XXL has been a respected name in hip-hop since its founding in 1997. During my time at Townsquare Media, I was able to arm our sales team with packages and content opportunities that fueled its relaunch in 2015.
In October of 2014 Townsquare Media acquired hip-hop staple XXL Magazine from Harris Publications. As an Integrated Marketing Manager, I oversaw the relaunch of this beloved brand. My contributions included: creating all the GTM materials for the brand and working with sales to build and sell branded content partnerships—most notably for the brand’s iconic annual “Freshman Issue”.
The Cypher Series is the crown jewel of the XXL Freshman issue, it is a chance for emerging artists to flaunt their talent and explode on the stage as one of XXL’s chosen few “Freshman” — emerging artists to watch. As part of a high-profile relaunch effort it was important that we maintain the integrity of the brand by staying true to its roots. As a result, the relaunch issue saw more social engagement than they year before, and was trending on Twitter within hours of its drop.
The Townsquare Media network allowed for robust cross-promotion. With the likes of XXL, and QuestLove owned site Okayplayer as lead horses; Townsquare was able to franchise content across the network. 16 Bars is a great example of they type of cross-promoted content we brought to life for the likes of brands like McDonalds, Dodge, Gap and more.