Warhol and Dalí. Jeff Koons and Ai Weiwei. They are geniuses who teach us more about marketing than any academic treatise. Bizarrap has climbed up to that Olympus of marketing autodidacts. The Argentine producer and DJ is betting on an innovative strategy outside the industry. And he does it from a deep knowledge of the trends that mark today's communication and show business: collaboration, play, surprise, hybrid and live. (And a secret: he's not far away from graduating in Marketing). The session begins!

23 million comments requested by the music producer Gonzalo Julián Conde, better known as Bizarrap (BZRP), to get your session number #23 together with Paulo Londra. "23,000,000 comments and @paulolondra drops, we leave it in your hands, thank you," put the Instagram capture on one of the artist's most anticipated publications. He got it in less than 24 hours. 

A session that has generated great expectations since the enigmatic producer ignored the number 23 in his famous BZRP Music Sessions, thus moving from #22 to #24. The music sessions is the name given to the collaborations that the DJ and producer from Buenos Aires performs with different musical artists and that he lists in sequential order, which allows him to play with the expectation that generates in his followers to anticipate with whom and when the next one will be, as he did with the jump from #22 to #24. This calculated gap led to speculation and theories that filled the internet for months and were resolved, as if by Michael Jordan, when Bizarrap announced that "they were ready".

This action gives us an idea of the marketing techniques that the Argentinian uses in a masterful way. Nothing is the result of chance. Each of his music sessions generates great expectation and manages to go viral even before it is published thanks to the advertising actions that precede it.

Behind every success of Bizarrap is not only its brilliant musical production, but there is also an entire strategy that many agencies would like to manage. We analyze some of his levers:

Creation of a Character

He has created a very recognizable aesthetic, so much so that he has almost become an avatar. The iconic glasses and logo cap, which hide a large part of his face, have become his hallmarks. When asked about this question in an interview with Ibai llanos, Bizarrap declared: "It was never necessary for me to show my face for my product to do well". And not only was it never necessary, but this mystery has contributed to attract even more public attention, creating a character that he himself speaks about in the third person. This marketing strategy has not only contributed to the halo of mystery that surrounds the artist, but it also responds to an attempt to preserve their privacy. However, we have to say that Google searches for the term "bizarrap without glasses" yield 191,000 results.

Same Visual Key in their video clips and covers

The first videos of his famous sessions were always made in his own room. Bizarrap defended from the beginning that he could conquer the world of music without leaving home, and he was right. However, it is speculated that he now has several spaces, although he maintains the same visual identity, which also applies to the covers of his sessions and, as we have already mentioned, to his personal aesthetics. 

On the other hand, it is worth mentioning the spectacular nature of its audiovisual productions, which he creates as trailers for his next sessions, look like something out of a movie theater. A clear example is the advertisements for the session #37, with YSY A, the trailer of the session #38, with L-Gante, and the announcement of the session #48  by Tiago PZK, he even dared with a Pixar-style animation for his song with Chuky73. 

Collaborations with global brands

Another of their great skills to boost their visibility is the alliance with the brands. A spectacular example was his way of announcing the session #52 with Quevedo together with Burger King. For one day, a personalized menu was offered at the Autoking establishment in Vicálvaro, Madrid, which included a preview of the song with Canary Island artist Quevedo. Bizarrap took it a step further by dressing up as the food chain's employees and chatting with fans who came by, erasing the image that is sometimes assumed to be unattainable and hermetic. The song he co-signed with Quevedo has reached number 1 on Spotify globally.

Another notable collaboration was with Adidas. During the 2021 Latin Grammys gala, the producer wore an exclusive edition of his famous cap together with the sports brand. More collaborations have arisen since then with this brand, not only in the Argentinean's clothing during interviews or public events, but also by lending his image for advertising, such as the promotion of the NMD_V3 sneakers.

Its reach has also reached the gamer spherebeing the first Spanish-speaking artist to reach the NBA 2K virtual basketball platform, where he contributed with three of his sessions: Snow Tha Product's #39, Eladio Carrión's #40 and MORAD's #47. In addition, NBA 2K22 included a playable 3D model of Gonzalo himself, who is proud that his urban musical style, historically linked to this sport, has made it to the videogame.

Masterful handling of timing and trends

The producer knows how to manage the timing in an exceptional way, generating great expectations through different tools. Before launching a new session he follows a well-defined pattern: after a period of silence, speculation is beginning to unleash about who he will collaborate with next, a silence that is broken by a publication that hints that the release date will be soon. He has a masterful art of disappearing and reappearing at the right time.

Another clear example of his use of timing to generate expectation was his announcement that he would return to David Broncano's "La Resistencia", when he had a session with a Spanish artist. He returned just one year later, at the season finale of the television program with the session of Quevedo, which was dropping that same night.

It calculates to the millimeter not only the exact time in which to drop each session, but also the musical style that fits in every moment. The sound of his collaboration with Quevedo, with a clear festival and electronic component, came out shortly before the start of all the festivals in Europe. Guess who was one of the most requested guests at this season's festivals. 

Innovation in the channels to advertise his music

Bizarrap has a lot to teach us about use non-standard channels to promote a product. A clear example is the aforementioned collaboration with Burger King, an unexpected ally to promote music. 

He also took outdoor advertising to another level. He set up a booth in the center of Madrid where he invited passersby to enter to listen to the premiere of the session number #51. The session was a collaboration with Villano Antillano, a Puerto Rican artist, who until that moment had 40,000 followers on Instagram. Today, three months later, she has more than 600,000. 

He has the ability to surprise with a new strategy that any marketing director would like to have come out of his head, like his album of stickers, emulating those of the World Cup, to be completed with the sessions that he is dropping.

Breaking with the established pattern of launch dates

If there is a pattern accepted by all, why not break it? Bizarrap chose Wednesdays as the launching day for their sessions. The choice of this date is not random, since in the music industry, artists used to launch their singles in the early hours of Friday morning, as this is the day when the global charts and lists are updated.

Behind BZRP there is no record label, nor does it have a millionaire financial backing. Bizarrap knows how to win over the public, when to pull out a session and how to keep expectations high. Forbes lists him among the 100 most creative people in the business world. And ever since he decided that wearing caps and glasses was going to be more than a one-day option, the bonaerense artist is setting the music world on fire patas arriba with marketing campaigns and promotional strategies measured down to the millimeter and that have all their followers in suspense.