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Canva’s rap battle was a staged marketing performance at its May 2024 Canva Create event, where enterprise-software questions became lyrics and a product pitch. Online critics mocked it, while Canva described the deliberately playful approach as a way to get people talking. The episode fits a recognizable pattern of tech companies using music and spectacle to make corporate announcements feel less conventional—but the available coverage documents examples, not a complete history or a verdict shared by every viewer.
What happened at Canva Create
Canva introduced enterprise offerings at Canva Create in Los Angeles in May 2024. About 45 minutes into the presentation, graphic-design content creator Roger Coles performed with dancers. A woman playing a skeptical enterprise CIO challenged him about security and integration; the exchange ended with the two joining in a chorus promoting Canva Enterprise. TechCrunch reported lyrics invoking logs, SCIM, SSO, licensing, compliance, privacy and Slack integration. TechCrunch’s account describes a staged marketing performance, not an independent assessment of whether the product offers each capability.
The Guardian also characterized the presentation as a rap-battle-style performance about updates to Canva’s design app, with lyrics touching on AI and the company’s claim about training on users’ work. Those references were part of the performance; they should not be read as independent verification of Canva’s product features or AI policies. The Guardian’s coverage provides that account.
Why the performance drew criticism
TechCrunch reported that social-media users mocked the performance and compared it with tech satire and the “L to the OG” song from Succession. The Guardian likewise described the delivery as a target of online criticism. These accounts establish that the clip became an object of ridicule; they do not show that all viewers—or even a representative sample—reacted that way.
The clash was between a company’s playful intent and the way a highly branded performance could land with viewers. A rap battle about enterprise security borrows the energy of informal entertainment, but its subject is a corporate software launch and its lyrics sell a product. If the humor feels staged or overproduced, the same theatricality meant to make the event memorable can instead make it seem awkward.
Canva’s explanation—and what its figures show
Canva co-founder and COO Cliff Obrecht defended the choice on social media: “We decided to be ourselves, do something different, and not take ourselves too seriously.” He added: “Haters gonna hate.” A Canva spokesperson told TechCrunch: “A rap battle about enterprise security might not be for everyone, but for an enterprise software launch, it certainly got everyone talking.” That is the company’s interpretation of the attention, not independent evidence of marketing effectiveness.
The spokesperson also said more than 50 million people saw the rap battle within 48 hours and that conversation about Canva Enterprise on social media rose 2,500%. TechCrunch reported both figures as Canva’s claims. Its account does not provide a measurement method, independent audit, or—for the percentage increase—a baseline. These numbers therefore describe what Canva said about reach and online discussion; they do not establish sales, adoption or business results.
How Canva fits the tech-company spectacle pattern
Canva’s performance was not the first time a technology company or tech figure used music to promote or enliven a corporate moment. TechCrunch’s examples include rapper Heather Morgan (“Razzlekhan”), venture capitalist Tim Draper’s Bitcoin song, Randi Zuckerberg’s crypto-themed music video and an internal Facebook benefits song. The Guardian reaches further back to the Windows 95 launch-party dance and compares Canva’s reception with criticism of an Apple iPad Pro advertisement.
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These are selected comparisons, not an exhaustive history or a measured trend. They are useful for thinking about why such performances can become memorable for the wrong reasons: the intended tone may not match the audience’s perception; the performance may or may not fit the product and event; and self-aware humor can feel different from spectacle that appears overproduced.
Corporate-event professionals quoted by the Guardian point to that tension. Rich Libner, president of MCP Talent, said: “They’re usually not modern and overcompensate with putting too much focus on branding. It comes off as messy and inauthentic.” Gianna Cardinale Gaudini, a former Google event planner and author of The Art of Event Planning, said: “People are intuitive and emotionally driven beings who can sniff out authenticity or lack thereof. There is a fine line between eliciting nostalgia or tongue-in-cheek humor and flopping, and brands take a huge hit if they don’t hit the mark.” These are their professional perspectives, not systematic audience research on Canva’s event or the other examples.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the episode does—and doesn’t—say about corporate marketing
The rap battle made enterprise concerns part of a performance that also promoted Canva’s offerings. That approach gave the launch a distinctive, shareable format, but the reported attention figures alone cannot tell us whether it persuaded potential customers or improved business outcomes. The episode is best understood as a case of corporate humor with divided public reception: Canva said it wanted to be different and not take itself too seriously, while coverage recorded mockery and debate about whether the execution felt authentic.
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