Spotify Listen at Home
The Brief
As people around the world had increasingly moved inside during the global pandemic, Spotify had seen music and podcast listening change in a variety of ways.
For example, with fewer people streaming from their cars during their daily commutes and an increase in working from home, more people are streaming across devices like computer desktops, TVs, smart speakers, and gaming consoles. There had also been an increase in cooking- and housework-themed playlists, showing that people are primarily focusing on family and domestic tasks instead of music intended for get-togethers.
We have all been living through uniquely challenging times. Music is a way to keep our expand our inner worlds and stay connected with our loved ones, and Spotify has been there to provide inspiration, entertainment, education and relief to help navigate the challenges posed by COVID-19.
Our job was to reflect these new music listening habits, in unique, intimate & playful environments for Spotify Premium ads on paid social. Going from “Listen anywhere” to “Listen at home.”
The Insights
We analyzed previous top performers, which included creatives from their “Listen Anywhere” & “UI” concepts. Listen anywhere focuses on the ability to download music and have offline playlists if you become a Premium user. UI visually highlights a few different listening options in the platform such as podcasts, leisure music, party music, etc. Our mission was to take these concepts and iterate on top of them to keep a narrative going, but making them relevant on the current reality.
As stated in the brief, social distancing had heavily shifted users’ listening behaviour this year. During this time we had noticed that the songs Spotify listeners had been adding to their playlists are more “chill”—meaning they’re more acoustic, less danceable, and have lower energy than songs previously added. In Italy and Spain, residents have taken to singing songs together from apartment balconies and windows, especially in honor of health care providers and first responders. This caused a movement worldwide. People went from working in the office to working from home and having to self-manage their time on meetings, taking care of their families, partners, kids, and having time for themselves as well.
We decided to focus on a couple on these new behaviors, and grab those characters that were previously “listening music anywhere” in their homes. We also grabbed the UI concept and showcase the UI in different intimate, personalized & playful environments at home.
The Creatives
In Context
Ads were created in both static and video formats, several different sizes (1:1, 2:3, 4:5, 9:16 & 16:9) for Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok & Snap. Ads were also made in 30 different languages, across several markets.
The Process
Some samples of the illustrations from start to finish.
The Results
The Listen at Home creatives made up 32% of total BAU 1MF Spotify Premium spend from mid till end of the year. During this 6 month period, our creatives were responsible for 237K new Premium Users in the US. 73% of these subs came from static assets. These creatives also drove a 10% lower SAC compared to other BAU creatives running at the time. The Listen at Home campaign also increased the Conversion Rate (CVR) by 45%.
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Agency: Smartly.io Creative Studio
CD, Strategy, Illustration: Sharon Romang
Motion: Rachel Lewis