Hop Valley Brewing Co. Crafts Canada’s First Crowd Sourced Track-for-All
The craft beer and hip hop scene can both feel inaccessible for many leaving them feeling unwelcome (see recent rap battle headlines). Ultimately, both should be enjoyed without reservation, allowing people to embrace their own unique flavour and style while having some fun.
This summer, Hop Valley Brewing Co. is bringing its brand mission of making space for everyone into the hip hop game - allowing everyone to share their love of music in the same way everyone can enjoy easy-drinking Bubble Stash IPA.
Dropping today, the Hip Hop Valley campaign aims to create the largest crowd sourced track with everyday Canadian talents, collaborating from coast-to-coast. To bring this to life, the brand has partnered with Canada's hip hop ambassador, Kardinal Offishall, to produce an original track created with the sounds of the Hop Valley IPA and then drop his own first verse. From now until August 29th, Canadians can rap alongside the man himself by remixing the video dropped on Kardinal's Instagram or through online submission. Pick up where the hip hop legend left off and carry on the beat, expressing their own individual flavour. One track, their spin.
“As a brand that aims to embody the fearless eccentricity of our brew masters, we try to not take ourselves too seriously, bringing some fun and approachability into the craft beer category. You don’t need to be a craft expert to have the palette for a Hop Valley IPA,” says Steph McLarty, senior brand manager for Hop Valley. “With Hip Hop Valley we aimed to capture that sentiment and inject back some levity and fun into hip hop, creating a collaborative track for every Canadian to have the chance to express their unique flavour.”
The campaign developed by partner creative agency Diamond kicked off with a teaser OLV featuring Kardinal earlier in the month. To drive awareness and submissions a hero OLV was launched in addition to the Instagram post Canadians can remix. The agency is rallying submissions by engaging influencers across major markets to drop their own verse, complimented by public relations managed by Citizen Relations and paid media running across Meta, Zefr, and Spotify coordinated by Publicis.
“There’s no better time than now to ease the divisive tension in hip hop. We wanted to bring people together to create a space that welcomes everyone and provides an awesome platform for that local rapper we all know and love - a seat at the table (or bar) alongside Canada’s own big-time talent,” says Simon Craig, creative director at Diamond.
“Kardinal was the perfect partner for this project, not only as the producer and catalyst talent but as someone who really wants to usher that welcoming space back into the world of hip hop.” says Anand Iyer, creative director at Diamond.
Entries are being collected from now until August 29th creating one Kardinal Offishall -produced track-for-all, featuring Canadians from across the country expressing their unique style. Once complete, the track will then be promoted through paid social and audio media such as Meta, Zefr, and Spotify. For more information and the chance to be featured on this upcoming release, consumers can visit the campaign microsite.
