Open Verse Community Challenge
Leave a creative gap that invites the community to complete and spread your work
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 100%
The Open Verse Community Challenge embeds an unfinished section or explicit response prompt inside a creative work. Instead of merely asking people to share it, the originator gives them space to add their own verse, joke, rebuttal, performance, or perspective. A strong prompt supplies enough structure to make participation easy while leaving enough freedom for contributors to express themselves. Ilese deliberately used the “me or the PS5” line because it invited people to roast her, creating humorous tension and abundant response material. The originator then watches for breakout contributions, amplifies them, and can convert the strongest community relationship into an official collaboration. The output is both distributed content and a network of invested co-creators.
Origin
Ilese used open verse challenges for songs including “PS5” and “Crypto Boy,” with community submissions creating viral derivatives and official collaborations. Extracted from Marketing Against The Grain.
Core principles
- 01Participation spreads an idea farther than passive consumption
- 02A clearly designed creative gap lowers the barrier to contribution
- 03Tension, humor, or controversy can give contributors a strong response angle
- 04Community contributions can create value for both the originator and participants
- 05Breakout contributors should be recognized and elevated
How to run it
- 1
Choose a participatory asset
Select a song, scene, claim, or format with a natural place for someone else to contribute.
Pro tip Use an asset that remains understandable before and after a response is added.
Watch out A prompt requiring professional equipment or rare expertise will suppress participation.
- 2
Design the response gap
Leave a specific amount of space and state or demonstrate what kind of contribution belongs there.
Pro tip Offer a clear premise while leaving the actual response open-ended.
Watch out Over-specifying the response removes the contributor's creative ownership.
- 3
Add an emotional trigger
Use humor, tension, competition, controversy, or recognition to give people a reason to answer.
Pro tip Choose playful tension that the creator is genuinely prepared to receive.
Watch out Do not invite criticism if the team will panic when contributors respond harshly.
- 4
Release and monitor
Publish in a format built for remixing and track submissions, reposts, comments, and cross-platform derivatives.
Pro tip Search beyond the original platform because community edits can travel elsewhere.
Watch out Do not measure only direct responses to the original post.
- 5
Amplify community winners
Feature outstanding responses and share distribution with their creators.
Pro tip Credit contributors clearly and promptly.
Watch out Using community work without recognition can destroy goodwill.
- 6
Deepen exceptional collaborations
When a response creates unusual momentum, invite its creator into an official remix, campaign, or continuing content relationship.
Pro tip Preserve the qualities that made the community version work.
Watch out Professionalizing the collaboration too heavily can remove its original charm.
In the wild
Ilese left roughly 20 seconds after the “it's me or the PS5” lyric and invited people to respond. Abdul Sise's humorous “Fortnite Battle Pass” freestyle became a major viral hit, after which Ilese featured him on an official remix and brought him to her studio to make more content.
→ The challenge increased attention for “PS5” while also creating a breakout opportunity and continuing collaboration for another creator.
Several open verse submissions were reposted to Twitter and combined with Ilese's original material in a fan-made mashup. The derivative spread beyond TikTok and introduced the song to a different audience.
→ Community participation helped the song break on a platform where Ilese had never previously gone viral.
Common mistakes
Leaving no real creative space
If participants can only copy the originator, the challenge produces repetition rather than community invention.
Resisting the invited response
A provocative prompt may generate brutal jokes; rejecting them after inviting them undermines the campaign.
Keeping all the upside
Failing to credit, amplify, or collaborate with contributors turns a mutual opportunity into extraction.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for creators and brands with content that can support responses, duets, remixes, completions, or alternative perspectives.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for tightly controlled campaigns that cannot tolerate parody, criticism, or unexpected interpretations.
From the transcript
“And then you had like, I don't know, 20 seconds to kind of roast me.”
“I'm like, no, that's what I want. Cause I promise you it'll work.”
“But that was just a great example of how you know the open first challenge not only helped me and my song, but it also…”
From the episode
The Secrets of TikTok Revealed w/ Salem Ilese
Salem Ilese