In collaboration with Spotify, a partner with a shared passion for improving gender parity in music, we launched a music platform built for progression, the Smirnoff Equalizer.

Through the Equalizer, users connect to their Spotify accounts to see just how equal, or unequal, their listening habits were, providing a percentage breakdown of the number of men vs. women artists they listen to.

The Equalizer then provided users with an ‘equalized’ playlists of men and women artists based on their listening habits. A ‘slider’ allowed users to add in even more women artists into their personalized playlist, which they could share via social to encourage further discovery of women artists.

By launching the Equalizer in the run up to International Women’s Day, a day where conversation about gender equality heightens globally, we were ready to move culture one step closer to achieving gender parity through music.

The campaign centered on the industry-first use of real-time analysis of personalized streaming data from users’ Spotify accounts. To do this, Smirnoff and Spotify categorized 90% of Spotify’s catalogue into three groups: women, men and non-binary artists.

Smirnoff and Spotify then built, the Equalizer, an API which linked out from the Spotify platform. The Equalizer was able to analyze a Spotify user’s listening habits against 90% of Spotify’s catalogue in-real time. Once the analysis was complete, the Equalizer presented the user with a percentage breakdown of the number of men vs. women artists they listen to.

To empower the user to take action, the Equalizer included a ‘slider’, which could be moved to increase the number of women artists in the personalized playlist, generating further exposure for women artists.

Throughout the campaign, the UX was optimized in response to user behavior to promote more interaction and discovery of women artists.

We’ve moved closer to achieving gender parity in music.

Smirnoff transformed peoples’ listening habits:

• +52% increase of women artists streamed through Spotify (average 70% women vs 30% men)

• Created 2.7 million opportunities for women artists to be discovered

Raised awareness around gender bias in music:

• +60% connected their Spotify account to analyze their listening habits

• +614m impressions (+90% earned)

• +507,000 mentions on social (+78% positive)

Empowered people to take action:

• +604,000 people driven to the Equalizer experience

• +193,000 playlists created

Strengthened its role in inclusivity:

• +113% increase in people believing Smirnoff makes a difference to gender bias in music

• +32% increase in people believing Smirnoff uses music to bring people together

• +49% increase in people believing Smirnoff welcomes everyone

And brand results:

• +37% Increase in unaided awareness

• +28% Increase in brand relevance

• +33% Increase in purchase intent

This was a landmark example of how a global, data-driven partnership, built on shared purpose and passion, can create a positive impact in culture, and achieve significant business results.

The campaign had a dynamic API at its core, which provided real time analysis of listening habits, and delivered personalized recommendations that empower social sharing to spark change and conversation.

This is the story of how Smirnoff, an activist brand in music, and Spotify, the world’s largest music platform, came together to transform peoples’ listening habits at scale by increasing the number of women artists they listen to.

Our strategy sought to create a platform that would create personalized engagement, offer solutions, and ultimately lead to more discovery, exposure, and opportunity for great women artists.

Through the Smirnoff Equalizer we:

• Presented our audience with their individual music streaming habits highlighting the split of men vs. women artists.

• Empowered them to make change by providing a solution - an ‘equalized’ playlist and slider to add in more women artists.

• Encouraged sharing of their findings with friends through social media.

We amplified our message through:

• A global media partnership and activation with Spotify across our key markets (US, UK, Ireland, Australia, Mexico, Argentina)

• Collaboration with Honey Dijon, the genre-defying DJ, fashion icon and trans rights activist.

• Promotion on social media, and relevant publishers, in select markets where gender equality has high resonance, targeted to music lovers, Smirnoff fans and inclusive-minded consumers.

It’s music that often fuels good times, bringing people together and creating inclusive moments. But in 2016, Smirnoff realized that the music industry itself wasn’t very inclusive. In fact, in the last six years, less than 10% of artists nominated for Grammys were women.

2017 was a landmark year for women. Globally, gender bias and inequality are increasingly being exposed through progressive movements, from the Women’s March to #MeToo to #TimesUp, not only have these movements increased awareness, but are empowering voices to be heard.

Despite this progress, Smirnoff and Spotify discovered that ten out of ten top streamed tracks on Spotify were from men artists. While people began waking up to gender disparity in music, our listening habits didn’t reflect the change we want to see.