat create her DOWNFALL? Or in actuality a *genius marketing campaign?✨If you want to smell and feel AMAZING this holiday! 👉🏻Grab the Limited Edition Holiday Scents perfect for self care & gifting at Ulta, Target, Walmart, & Amazon! Or shop directly herehttps://www.treehutshea.com/collections/body-scrubs Thank you TreeHut for sponsoring 🩷Subscribe to learn how to build a brand.✍🏻FREE EMAIL LIST ⁠https://tapx.it/stanzoeunlimitedLearn & Grow with me.💖 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoeunlimited/💜 TikTok: http://www.tiktok.com/@zoeunlimited🖤 Listen on Apple & Spotify: http://apple.co/zoeunlimited https://open.spotify.com/show/0ZReedpR6Bf1kvHeKBuWY1🪭 All my outfits https://www.shopltk.com/explore/zoeunlimited👩🏻‍💻 LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/zoeunlimited🛒 Essentials https://www.amazon.com/shop/zoeunlimited📧 Business inquiries: [e-mail]👉use code ZOEUNLIMITED for 10% off ALL travels on Klook https://t.ly/aA76T//🕙Timestamps: 0:00 Intro0:39 Downfall or Genius?4:16 Pink Kitty Era9:07 Demon Era17:25 Branding Warning

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Nice travels. How much can you get away with being hot? Doja Cat. Doja Cat. Most played artist of the year. Your Artist of the Year award goes to Doja. Doja Cat! Shut up.

Shut the fuck up. Dumb-ass. Dumpty. A bitch. I think I might have accidentally pissed off Doja Cat. Getting canceled. Cancel. Like this is literally what she's doing.

100% sold her soul. Being called out. Was rude as fuck to her family. Lost over 900,000 followers on Instagram. They said Doja hit so sticky, I said... If there was one person destined to be a pop princess, it must be Doja Cat. Born with a pop-culturally favorite beautiful face and body, hitting charts from TikTok to Billboard,

collaborated with Nicki Minaj, Ariana Grande, Cizza The Weekend, Headlined at Coachella, Loved by brands from makeup to Victoria's Secret. But somehow, there is still a way to mess everything up. I am done with Doja Cat. I went off on her fan. Entitled to the people who consumed her music and basically made her famous.

We love you. I've seen Doja Cat live both at the 2022 and 2024 Coachella, both phenomenal. And yes, some things never change. And some things will never be the same. So how did Doja Cat go from? Bubbly pink pop princess to one of the most hated women on the internet, lost half a million of all and single-handedly set fire to her $12 million brand. And was it a true downfall or in actuality a genius marketing campaign?

That's exactly the mystery we won't cover today. As your marketing bestie, who graduated top 1% UCLA business economics with a background in marketing, we're going to explore how being hot can still fail you if you have a terrible brand. And how you, yes you, no matter if you have hot girl privilege or not, can build a success. brand to help you down your career. And by brand, I don't just mean slap your name on a palette. Branding is about how your future college, future boss, future boyfriend sees you. And I'm creating this series to analyze pop culture girl icons from a marketing perspective

because many of whom do not recognize the power of influence they have over a generation of young girls. I get exposed. What do you mean? Why are you different now? Shut the fuck up. And despite how the whole internet has been counted. down on Ms. Doja Cat's downfall, we'll also talk about a few ways to extend the life of her brand, other than cussing out at fans or public nudity. I just wanted to hop on here and tell all my fans to suck my dick, that's right, this is how I talk now.

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Amala Ratna Zendal Domini was not raised like other human children. She was raised by the internet. Dropping out of high school, she claimed that she slept on the floor and spent, quote, all night and day browsing the internet, looking for beats and instruments from YouTube, which she downloaded and used to create her own music. I had like a mattress on the floor. I had a desktop, IMAX, start recording stuff in the garage band. And yeah, that was pretty much it.

Needless to say, our girl has talents. using just garage band. She taught herself to sing, rap, and uploaded her music to SoundCloud. Note here, Doja Cat's love for music began as pure and genuine, which is why her earliest work, such as So High in 2012, that I discovered in 2022 was still something that I could listen and relisten to. And was why she became discovered and got signed to Kimosabe Records under the notorious Dr. Luke.

Dr. Luke, as we know, is the alleged rapist of Kesha, and all female artists he's work with, including Katie Perry, seems to have gone through some radical changes. But because Dr. Luke was under fire for sexual assault, which meant no time to help Doja Cat out in her career, she was on her own. And for four years straight, from 2014 to 2018, Doja Cat was kind of off the radar and, was shelved to the side. Little does you know that by casually writing a meme song called Moo on a live stream with like 60-something people. The ride that steals the spotlight every time it hits the road,

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But here's the difference between someone randomly blowing up on the internet versus Doja Cat's Mooh moment. Prior to Mo, she already took four years of hard work, song releases, and was ready to be put into the spotlight. And that is key to create to create a successful brand versus a lot of TikTokers who quickly blew up then quickly faded away. Now that Doja Cat stepped into the spotlight, it was a rapid fire push into the momentum, where she had breakthroughs after breakthroughs. I like to downplay a lot of shit. Where she began to be repackaged into a more marketable, serious artists.

From her album Hot Pink that broke her into Billboard Hot 100 to say so featuring Nikki Menon, That was number one at Billboard Top 100. It perfectly aligned with the timing of TikTok becoming a popular app as a song trended on everyone's 4 You page. Where Charlie Demalio James Charles and anyone with the TikTok danced to the songs. Her audio stream went up 300%. One top female artist of Billboard made it to Forbes 30 on their 30, but there was one problem. This was a brand-name angle from a record label. Doja Cat went from just trolling on the internet and having fun with music,

to selling sex through music to be commercially viable. And anytime a brand is inauthentic to an artist, it will lead to a buildup trouble that will explode any given day. Luckily or unluckily, it didn't yet. Because her next album, Planet Her, was another commercial success. The song with Siza, kiss me more, brainwashed basically every person with an internet connection. I was at her Coachella set in 2022 and it was phenomenal.

She struck me as an artist who puts a lot of time and effort into her performance and artistry. From the visuals to the dance to the live vocals, I mean, before that I always had the perception that she was maybe a little bit overrated, but was I wrong? Her live quality proved to me that she was not only a true artist, but a true star. However, like I said, the stardom of this pop princess was made through the hands of more than just one person. and mostly not through Doja Cat. And as a result, it became a crippling shell. Doja Cat herself admitted, quote, Planet Her and Hot Pink were cash grabs and y'all fell for it.

Now I can go disappear somewhere and touch grass with my loved ones on an island while y'all weep from mediocre pop. She changed her Twitter name to I quit and said, quote, the shit ain't for me, so I'm out, y'all take care. Everything is dead to me, music is dead, and I'm a f*** fool for ever thinking that I was made for this. This is a f*** nightmare. Unfollow me. And this began a pattern that eventually led to her new era, an era that some may describe as satanic.

The satanic demon worshipper Doja Cat has become. Hold up. This is absolutely satanic and diabolical. But I would like to call rebellious, because it's based on the marketing fundamentals of controlled controversy. Controversial marketing intentionally offends or surprises audiences by violating the norms or morals. The aim is to generate debate and discussion and subsequent buzz around the brand. Such as when KFC confronted a chicken shortage in Britain and changed your logo to FCK, which I thought was brilliant and really funny. Other examples may include a shocking bloody imagery to promote hand soap or ones about social issues like Kendall Jenner's Pepsi campaign

that was not received too well. Needless to say, it is a powerful way to market, but comes with a high risk. And Doja Vee Doja, of course, decided to play with fire using the strategy in her rebrand in three ways. The question is, how much could she get away with everything, with her hotness and talent? I come back just to shame you all. When I go on Twitter, it's shame time. It's fuck you. Let's first start with the mildest, her visual brand.

As we know, the pre-famed Doja was quite unsurious. But to the music label, that is not very marketable, hence not very profitable. which means they need her to fit into this ultra-feminine pink pop princess aesthetic that also sells the sex appeal from the costumes to lyrics to choreography and Doja Cat's way to say a big FU to all these restraints is of course to be subversive to the conventional beauty standards. By first shaving off her hair, then her eyebrows on live,

getting all these giant tattoos to covering herself in blood, post all these unhinged unfiltered photos online and styles herself in new ways like the Joker photo here, or this demonic creature here. I think when I shaved my head, it just gave me this sense of self. From a marketing view, this actually makes sense in two ways.

First, these aren't just some random changes of creative self-expression, but an intentional postmodernist retake on fashion, such as the incredible Scap Early Show, where she had over 30,000 crystals on her. It makes me feel beautiful. It's just very, very sexy. Second, the looks teased out different themes

to her upcoming music, aka the product of her brand. and generated hype as marketing for her album, Scarlet. Doja Cat is the closest artist who embodies the subversiveness of postmodernism as Lady Gaga, and only went more and more egregious as negative comments flood in, which only generated more buzz around her rebrand. I think she's also trying to make a point that she did not get to her level of success due to her looks and purposely went the opposite side of conventional beauty standards,

Which all the more respect to her because the seemingly suicidal action to her previously ultra-success brand still seemed to work. As Pink the Town Red hit number one and became the first rap number one in over a year, which leads to the second element of her controversial marketing campaign. Rage bait. What is just blatantly calling her fans dumb? What did Doja Cat do to lose her half a million followers on Instagram? Well, there were instances where her fans asked her to say, I love you to them.

And she straight up said, quote, I don't, because I don't even know y'all. Which is not false. I'm not your friend. I make music and you like it. And if you don't, cool, great, I don't give it. Then others said, quote, And we don't know you, but we have supported you through thick and thin.

Mind you, you'd be nothing without us. You'd be working at a grocery store making songs on Fri-Garaj Garage Band, Miss High School Dropout, to which doja slap back, quote, Nobody forced you. I don't know why you're talking to me. like you're my mother bitch. You sound like a crazy person to escalate this even further when fans question her dating choices. Doja Cat just called her fans quote creepy and told them to quote

get a job and lost half a million followers. As she said quote, I want y'all to read this comment and take it as a message. I don't give a fuck what you think about my personal life. I never have and never will give a fuck about what you think about me or my personal life. Goodbye and good riddance, miserable holes, ha ha, end quote. To be honest, I don't think these boundaries are extreme. Just like how you wouldn't expect a stranger to say, I love you on the street. You wouldn't take dating advices from a random stranger on the street either.

Do I think the delivery of that message is a little rough though? Yes. But Doja Cat's dating her boundaries and purposely rage baiting for people to unfollow her is a pretty smart strategy in my view. A, because breadth does not equal death. If you look at how many followers Charlie Demalia has, versus the level of engagement on her YouTube, you know what I mean. Versus Chaparone with 1.3 million subscribers, but will fill the crowd, a Lollapalooza.

What Doja Cat did was a little extreme, but does help filter out all the people who are not her true fans anyways, and better speed up the rebrand away from this hyperfeminine pop princess image that she is so sick of. As Doja Cat herself said, quote, Seeing all these people unfollow me makes me feel like I've defeated a large beast that's been holding me down for so long, and it feels like I can reconnect with the people who really matter and love me for who I am and not for who I was. And B, this rage baiting creates both virality and sourced materials for her music. Doja Cat never actually stated that she hates her fans. Everybody is saying she hates her fans. Never said that.

In fact, in her music, the lyrics even said, quote, fans ain't dumb, but the extremists are. She very keenly leveraged the internet trolls who are fake fans. as materials for a newly crafted story brand, purposely adopting the rumors of her worshipping Satan by straight up turning into a demon and so on in the songs and lyrics, such as B-I-I-Sep what I said, I'd rather be famous instead, as a ton of cheekway to rage bait the haters. I'm sorry, when the fuck did I say that I was a Satanist?

Then generate more heated debate, hence more eyeballs, hence more streams that led the song to be number one on the church. These haters were actually the word-of-mouth cheerleaders used in a viral marketing campaign. And despite trying to be not likable, and honestly, not very brand safe, Doja Cat is still loved by the brands because of the third element, novelty.

In the age where almost every artist's big sphere is getting cancelled because everything and anything could be offensive, fear is the enemy to creativity. And I've definitely experienced this. This fear leads to the lack of innovation, which is why extremely successful artists, like Duleipa and Katie Perry have been struggling, while so many new artists popped off,

like Sabrina Carpenter, Chaparone Charlie XEX, because they didn't have too much to lose and can afford experimentation. But for Doja Cat, who has had many platinum records and an already successful brand, it takes tremendous courage to risk that and to also destroy something super successful that doesn't authentically represent you.

Hence, no matter if you love or hateer, you gotta admit that with Dauld Doja Cat, you never know what to expect. And the novelty itself is like a magnet that creates mystique and excitement for what's coming next. One moment she can have hair. The next, not. One moment she's in 30,000 crystals. The next she's in the mud performing wet vagina at Coachella.

All else, Doja Cat is an extremely talented performer in bringing a character to life and has a sharp understanding of the current Zyghai guys, then completely overthrowing it. Shortly, brands that align with this young and free-spirited energy like Briss and Skechers are still happy to work with her, but others like Victoria's Secret, with this soft feminine brand that very much misaligned with the Scarlet-era Doja took a great gamble. And unsurprisingly, Doja Cat publicly complained about how the dress dug into her cervix, etc., which I'm sure the marketing team at Victoria's Secret was not too thrilled to find out about. With that being said, even though this dramatic rebranded,

from Pink Pop Princess to unhinged demons, seems to have worked out thus far for Doja Cat, but does she truly come back from hell? There are two, branding reflex, I think, are worth noting. First, yes, a strong brand does not and cannot please everyone. But as a marketer, when working with media personality, I still need to consider all the positive and negative brand associations for the brand I manage,

which means Doja Cat is inevitably burning bridges with potential brand partners as she becomes more and more extreme. Overall, not the biggest concern because for a brand to be sustainable, it has to be authentic. Doja Cat may have lost the audience who followed her for the aspirational value of pink pop princess, which was fake to begin with, but gained the new it factor of relatability and the aspirational value of a badass anti-hero. And I'm genuinely happy that she is having more fun with the freedom of creating whatever music she wants. want to make. So the right brands, although smaller in number, will find her. Second, I do agree that standing up for your boundaries as an artist is so crucial.

Does it piss me off when male celebrities adopt the cocky, rude persona that they're described as confident? And when female artists like Nikki and Doja do this, they're called a bitch and people are mad. Yes, but there is also a spectrum. Some fans actually care and worry about her, which is still nobody else's business, But there are also other tasteful ways to do this. Rather than this TMI rage-bate comment, when controlled controversy gets out of control, you'd have an irreversible burn of trust.

There comes a point where a return to authenticity becomes over-correction. And I hope that Doja Cat doesn't actually lose her authenticity in attempt to over-correct something. But let me know if you think Doja Cat's rebrand is the beginning of her downfall, or a smart marketing campaign, built on controversial marketing. This is your marketing bestie, Zoe Unlimited. Comment which celebrity you like me to analyze next through our marketing perspective. Episodes are available on

all podcast networks, Apple Spotify, YouTube. Share this episode with someone you know who will benefit, and I'll see you next week.