The new “listen like you used to” ad campaign from Spotify invites people to take a stroll down memory lane while streaming the soundtrack to their life.
The copy is succinct and cute.
The design is so recognisably spotify that they hardly need the small logo couched in the bottom corner.
Industry mags are raving about them.
The Drum, Campaign and Creative Bloq
Campaign: https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/nostalgic-spotify-ads-hark-back-hits-decades/1649022
Creative Bloq: https://www.creativebloq.com/news/spotify-billboards
People are snapping them in the street and posting them to their socials.
@jayrajdev
So in many regards, whether Spotify have a campaign objective of AVEs, engagement, increased platform usage or good old fashioned revenue, I’m sure they are counting it as a success.
But why has this campaign worked better than, say, their last big OOH push that was around data? The answer? Strategy and emotion.
The fact that the copy is so sharp is only the final flourish of the success of this campaign. Spotify have clearly identified their market segment (my guess - men, gen X) and planned around what resonates with that group. It’s not aimed at me. I’ve never heard a Smashing Pumpkins record and I have little knowledge of UB40. As a 36 year old woman they would have to feature a lot more Girls Aloud to trigger “the feels” that people are reporting on Twitter. My copy suggestion? 2006 I’m Just a Love Machine 2019 Unloading the Washing Machine. And perhaps these ads will expand to different demographics in exactly that way. They certainly could.
So, they have a specific segment in mind as part of their strategy - tick. Next is the emotional appeal. Spotify realise the “super-objective” of this particular man they are marketing to. Not just that he wants to stream music into his device on the go, but that the reason he streams music is for the nostalgic escape it gives him. I don’t think the city locations of the ads are chosen just for the big reach on offer. They are going for the conference calling, Pret eating, busy urban dweller who wants to, just for a brief moment, remember that rave he went to twenty years ago. These ads do the same as those tracks. They give someone the reward of time travel.
A perfect triangle of strategy then. Audience, Medium and Location, Message.
Incidentally I loved their previous campaign that worked their data set and UGC in the form of playlists hard. But then I’m a data-obsessed marketer who even creates graphs in excel to track, measure and organise our home finances. That one definitely hit the reward button in my mesolimbic dopamine pathway, but maybe few others.
So congratulations Spotify. Now if you’d just let me turn on “gym mode” so my Discover for You isn’t all banging album tracks I’d be really happy with you.