By the end of 2014, Spotify was the global leader in music streaming, with over 50 million users in 58 different markets. But while Spotify created a category, they now faced well-funded and resourced competitors - with everyone from Google (Google Play) and Apple (Beats Music) moving aggressively into the space. At the same time, the brand was experiencing the PR challenge of the Taylor Swift breakup.

The brief was to create a year-end campaign that celebrated the platform’s users, in order to reinforce perceptions of Spotify as the “people’s choice”. The business objectives were to drive positive earned media and increased use (measured in additional streams on the platform).

The Spotify Year in Music wasn't written by the critics or dictated by sales - instead it was the first time the world listened to the listeners. Data unearthed fascinating human truths, reframing the year's events through the lens of music. In addition, users could get their own personal portrait - finally answering the question: "So what kind of music are you into?"

There were over 5 million site visits and over 1 million personal snapshots created. The campaign was featured by hundreds of publications, both traditional and online, and even Katy Perry - the most followed person on Twitter - tweeted her love. The campaign drove over 750k shares, resulting in 270 million organic social impressions. And the data-driven playlists embedded within the experience resulted in 216 million streams on the platform.