(PCM) Spotify’s new marketing campaign is absolutely hilarious. They are using billboards to call out some of their subscribers more “questionable” listening habits, but of course they are not naming names. They are posing quite a few questions and adding some delightful commentary about just why certain users would listen in such a way.
A few examples read, “Dear person who played ‘Sorry’ 42 times on Valentine’s Day, What did you do?”, another says “To the 1,235 guys who loved the “Girls Night” playlist this year, We love you.” Our personal favorite reads “Dear person in the Theater District who listened to the Hamilton soundtrack 5,375 times this year, can you get us tickets?” Too funny!
Spotify CMO Seth Farban recently told Creativity, “There has been some debate about whether big data is muting creativity in marketing, but we have turned that on its head. For us, data inspires and gives an insight into the emotion that people are expressing.” The article went on to explain that the ad campaign was originated with 2015’s end-of-year “Year in Music” campaign, as it transpired that data from listeners in different geographical areas provided some interesting insights. “That led to the idea of reflecting culture via listener behavior.”
The new ad campaign marks Spotify’s largest to date and it is definitely bringing them some attention. The billboards are a brilliant idea and incredibly funny, but definitely makes you think twice about just who is watching and collecting data in regards to our listening habits online.