Tag: spotify for brands

Sustainable Sonics: Carbon-Neutral Advertising Takes Root on Spotify

April 22, 2021

Digital audio consumption has taken off in recent years as consumers spend more time listening to music and podcasts as part of their daily routines. From Songs to Sing in the Shower to help pump you up for the day, to an episode of Crime Junkie to zone out with on your morning walk, time spent with digital audio increased 8.3% in 2020, with the average consumer streaming 1 hour and 29 minutes per day (eMarketer). Advertisers have taken notice and have tapped into Spotify and our streaming intelligence to reach these highly engaged audiences. 

As Spotify’s reach with advertisers continues to grow, we’ve started to examine ways we can offset the environmental footprint of our ads. One of Spotify Advertising’s teams, the Creative Collective, was formed earlier this year to cultivate some of these new opportunities for advertisers. Amanda Hoyle, a Creative Strategist on the team, dug into her own lifelong passion and interest around sustainability and environmentalism to help lead the charge in creating Spotify’s newest ad offering: Sustainable Sonics. 

Sustainable Sonics enables brands to make their music and podcast advertising fully carbon neutral (or in other words, to have net-zero carbon impact by balancing out the carbon emissions by funding an equivalent amount of carbon savings elsewhere in the world) on Spotify for one year. 

For the Record grabbed time with Amanda to learn more about her role in creating the offering, how it works, and the larger opportunity around environmentally conscious options in the audio advertising world.  

What is the role of the Creative Collective advertising team at Spotify?

We essentially work with advertisers to unlock, create, celebrate, and inspire ideas worth listening to—and that’s really our guiding principle and mission statement. The Creative Collective team is a network of strategists around the world focusing on creative excellence in advertising, with a particular interest in audio. The way we see it, the creative potential of audio is endless, and we’ve only just scratched the surface so far. 

CES 2020: Spotify Makes Noise with SAI Announcement, Ludacris Performance, and More

January 10, 2020

This week, industry experts once again converged at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada. Spotify was on the ground for the seventh year in a row, contributing to the mix of innovative discussions and product debuts.

From the launch of Spotify Podcast Ads, powered by Streaming Ad Insertion (SAI) to partying with Ludacris at our annual Spotify Supper, we listened, learned, and connected in person and through a love for all things audio. Take a look back at some of Spotify’s notable CES 2020 moments.

Wired x Spotify: The Trends That Will Define 2020 and Beyond

“There’s no other medium like podcasts. They’re a uniquely intimate format that resonates with listeners, and our research proves it—81% of users take action after they’ve heard a podcast ad.” —Lee Brown, Spotify VP, Global Head of Ad Sales at the Wired x Spotify fireside chat with Wired Editor-in-Chief Nicholas Thompson

Credit: Denise Truscello/Getty Images for Spotify

Cheers to Happy Hour

“I’m so excited to launch Spotify Podcast Ads powered by our proprietary Streaming Ad Insertion tech. We’re bringing real-time targeting, measurement and interactivity to the format for the very first time.” —Jay Richman, Spotify Head of Global Ads Business and Platform

Credit: Bryan Steffy/Getty Images for Spotify

ELLE Women in Tech Panel with Dustee Jenkins

“I always had an inner voice that said ‘keep going.’ We have to be intentional about supporting and advocating for other women.” —Dustee Jenkins, Spotify Global Head of Communications

Credit: Bryan Steffy/Getty Images for Spotify

“Yeah!” It’s Spotify Supper

With a performance by Ludacris and bites from three James Beard Award-winning chefs—Tim Hollingsworth, Charleen “The Veggie Whisperer” Badman, and Kwame Onwuachi—there was plenty to chew on and a lot to celebrate.  

Oh yeah, did we mention Lele Pons, Paul Feig, Sophia Bush, and Paris Hilton hit the dance floor during Luda’s performance?

Spotify’s Presence at Cannes Lions Showcases What’s Next in Culture and Audio

June 17, 2019

The Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, the largest global advertising showcase of the year, is an incredible opportunity to bring Spotify to life for our partners. Our headquarters, Spotify Beach, is once again right on the Croisette — a space to inspire and excite marketers about the possibilities of audio and what’s next.

Our brand partners can join us at the Spotify Beach for meetings in rooms themed after two of the consumer marketing campaigns we hope to be shortlisted for: Black History is Happening Now and Cosmic Playlists. We spoke with Brian Benedik, VP, Global Head of Advertising Sales, and Jess Park, Global Director, Business Marketing, to get their take on Spotify’s ever-growing presence at the festival.

Why does it make sense for a company like Spotify to have a presence at Cannes?

Brian: Cannes Lions is really the Super Bowl for global marketers. It’s a tremendous honor to be nominated for awards, not to mention win them. Additionally, Spotify is a global advertising platform. Cannes tends to be that middle-of-the-year centerpiece—a table-setter for Q3 and Q4—where brands, advertising agencies, vendors, and ad-tech partners can get together to set the stage for the back half of the year. So Cannes is the place for us to entertain, meet, and ultimately close business with many of our partners around the world.

Jess: We show up to showcase Spotify as the best space to connect brands to our rich ecosystem of fans and creators. Plus, creativity is at the heart of the festival and serves as a natural place for us to underscore our connection to the creative community and inspire marketers to look ahead to what’s next.

What has Spotify’s Cannes journey been like?

Brian: We started attending Cannes back in 2012. We had just launched in the U.S. a year prior, and we were only in a handful of countries. Although we were “global,” Spotify didn’t really have a global presence back then. We were just trying to get on the board—get people to notice us, both on the client side and on the marketing side. Then, as we grew our leadership and our partnerships, we grew our Cannes presence, too.

Jess: When we first went, we didn’t even have a home base in the city. Three years ago, we established our own beach space, and we hosted a few small concerts. Last year, we made a major shift, launching our headquarters, the Spotify Beach on the Croisette. When people walked onto that beach, they were blown away to see how far we had come in such a short amount of time. We took ourselves to another level and last year’s success validated our decision to bring Spotify Beach back this year.

What’s your favorite Cannes memory?

Brian: Last year, in 2018, when The Killers performed at our Spotify Beach, that was just amazing. Looking out at the crowd, the energy that The Killers bring—selfishly, I also got to meet them backstage and then introduce them—but that was just a magical night for me and I’m sure for everyone who got to hear them.

Why should people stop by the Spotify Beach this year?

Jess: I’m really proud of the programming we have this year. On Tuesday we have a panel in partnership with the Idea Initiative under the banner of “Cannes in Color,” where we’re focused on lessons from Latin America. We’re bringing together a dynamic panel featuring Carla Hassan, Chief Brand Officer at Citi; Ashley Frangie and Lety Sahagún, the hosts behind the Spotify Original podcast Se Regalan Dudas, the most popular original podcast in Mexico; and others who are creating spaces for Latin American creatives.

During the week, we’re inviting Cannes attendees to attend a session based on Culture Next, our Global Trends Report. We’ll be diving into Gen Z and Millennial-focused trends we identified from the report, Hannah Bronfman, DJ, Author, and Founder of HBFIT”, and Titi Shodiya and Zakiya Whatley, the podcast hosts of Dope Labs, a winner of last year’s Sound Up Bootcamp program.

And on Tuesday, our Chief Content Officer, Dawn Ostroff, will be on the Terrace Stage with multi-Grammy Award nominated singer/songwriter Camila Cabello.

We also have a podcast studio—as we head into Cannes, audio is at the center of our story. This year, the way we work with creators has definitely expanded, and that’s something that’s top of mind for us at Cannes.

We’re taking the best of what we’re learning and sharing it with those who couldn’t travel to Cannes with us. Stream the second season of our Spotify original podcast: Culture: Now Streaming, published live from our podcast studio at the Croisette.

5 Tips from Miguel, Samira Wiley, Jessie Ware, and Ramy Youssef on Creating an Authentic Brand

June 22, 2018

If you feel like you “really know” your favorite musician or TV star personally, you’re not alone. Between on-demand, streaming music and video and a never-ending array of posts on social platforms, today’s artistic creators and audiences are closer than ever before. For some celebrities, that connection gives them the chance to share their brand in a very new, meaningful way.

Spotify and Hulu acknowledged and celebrated this newfound engagement during a panel at the 2018 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity introduced by Spotify CMO Seth Farbman and Hulu CMO Kelly Campbell. The execs then handed the mic over to moderator God-is Rivera, Creative Executive at VML, who invited four influential creators from across the music, film, TV, and advertising worlds—Grammy Award-winning artist Miguel, musician Jessie Ware, actress Samira Wiley, and comedian Ramy Youssef—to explore what these connections mean for artists, brands, and creators in the digital age.

Hulu CMO Kelly Campbell and Spotify CMO Seth Farbman

 

We collected a few tips from the panelists on creating and sustaining your own brand:

1. Use culture to engage authentically

Miguel: “I am genuinely interested in creative work. I love to watch film, listen to as much music as possible, and just generally keep in touch with culture. It’s inspiring and helps continue the conversation.”

Samira: “I want to be able to have fans and people who are following me on social media feel like they are getting a real piece of me. So I try to post pictures where I’m hanging out with real people. I say yes to people a lot on the street—I used to shy away, but being accessible when I can helps me feel like I’m connecting more. I hope it makes them feel like they’re connecting with me as well.”

Jessie: “I try to be as honest as possible. I have a podcast, which helps me be relevant. It was very accidental, I did it to escape myself, but people have quite enjoyed it. I do it with my mother while she cooks dinner … It has shown my fans another side of me. A lot of fans think I’m very mysterious but I’m absolutely not, so this breaks down a barrier where they can see that other side, tap in, be relatable and accessible.”

Jessie and Ramy prepare to share

2. Keep your fans in mind

Ramy: “When you do stand-up, you’re kind of ambushing people with comedy. It informs the messaging. You’re like, ‘Ok, if I’m trying to get people’s attention right away, how can I do it?’ and you have to be as authentic as possible right away. … When you only have a small amount of time to engage people, it becomes really clear what the message is and what you want to say.”

Jessie: “Everyone has a story, and you may not know what’s going on when you’re serenading them, and you’re kind of getting a bit frustrated that maybe the crowd’s not warming up enough, but you’re not doing it for you, you’re doing it for them. That’s very humbling for me.”

3. Take a stand for what you believe in

Miguel: “Being of Mexican and black descent, knowing the journey that my father took as an immigrant to the United States from Zamora, Michoacán Mexico makes trying to figure out the proper solution for undocumented people in the States something that has been really dear to my heart. Learning and speaking up about that is a way that I’ve been able to include something that’s authentic to where I came from into my communication and conversation with my fans.”

Samira and Ramy having a laugh

 

4. Use your platform to spread your message

Samira: “Why do I have this platform? People are looking at us to say things. I felt like I needed to speak out on political things because of who I am. I had a wonderful experience coming out … but I know there are so many LGBT youth who do not have that experience. The leading cause of death for LGBT youth is suicide. To have one person who is an advocate for you in your life reduces that by 30 percent. And if I can do that for someone through social media, then that is what I want to do and that is one of the reasons I have the platform I do.”

5. Find a connection

Ramy: “Every time we talk we have influence. Being Muslim is a political thing. Just who I am is political. Now I have a platform and people care. They want to know. So I have to be as much me as possible, as human as possible, and that means putting the flaws first. People respond to ‘Yo, we’re both messed up in the same ways, and we’re both dealing with the same issues,’ and in order for me to do that I have to be vulnerable and honest and human.”

One—perhaps unspoken—piece of advice was that an artist never rests: Miguel brought the evening to a close with a performance of his chart-topping “Sky Walker.”

Miguel performing “Sky Walker”

 

Whether showcasing their work or sharing their thoughts, these influencers are able to create a unique connection that they don’t take for granted.

L-R: Miguel, Samira, Seth, Jessie, God-is, and Ramy

Spotify Celebrates the Connection Between Brands and Consumers at Cannes

June 18, 2018

Spotify was founded upon the simple truth that personal discovery is one of life’s greatest pleasures. Our mission from the beginning has been to connect fans to culture and bring creativity to the world.

That premise makes our presence at the 2018 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity particularly meaningful. From our Spotify Beach headquarters on the Croisette, we celebrate a turning point for the company. We are proud of how far we have come and what we’ve learned along the way. As the recipient of the Cannes Lion Media Brand of the Year award, we consider 2018 as a reflection of that journey.

To date, Spotify connects musicians with over 170 million fans globally, utilizing personalized insights to inspire people to discover even more. From our perch in the cross currents of culture—and at the nerve center of Cannes Lions—Spotify Beach hosts the leaders of the world’s most exciting brands to exchange ideas and learn more about the possibilities of partnership.

At the core of our offerings is the trusted relationship we’ve developed with music fans. Users on our free tier stream over two hours each day, and they stream everywhere: on mobile phones, in connected cars, and through smart speakers at home. This allows us to understand unique insights—like moods, mindsets, tastes and habits on an individual level—and deliver content tailored to each listener.

This valuable intelligence provides advertising partners with opportunities to place personalized and inspiring ads in ways that resonate deeply with a wide range of cultures. Our streaming intelligence connects us with new audiences, providing real time insights that deliver more relevant and engaging ad experiences for our brand partners and users.

At Spotify Beach we present an array of exhibits and interactive tools that give a real, tangible impression of who we are and what we have to offer brands. We highlight everything from our creator programs, personalized and cultural playlists (including Rise, Viva Latino, Rap Caviar, Hot Country and Spotify Singles) and New Free Tier listening experience to our rapid growth in podcasts.