The Spotify Music for your World campaign was the first streaming campaign of its kind to combine real-time user data with strong neighbourhood insights to deliver a campaign that truly understood Canadians. We carried out extensive research in each target city to find local insights around which each creative element would be created. Spotify was promising “Music for Your World” so we had to know this “world” inside and out or risk coming off as inauthentic and out of touch with our target. To effectively leverage our target insight around moments, each piece of creative was crafted to a local insight and a corresponding moment to ensure contextual and behavioural relevance. Some examples included riding the 504 streetcar in Toronto, sitting in traffic on the Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver, drinking Caesars in Calgary, etc. Each playlist was curated specifically for that location and was a direct reflection of the neighbourhood’s listening habits.

Quantitative research showed that the majority of Canadians search for and listen to music based on moods (happy, sad, feeling blue) and moments (party, waking up). They use music to add layers that uplift or to motivate, to get the party started, or to unwind during their commute home. They use music to soundtrack almost every aspect of their lives. In short, they looked for content that was personal, meaningful, and relevant.

With this in mind, we looked deep into Spotify’s data and found something truly remarkable. Spotify could tell us what people were listening to and where, right down to a neighbourhood. No matter what the neighbourhood, the Spotify insights team could tell us the most streamed songs in that area. This would allow us to show Canadians that not only did we understand how they used music, and get what they listened to, but also that we understand the role it plays in their lives, in their neighbourhoods, every day. We could tap into a person’s listening habits to allow us to serve them better than any other streaming service.

When we set out to launch a global brand with a Canadian spin, we could have never anticipated the response. Within days of launch, there was an almost immediate spike in activity across all our custom playlists. In fact, our most-streamed playlist rose to be the #2 playlist on Spotify by the end of the campaign, and overall streaming in Canada (on Spotify) increased by 71% vs. the previous period.

Taking a Canadian approach to a global brand paid off across all success metrics. Throughout its two months in market, the Music for Your World campaign put Spotify in a league of its own relative to its competitive set:

• Spotify became the #1 music app in the App Store on both iOS and Android. (Source: iTunes Store.)

• Daily registrations increased by 21% (Source: Spotify user data.)

• Our net promoter score rose to 30 points among our MAUs (Monthly Active Users). (Source: Spotify Global Insights Group – Quarterly Tracking Study Q2 2015.)

• Our most-streamed playlist became the #2 streamed playlist on Spotify by the end of the campaign. (Source: Spotify user data.)