Spotify's New Ads Reveal Why Social Matters to Millenials
Marketing May 7th, 2014 | 3 minute read
Spotify has recently rolled out a series of ads called #NowFeeling that shows how music (and thus Spotify) plays an integral part of our lives. Targeted at Millenials, each ad is a mini-narrative told through the first-person perspective of someone on their computer or phone as they use Facebook, Instagram, Skype, iMessage, and of course, Spotify, to talk to friends, connect with family, and clear things up with a crush. In many ways, it is an expansion of Google's Search Stories from 2009.
I first caught one of the ads before a showing of Captain America: Winter Solider, and in reviewing all three, I'm struck by how well they've captured the way social networks are a core part of our off-line lives. Here they are below:
Ad #1: Say More With A Playlist
Goldie wakes up on a Sunday morning after a big night out and checks her phone to find a surprise message from a crush: a fun playlist featuring Icona Pop's "All Night".
Ad #2: Can't Find the Words?
Andrew is on Facebook, struggling to share something with his maybe-more-than-a-friend Taylor and decides to use Avicci's "You Make Me" to share how he really feels.
Ad #3 Music Takes You Back
While browsing Spotify, Blake comes across an old favorite: Weezer. As "Say it Ain't So" plays, he looks over old photos on Facebook and gets inspired to reconnect with his brother Andrew.
Some thoughts on these ads:
The technology behind social platforms has created new nuances to how we communicate.
An argument often leveled at the widespread usage of text messaging and other digital communication channels among young people is the fear that teens aren't learning the nuances of real human interactions. But as social platforms get more sophisticated, that nuance returns in interesting ways. In "Can't Find the Words?", Andrew sends a message to his crush Taylor and we all agonize together watching Taylor start and stop typing twice before seeming to write his intended response. Because Facebook and other messaging services reveal when the other person is typing, we get new insight into how people are thinking when they talk to us, similar to when someone hems and haws or hesitates before answering a question.
With our always-on environment, it is much easier to escalate from asynchronous to synchronous interactions
In "Music Takes You Back", Andrew sends a "non-apology" to his brother in Spotify. It's not real-time and he doesn't expect to get a response right away. But then his brother Skype calls him immediately afterward. Now that most people carry smartphones with front-facing cameras and multiple apps that do video chat, we can go from a quick message to a full on video call in seconds.
Brands that want to reach Millenials will need to show they understand how Millenials communicate over social platforms.
In "Say More With a Playlist", Goldie acts like a real digital native, discussing the prior evening's events in an iMessage group chat with her girlfriends (vs one-on-one) and viewing an Instagram feed filled with shorthand phrases like "jelly", emoticons like long hashtags like #bestpizzaintheleague. The creative team behind the project are well versed in how their audience uses social platforms and the result is a powerful and deeply authentic ad for Spotify.
To see how people are responding on Twitter to Spotify's new campaign, check out the hashtag #NowFeeling.
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