Global music-streaming company Spotify launched a new advertising campaign this week entitled “Thanks 2016: it’s been weird,” a concept that features real user data to depict cheeky one-liners on outdoor billboards that call out people’s interesting, and sometimes confusing, tastes in music.
Listeners’ streaming habits are put on display for all to read in the form of questions and shoutouts, directed at Spotify users who have exhibited certain listening behavior. One ad, for example, poses the question: “Dear person who played ‘Sorry’ 42 times on Valentine’s Day, … what did you do?”
Spotify’s chief marketing officer, Seth Farbman, says, “There has been some debate about whether big data is muting creativity in marketing, but we have turned that on its head,” adding, “For us, data inspires and gives an insight into the emotion that people are expressing.”
With the digital age bringing all of the data to our fingertips, it’s up to us to dig through in search of the most valuable insights, in order to tell the bigger story about the overall effectiveness of an ad. This campaign showcases a new approach to hyper-local advertising, while demonstrating Spotify’s connection as a brand with its audience base – by speaking directly to them, in some cases, down to the individual level.