US elections are notoriously complicated and turnout can be shockingly low. But in 2020, with the pandemic making it even harder to take part, we knew it would take a huge effort to get young voters, who have been traditionally put off by the complicated nature of US politics, to vote. So we wanted to help them get closer to the ballot box, and launched an integrated campaign using every inch of our platform, our artist connections and owned media channels to mobilize young voters and make it easier for them to play their part.

We set out to engage young voters, who traditionally don’t turn out in high numbers, and make it easier for them to take part in the most consequential election of their lifetimes. Starting by identifying key actions we could help them with that traditionally can be complicated and time consuming, including registering to vote, ordering their mail-in ballot and making a voting plan - and so we built our entire campaign around making it easier for them to do so. Giving them the crucial voting information they’d need to engage and take action, all while still being able to listen to their favorite tracks.

We wanted to reach our young audience where they already were, so we created a digital and social first campaign using every inch of our platform, owned and paid media channels to create highly targeted, timely messaging that would speak directly to the target audience. This included song triggered messaging that would appear when someone listened to specific songs. Original podcast episodes, embedded videos in playlists and 10 + hours of original social content made specifically to pass the time spent waiting in voting lines. And to make sure the messages reached and resonated with the right audience, we used our listening-data to identify which artists, songs, podcasters and playlists would resonate the most with this young voter demographic. Ultimately being able to make it easier for them to play their part by allowing them to register, order their ballot or get information, all while listening to their favorite tunes.

We wanted to engage the entire Spotify App ecosystem. And so we made everything from bespoke podcast episodes on how to decipher election campaign messaging, to song triggered pop-ups, encouraging and enabling you to take specific actions, such as register or make a voting plan. We put artist-videos in our most popular playlists. And we had artists who were first time voters themselves reach out to their fans. We also worked with our partners at Headcount.org and Ballotready, to make sure first time voters could easily register without even leaving the browser. The campaign ran in the US Market. Across Social (IG, FB, Snap) Youtube, Diversity PMP, and own Channels (The Spotify App Ecosystem), between 09.09.2020 -11.03.2020

The political system in the US is complex and can be difficult to engage with. And because each state has their own unique rules around the voting process, it results in confusion about how to vote and long waiting times when you go to do it. That’s why a campaign like this was so necessary in order to help a new generation of voters get engaged with the politics that will shape their lives for generations. In total, we drove 800,000 people to election resources and over 70k people took actions that brought them closer to the ballot box, contributing to the highest youth-voter turnout in US history.