As an aspiring public relations professional, nothing is more satisfying than opening your social media, seeing one of your favorite brands and thinking “oh that’s nice strategy”.
On the other side of things, more than occasionally we open the news and must endure the pain of one of our favorite celebs or brands acting as though they have a large team of toddlers handling their PR (Seriously Lori Loughlin, give us a call- it’s not going well).
But some companies tend to just nearly always do it right. Spotify, the audio streaming giant, has marketing and public relations so good that it helps dull the pain of knowing my Spotify Premium for Students discount is about to expire upon impending graduation.
Spotify advertisements can be easily recognized by their witty commentary paired with their signature font and atheistically pleasing color pallets.
Some of my favorites include:
“Dear person who played ‘Sorry’ 42 times on Valentine’s Day, what did you do?”
“Take a page from the 3,445 people who streamed the ‘Boozy Brunch’ playlist on a Wednesday this year.”
“To the 1,235 guys who loved the ‘Girls’ Night’ playlist this year, We love you.”
Seriously? Funny, analytic-based advertising? Even the public relations team at Apple Music must admit that they also enjoy that.
Even beyond their physical advertisements, Spotify abides by one of the golden PR rules - create content, not just advertisements. This past December you may recall your social media being filled with all your friends posting their Spotify Wrapped, an individual curated graphic detailing their top artists of the year. That’s FREE advertising just because your high-school friend, Susan, wants to show how much she really does love Ariana Grande.
While Spotify surely doesn’t need my help- I do have one suggestion:
Not everyone is aware that along with their expansive music library, Spotify also allows users the option to stream a wide variety of podcasts. I would love to see analytical and witty podcasts advertisements saying something like, “We think it’s kind of scary that you’ve listened to 87 hours of True Crime podcasts on the way to work.. can we suggest Positivity podcasts instead?”
I can’t count the times I’ve seen Facebook friends requesting podcast suggestions for their upcoming road trip. Spotify, you’ve introduced me to so many new artists, but I’ve been listening to the same episodes of This American Life for years and years now, so I could really use your help!
What's your favorite music streaming engagement? Share with us!