Adobe needed to engage directly with Gen Z in a way that portrayed our suite of products as a tool for creativity rather than a professional-grade tool made only for art students. With an audience that rejects typical brand messaging, we had to find a voice that could cut through the noise. Enter Billie Eilish. To both inspire and activate Gen Z, we made content around Billie’s already hyped-up album drop that gave viewers an extremely intimate look at what creativity means to Billie and, in turn, what it could mean for them. We then pushed that excitement into action by giving fans a chance to get their art on billboards, official tour merch, and onstage as part of her opening act, thus inspiring a new appreciation for our product and our audience’s abilities while giving fans unprecedented access to and inspiration from their idol.

Adobe collaborated with Billie Eilish to share the creative process that led to her “Happier Than Ever” music video. This collaboration coincided with the launch of her video and her “Happier Than Ever” album drop.

Two days after Billie’s “Happier Than Ever” music video dropped, Adobe launched a spot that utilized Adobe magic to bring viewers into her creative process. Then we went even deeper with a “Making Of” film bringing fans behind the scenes of the video. We gave fans the chance to celebrate their own creativity by creating a hashtag for Adobe-created Billie fan art and surprised our audience by utilizing some of the entries in billboards nationwide. As fan art kept rolling in, we introduced our Make the Merch contest, which invited fans to submit art for the chance to see it on Billie’s Official Merch and onstage in a video that played during her opening act.

To inspire Gen Z to express their creativity with Adobe Creative Cloud, we needed to give them something to aspire to. We found that Gen Z was most influenced by people they related to in their own age group. Billie Eilish has proven to be a voice of that generation. She is also a champion of creative autonomy and individuality. So we delved into Billie’s creative process as a source of inspiration and then asked our audience to use social media to share their own unique creativity, tapping into their habit of sharing their skills on social media sites. We then extrapolated on this activation and introduced the notion that their art was powerful enough to inspire their own idols by having Billie herself ask them to submit their art for the chance to see it on her official merch and on tour in her opening act gallery.

The launch of this campaign was strategically planned to coincide with Billie’s album launch with a TV spot and a short film centered on the making of her “Happier Than Ever” music video. This gave fans a way to get closer to Billie than ever before following her album release.

We then leveraged Billie’s and Adobe’s owned social channels to launch a creative celebration through hashtags. Next, we surprised student artists by putting their art on billboards around the country. These billboards were shared on Adobe’s channels as well as Billie’s own channels. With submissions pouring in, we extended the activation by having Billie herself ask for her fans’ art to be used on her tour.

Our media plan ensured we met our audience where they already were and spoke to them through one of their own idols. We targeted our audience on:

YouTube

Connected TV

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

TikTok

Ultimately, the campaign inspired students to invest in their creativity by connecting them to their creative idol in an intimate way that allowed them to both be inspired and inspire. We created a ripple of creativity, starting with Billie’s own creativity and ending with our audience’s creativity taking Billie’s very own stage on her tour. The results?

- 28% increase in global subscriptions

- 4x student revenue growth

- 3x campaign ROI