SPOTIFY: IT’S ALL
AD-ING UP

Spotify is putting serious time, money and resources into advertising and marketing in an effort to further expand its user base.

To ring in 2017, Spotify launched its largest campaign ever, Thanks 2016, It's Been Weird, which used the listening data of the service’s 100m+ users to celebrate the music that unites people, following a year that left people feeling anything but united. Through OOH (out-of-home advertising), social, digital and experiential tactics, and the company’s own Browse playlists, Spotify’s most successful fan-activation program reached 60 markets and millions of music fans.

In Manhattan, an ad read, “Dear person in the Theater District who listened to the Hamilton soundtrack 5,376 times this year, can you get us tickets?” while in Brooklyn, another ad quipped, “Bushwick spent 2,857,933 minutes with Future this year. That’s a lot of commas.”

Localization is making Spotify increasingly relatable, while the use of wit and understanding of meme culture has made the platform younger, hipper and more approachable. Example: “Dear person who made a playlist called ‘One Night Stand With Jeb Bush like He’s a Bond Girl in a European Casino,’ we have so many questions.” What’s more, ads like “Dear 3,749 people who streamed ‘It’s the End of the World as We Know It’ the day of the Brexit vote, hang in there,” have made Spotify seem relevant.


Speaking of relevancy, there’s been a recently sharpened focus on new music and artists. SYCO/Columbia’s brand-new boy band PRETTYMUCH entered the scene with a billboard in Times Square announcing that the debut single was now available to stream on Spotify. That ad was part of a rotating New Music Friday spotlight that has also promoted indie acts The National and Washed Out.

Spotify’s marketing efforts encompass more than clever billboards. The company, which sponsored Lana Del Rey’s first-ever album listening party last month at L.A.’s trendy No Vacancy, took over an Atlanta nail salon when 2 Chainz dropped album Pretty Girls Like Trap Music. The unique experience—crafted to make fans feel like “pretty girls” with album-inspired manicures—drew 350 attendees in one day. The coup was small, but it was a coup nonetheless, and one that said in effect, “We see you, we hear you and we want to give you the most personal musical experience possible.”

But the streamery hasn’t forgotten about the older demographic—the users who stream music in the car while driving the kids to school. In April, Spotify created a new campaign to drive awareness of its family plan deal in the U.K., providing further evidence of a ramped-up marketing push, considering that the payment plan has been available since 2012.

Through I’m With the Banned, artist collaborations, performances and original content are used to shine a light on a variety of issues faced by different communities—from immigrats to LGBTQs. In the latest iteration of the program, creative processes were filmed when artists from the six nations on the travel ban were brought together with six American artists to collaborate on new music together.

As Spotify pitches the message that it’s a place for everyone, the service has surpassed 140m active users, nearly doubling its 75m announced users in March 2016. More significantly, there are now north of 60m paid subscribers; this time last year, the number was hovering around 30m. By comparison, Apple Music, which has been noticeably less aggressive with advertising, was at 27m subscribers a month ago.

What will Team Ek do next to feed this momentum as the direct listing approaches? Any positives they can point to are a big deal, counterbalancing the troubling fact that operating loss has widened, even as revenue keeps rising.