GR6, a production company that has already earned R$10 million in advertising this year, talks about the differences and challenges of the genres
Funk and trap are winning over the world’s ears. With impressive numbers on the market, these genres have become increasingly present in the lives of those who often don’t understand the lyrics, but are guided by the beat.
One example of this happened recently when Spain players Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams used Brazilian funk music to promote their match against France. While the 16-year-old star used Jerry Smith’s “BumBum Granada”, Williams opted for “Para com a mão no chão Vs joga pra trás” by DJ Duarque.
Furthermore, another recent example is the success that Anitta’s “Funk Generation” tour, with funk songs in Spanish and English, has had in the US and Europe.
It is undeniable that the artists behind the beats move crowds and, behind many of them, is GR6, a Brazilian music and entertainment production company led by Rodrigo Oliveira, which has been successful not only in the charts, but also in the advertising market.
In 2024 alone, for example, the company has already made a profit of more than R$10 million with campaigns for Ipiranga, Ruffles, Heineken, Lacoste, Vivo, Teatro Bradesco, Itaipava, Amazon, Heinz, Tiger, Itaú, Chivas, Netflix and others.
According to Renan França, commercial and creative director at GR6, the value of advertising reflects the market’s search for the audience that funk and the genre bring. “Today, all brands and platforms are focused on funk and trap because of the audience. It’s surreal how much organic engagement these artists have. We have 42 songs in Spotify’s top 200, for example, and if we add trap, that number jumps to more than 70. Today, urban music is the biggest musical genre in the country,” explained the executive.
In addition, the production company has two Lions at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity in its portfolio, one bronze won this year in the Outdoor category with the piece “The Cruise Heist”, made for Netflix by Galeria, and another bronze in 2023 in the Social & Influencer category with the piece “Others MC’s”, signed by Africa.
For the producer, winning these awards at a festival that moves fortunes and debates global creativity represents another step in the mission to break the bubble and, consequently, prejudice.
“People don’t understand how these genres have the numbers they have, the conversion… So, it’s great to have won these awards and our idea is to win many more. We have to break this bubble and show that we are a musical genre like any other, except that we speak to people from the favela, from the masses, unlike the others,” he emphasized.
I won’t let you beat me
People who dream of becoming artists also have the desire to “succeed in life” and create a better life for their loved ones. This is one of the common desires that the GR6 artists had and who, today, use their songs to talk about their achievements, mentioning luxury brands, such as Lacoste itself.
At first, França said that companies did not like being mentioned in the songs and that the producer received some notifications, but that this changed over time, with companies understanding that being present there was more beneficial than they imagined.
“At first, Lacoste itself didn’t want to be mentioned and we’ve already received notification from Johnnie Walker as well. These are brands that we work with today because they saw the conversion and engagement that we have. Everyone changes their mind when they see the numbers. Besides that, the artists’ songs are free advertising for the brands too and they started to realize that”, he explained.
In the case of Lacoste, the brand counts MC Hariel among its ambassadors and has already worked with other artists such as Kelvinho, Caveirinha and, more recently, with Livinho during the singer’s show at Lollapalooza this year.
Despite this, França highlighted that prejudice caused the advertising market to take a long time to understand the potential that the sector holds and that, at the beginning of the commercial work, the production company needed to prove the value of its artists by doing some work for free.
“This still happens today, so sometimes I do things for free to show that we are good, that we can break the bubble and deliver more than any other genre in Brazil. We always have to prove ourselves, but we will get there,” he pointed out.
Advertising with purpose
In addition to being entertaining music, funk and rap are also tools for raising awareness among the population. Understanding this, GR6 has already led several projects focused on relevant issues such as violence against women, the issue of Cracolândia and, more recently, racism.
With the manifesto ‘Blacks in their proper place’, the producer brought together artists such as Ludmilla, MC Ryan SP, MC Livinho, MC Davi, MC Hariel, MC Don Juan and Ice Blue, from Racionais to pay tribute to the player Vinicius Jr., who is one of the victims of constant racism in Europe.
In addition to the artists, the project also had the support of Vivo, through “Presença Preta”, a project created in 2022 with the aim of reinforcing the representation of black people among the audience at music festivals.
“We wanted to make a kind of war cry and, when we finished the song, we saw that it was the face of Vivo, because of Presença Preta. I was already negotiating some campaigns with them and presented the project, they liked it and we produced everything in 14 days”, said França.
The executive also recalled that these projects are designed based on the realities experienced in the country, including with the singers themselves, who use art to express their experiences and, in a certain way, combat everyday violence.
Business model
GR6 is a producer that invests in fast music, producing around 40 songs and 15 music videos per week. Therefore, França explained that brand contracts with artists cannot be medium or short term — at least in the beginning — because it is something that directly interferes with the composition of the songs.
In practice, the executive gave as an example the contract with the beverage brand Chivas, which prevents artists from using other labels in their lyrics. “I can’t limit the artist in this regard. Sometimes, they come in as ambassadors for a company, as was the case with Livinho with Itaipava, but it was a short-term contract, an action, and later, I was able to renew it for a longer contract, for example,” he said.
Regarding productions, he says that there are two ways of involvement. In the first, the brand approaches the production company asking only for the artist’s release, while in the second, GR6 thinks about the entire campaign, presents the project and is responsible for the entire production.
Contact with brands works the same way. “Either we create and take it to the brands, or the brand looks for us to include the artists in the campaigns,” he concluded.
Case MC Sentence
In addition to the releases, GR6 also had one of its artists on Big Brother Brasil this year, MC Binn (ex-MC Bin Laden). Currently, the 17th eliminated from the Globo reality show has several contracts and, according to França, has already earned more than the program’s value in advertising.