Marketing & Communications

#hot16challenge2. How Polish rap (and not only) took over YouTube in the fight against COVID19

What does hot16 mean? The term itself refers to the so-called “sixteen” lines, the number of verses in a hip-hop song, and “hot” because it must be on fire. This is the second edition of hot16challenge, which was launched on April 28 by Warsaw rapper Solar, the creator of the previous edition. The purpose is to raise funds for the health service or, as the organizers specify, “beef” with coronavirus.
https://www.siepomaga.pl/hot16challenge

The mechanism of the whole action is straightforward and spreads like a “virus”. Solar was the first to nominate people who also need to record their song. They only have 72 hours to do so, and they also nominate others. At the moment, the action already has over 100 million views on Youtube. Most places in the “on-time” tab contain songs recorded on hot16challnege. It shows the momentum and popularity of this action. On the following page prepared by Rap Genius Polska, you can find a handful of statistics and a nomination tree that doesn’t seem to end. In the period of the action, which is not over yet, hot16 is the most popular hashtag on YT (source: InfluTool). The initiative has already reached the fundraising goal, over PLN 1.3 million has been raised, and the amount is still growing.
https://hot16challenge.network

Some of the rappers nominated people from outside the hip-hop circle; some added their part without the nomination. At the moment, actors, politicians, journalists and even law professors (Tata Maty nominated by Borixon …) participated in the campaign.
The brands also decided to join the campaign, and we can, for example, listen to the material prepared by one of the employees of the X-Kom marketing department, who nominated for “fun” on behalf of the company: Komputer Świat, Techland, Michał Pola, ESL and Netflix. Tiger also decided to help, and “showed” his hot16 in text form – so you don’t have to have a rapper in the company to participate.

The initiative can be a great opportunity to support a noble goal, but also to reach out to consumers with excellent business potential, and may not necessarily be accessible through “classic” marketing channels. The action itself also moves to the mainstream, so it has a chance to appeal to masses. And what if the nominees Kanye West or Snoop Dogg join the action, who knows – maybe hot16challenge2 will spread globally?