Spotify launches biggest UK marketing push

Spotify is launching a “seven figure” brand campaign – its biggest yet in the UK – as it looks to change tack from previous product feature-led messaging and communicate how the streaming service plays a role in people’s lives.

Video: Spotify’s “Music takes You Back” ad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaDe9Pgkpl4?rel=0

The campaign launches today (28 April) and will run across cinema, VOD, digital and out of home. It centres around three videos (see above and below) which showcase three different people’s stories through the medium of Spotify, Facebook, text messages, Skype and Instagram.

Spotify’s European marketing director Nikki Lambert told Marketing Week the campaign follows a “really big” six months for the company, in which it has rolled out a new look across desktop and mobile and began offering its free ad-funded service across its mobile apps.

The past six months have also seen a slew of marketing campaigns from Spotify rivals such as Google Play Music All Access and new entrant into the market Bloom.fm.

Previously the majority of Spotify’s marketing efforts have been in partnership with other brands – such as the Times and Vodafone, which both bundle in Spotify to some of their subscriptions – or smaller pushes around specific features.

Spotify’s European head of media relations Kevin Brown told industry magazine Music Week earlier this month that partnerships have helped the service add more than 1 million active users in the past four months, which means it is “only a matter of time” until it overtakes iTunes in terms of subscribers. Last year Spotify said it had 24 million active users and six million paying users worldwide, although Brown now believes that number is closer to 10 million paying subscribers.

Lambert says now is the right time for Spotify to talk about how its service fits into the lives of its different audiences as streaming – across film and TV as well as music – has become more of a “mainstream currency” in the UK.

“This is more about bringing to life the real music experiences we see in the real world; music can help people say a lot of things, that was an important insight. We wanted to do this in a way that did not feel superficial and did not feel too forced,” she added.

It was for that reason that Spotify deliberately chose to eschew TV as part of its media plan, because cutting the 75 and 90-second videos down would not allow the brand to tell the full story. Lambert said Spotify wanted to treat the creative with “real integrity” rather than slicing it into a 30-second video for TV or a 15-second spot for mobile, for example.

Lambert said Spotify will measure the success of the campaign – which was created by US agency Droga5, with media planned by Mediavest – by looking at metrics including consideration, sign-ups and whether engagement with the service increases amongst already registered users.

Video: Spotify’s ”Cant Find The Words?” ad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnNhFVf2ULo?rel=0

Video: Spotify’s “Say More With A Playlist” ad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-lcv718QbM?rel=0

Recommended