BEAT OF A BILLION

TitleBEAT OF A BILLION
BrandSPOTIFY
Product / ServiceSPOTIFY
CategoryD01. Data Strategy
EntrantLEO BURNETT INDIA Mumbai, INDIA
Idea Creation LEO BURNETT INDIA Mumbai, INDIA
Production PRODIGIOUS INDIA Mumbai, INDIA

Credits

Name Company Position
Rajdeepak Das Leo Burnett India Chief Creative Officer and Managing Director
Saurabh Varma Publicis Communications South Asia Chief Executive Officer
Dheeraj Sinha Leo Burnett India Chief Strategy Officer & Managing Director
Vikram Pandey Leo Burnett India National Creative Director
Vikram Pandey Leo Burnett India Creative Director
Geo Joseph Leo Burnett Creative Director
Alisha Sharma Leo Burnett Associate Creative Director
Kiran Talegaonkar Leo Burnett Associate Creative Director
Aakanksha Saxena Leo Burnett Copywriter
Sanjeev Dal Chand Kumar Leo Burnett Copywriter
Dileep Dharampuri Leo Burnett Editor
Rakesh Hinduja Leo Burnett Mumbai Chief Operating Officer
Niharika Talwar Leo Burnett Business Director
Ajeeta Bharadwaj Leo Burnett Planner
Amrita Varma Leo Burnett Planner
Amarjit Singh Batra Spotify Managing Director
Neha Ahuja Spotify Marketing Director
Raylin Valles Prodigious India Director
Mickey McCleary Prodigious Music Artist

Why is this work relevant for Direct?

Spotify was launching in India. However, unlike other markets, India is home to a distinctly diverse music listening population. Spotify, a global brand with a fun, cheeky persona and ‘foreign’ veneer was under pressure to build a local connect with Indians. Which is why, at the time of launch we crafted a video featuring music made with math. With the help of our sound engineers and music director, we used data to identify that one crucial beat, the ‘Beat of a Billion’, that became the foundation of the soundtrack featured in the launch video.

Background

Spotify, the world’s favourite music app was launching in India at a difficult time. The music streaming market was already inundated with numerous players that were investing heavily in attracting a loyal following. Additionally, Spotify was a global brand with its own personality and ethos that was quite different from what Indians were used to. In order to build a successful in-road, it was imperative for the brand to create a local connection. However, India is a diverse nation of over 1.35 billion individuals that speak over 22 languages. Their music tastes were just as vibrant. Unlike local players, Spotify is a pioneer in decoding music consumption habits so as to offer a superior audio experience. What better way to launch than to showcase its ability to cater to the distinct music tastes and preferences of the nation?

Describe the creative idea (30% of vote)

Spotify’s launch in India was to be marked by a music video. Rather than rely on a popular native hit, we decided to leverage the brand’s expertise in decoding music listening data to create our own track, designed to resonate with Indians across age-groups, geographies and music preferences. Presenting, The Beat of a Billion. We recruited Indians across age-groups, socio-economic backgrounds and music preferences, and played them a compilation of top, trending hits across the ages. We then used different data techniques to identify that one musical beat that resonated across the board, using that to build our launch soundtrack.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

We wanted to showcase how Spotify, a global music app, has the data capability to understand the music listening behaviour of over 1.35 billion Indians. Which is why, when it came to finding the right track for the launch video, we didn’t want to take any chances. India releases over 100,000 music videos each year of which only 2,500 are hits. That’s a 0.025% chance of a hit. We decided to craft our own soundtrack, one with a distinctive beat that was bound to get everyone shaking their bopping their head to it. We narrowed our target audience to two segments – • Young International Streamers: 15-27 years old habitual music streamers who had likely heard of Spotify from their global counterparts, through their travels or via pop culture • Urban Streamers: 20-35 years old local music streamers who have an affinity for Bollywood and regional music

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

We invited a group of Indians across age-groups and socio-economic backgrounds. Most importantly, they had to have different music listening preferences. We hooked them up to a system and played them a compilation of India’s favourite, trendy hits. As the music played, we analyzed their brain reward system. By monitoring dopamine levels, we were able to pick out those parts that gave them a high. Our team of sound engineers then fed those select music samples into an algorithm, breaking them down in terms of instruments, beat progressions, and chord patterns. The highlighted commonalities were ‘rehumanized’ from raw data form and analyzed for that one distinct beat, which was given to our music director who built the soundtrack. Once the music was ready, we integrated it with our video and released it on various social media platforms.

List the results (30% of vote)

The ‘Beat of a Billion’ soundtrack was a resounding success, and was played over 10 million times on social media. It was a part of the online conversation, spawning Spotify memes and memes about memes, resulting in over 155000 engagements. The track found its way to its very own playlist titled ‘The Beat of a Billion’, with other tracks sharing the same beat. Following the launch, Spotify’s app downloads rose to a record breaking one million within the first week. The response also had an effect on Spotify’s global stock value, kicking it up by 4%.

Describe the use of data, or how the data enhanced the campaign output

One crucial data-point helped us realise that out of the 100,000+ music videos released in India every year, only 2,500 are hits. That's a success rate of 0.025%. When it came to Spotify's launch in India, we didn't want to just choose a song that we thought would fit within the 0.025% success rate. So we used different data techniques to create a soundtrack that would definitely be a hit with Indians across age-groups and musical inclinations. What would have otherwise been just another launch by a music streaming app became a platform for innovation and new music creation.

Links

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