Holiday Hintlists are the first shareable Spotify playlists that used the titles of real songs by real artists that, when read from beginning to end, spelled out hidden gift requests. Each playlist hinted at a specific product like a Samsung phone or a Google Home.

First, users picked the gift they really wanted at Verizon.com. Then, using Spotify’s API, a unique playlist was dynamically generated for that gift. Finally, the generated playlist was shared with family and friends on social media channels. Each of the most popular tech gifts on Verizon.com had multiple Spotify playlists — keeping the requests fresh for the entire season.

First, we scoured Spotify to find song titles that could be assembled into logical sentences. These had to be both creative and original, but also include the specific products offered on Verizon.com. We had to craft multiple playlists for each product to ensure variety, and cover the entire product suite offered. We then built a microsite that tapped into Spotify using its API, so we could dynamically generate the playlists on-demand. The site also included a sharing mechanism that was tied to the most popular social platforms. The hintlists were promoted on Verizon’s social channels (e.g. Facebook, Twitter), which drove users to the microsite. From there, the curated playlists were shared on the desired recipients’ social profiles.

The Holiday Hintlist made Verizon a hit this holiday season. The campaign garnered 6.8 million impressions with an 83% completion rate, Verizon's highest ever when compared to similar activations. And our completion rate was highest with our target age group. This resulted in people talking favorably about the brand during the busiest shopping period of the year, with a 95% positive / neutral social sentiment, 7% higher than average. The campaign created headlines as the Holiday Hintlist was named "Fun and surprisingly specific" by Entertainment Rocks as well as "A Really Clever Way to make a Subtle Suggestion" by Digital Trends.

In order to make the biggest impact possible, we started by looking at the biggest pain points surrounding holiday gifting. We found that most consumers know what they want, but often feel uncomfortable asking family and friends for specific items.

We also discovered that sharing music was a popular activity, particularly holiday playlists. The sharing of such playlists offer people a very personal way to express themselves to others without being overly aggressive. So, we turned to Spotify, where we discovered that its large library of music featured songs that were not only eclectic, but even included the names of products at Verizon.com.

We merged these insights to develop the idea of sharing playlists of real songs to create clever gift ideas.

The holiday season is notoriously hard to break through, with every brand vying for consumers' attention. Our goal was to make Verizon top-of-mind as a shopping destination during the holidays while promoting the wide range of tech products offered.

In addition, we wanted to tap into a cultural trend or truth, an activity we could leverage around the holidays that would make our work more relevant and engaging.

The concept needed to target a young audience seeking these tech products, and be delivered on platforms where they typically spend their time.