Spotify tapped into a unique content partnership with the animated film Belle in an effort to drive brand relevance and differentiation among movie goers. By capitalizing on the launch moment, and leveraging a combination of offline and digital media, Spotify was able to seamlessly integrate its platform into the world of Belle, capturing the attention and interest of movie fans and inviting them to enjoy exclusive Belle content on Spotify platform. As a result, Spotify saw significant lift in brand consideration and sign-ups.

Audio Streaming Services in Japan are perceived as indistinguishable from the local consumer perspective. In an effort to drive differentiation against the likes of Amazon and Apple, Spotify Japan leaned into strategic content partnership to increase relevance with Japanese audiences by way of adjacent cultures.

Spotify’s pulse on culture helped them identify a unique opportunity with an anime film grounded in music called Belle or “Ryu to Sobakasu no Hime”. Belle’s theme combined with Spotify’s unique on platform experience had the potential to deliver rich content to an audience group interested in movies, anime and music.

The objective of this campaign was to drive awareness and consideration of Spotify among Belle movie-goers and anime fans.

During COVID-19 movie theaters were limited to closed due to the changing restrictions. During these unprecedented times, people were turning to entertainment for a reprieve from the uncertainty of daily life. By the end of the 3rd state of emergency, and live theater resumed operations, #SaveTheCinema #NOMORE????? began trending as movie goers gathered in person and online to call for action.

We knew through our audience research that music lovers in Japan also tended to enjoy movies, in particular anime. Furthermore, we also saw that anime were often triggers to search for new music in Japan, as the soundtracks used in anime were some of the popular streaming songs on Spotify. Finally, movie goers tended to share their experience post-viewing, particularly via social media and movie review sites, creating an opportunity for Spotify to engage them as they reflect back on their movie experience.

Our partnership strategy focused on bringing the movie Belle and Spotify closely together by integrating the two worlds in a seamless manner.

Directed by Mamoru Hosoda, Belle features a timid 17-year-old high school girl, Suzu, who lost her mother and in turn, lost her love of singing. Invited to a virtual world called “U” via a mobile app, she enters the fantastical realm under the alias of Belle. As she finds her voice again in this virtual world, she quickly becomes the rising star of “U.”

Given its theme, music was a critical part of Belle. In fact, Belle was planned to debut as an ‘artist’ at the same time as the movie release. In addition, songs by other established artists were included in the soundtrack offering opportunity for Spotify to grow its listener base with exclusive content native to their platform.

To effectively engage the moviegoer anime fans, we used a combination of offline and digital channels aligning with the movie launch timing.

The animated fantasy received its world premiere at the 74th Cannes Film Festival on July 15th ahead of theater release in Japan. Receiving 14-minute standing ovation at Cannes, the movie attracted significant amount of earned media. Capitalizing on this interest, Spotify launched its custom Studio Chizu playlist and exclusive content including audio voice liner notes, and full screen visual animated clips from the movie via their Canvas screen.

At movie theaters, Spotify delivered stickers where the QR code on the back led moviegoers directly to the playlist. This art sticker also generated organic buzz, as many people posted the picture of the sticker on social media. In addition, the content was promoted via Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. Finally, Spotify sponsored movie-related media to generate further PR value.

Despite the uncertainty of movie theater openings, Belle had been highly anticipated because of the director’s past hits as well as the top tier cast. As restrictions relaxed, and with universal appeal across age and gender, the movie became a top hit of 2021.

With limited budget and short flighting, this campaign generated significant interest and conversion for Spotify by capitalizing on the moment and interest surrounding Belle. Spotify saw extremely high engagement of both the QR code and social media. In particular, Belle Sticker QR Code received 27% Unique Plays Rate, which is more than double what we see regularly.

More importantly, people who were exposed to the advertisement had 2x the brand consideration against those who didn’t. Of the people who saw the digital ad, 13% recommended Spotify to their friends, 12% registered to Spotify and 10% played the Belle playlist (source: brand campaign research).