Why is this work relevant for Media?

Sunsilk’s Music Analyzer maximizes the potential of digital audio platforms – utilizing native placements like display, video, and audio in synergy with streaming intelligence that provides rich data points on consumers’ media consumption habits or behaviors. With data and technology at its arsenal, Sunsilk was able to personalize its communications at scale and resonate with its consumers – ultimately driving awareness for its naturals range.

Background

Sunsilk is a strong #2 brand in the Philippines shampoo category and within its portfolio is a relatively new Naturals range that successfully debuted back in 2019. The brand introduced its newest Naturals products which gave the promise of feeling light and fresh during a time consumers felt the stickiest and hot—summer. The timing, relevance of the product, and sharp communications used resulted in strong results that propelled the brand to market leadership for a time. in its 3rd year in the market, awareness of its naturals range still needed to be reinforced. However, with increased digital consumption and the plethora of content available online, resonating with its consumers posed a challenge for the brand. Thus, to continue building awareness around this relatively new range, it had to engage its consumers in a meaningful and relevant way.

Describe the creative idea / insights (30% of vote)

‘I DON'T WANT ANOTHER DULL AND LIFELESS SUMMER' Amidst the new normal, Sunsilk’s key audience, female Gen Zs and young millennials, spend their days adjusting to online learning/ working from home. They keep themselves preoccupied with content, vlogs, streaming shows, fangirling over K-Pop, and the like to overcome boredom and not have to feel another summer in lockdown as heavy, dull, and lifeless. A PLAYLIST FOR EVERY MOOD Sunsilk, a brand that has a fun and vibrant personality, wanted to turn this sentiment around. The brand saw that these young women tend to have a playlist for their every mood— whether they are relaxing, working out, studying, or simply browsing on their phones. Since they are stuck at home, she listens to different playlists based on what she feels at any moment.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

LEVERAGE ON MUSIC IDENTITY TO RESONATE WITH ITS AUDIENCE Seeing how ingrained music is in its audience and knowing how she has different playlists that she listens to, Sunsilk partnered with the Philippines’ top music streaming platform, Spotify. With high engagement on Spotify, Sunsilk applied demographic targeting and deployed a multi-format campaign that took over the platform, reaching consumers with video, display, and audio ads and then leading to the Music Analyzer which then leveraged Spotify’s streaming intelligence and evaluated a user’s music identity. Bringing it full circle, the Music Analyzer also recommended a branded playlist suited to the user’s music preferences and can be saved on their Spotify profile. Through data-fueled insights collected by Spotify’s Web API, Sunsilk is able to deep dive into users’ past listening history and identify patterns around favorite genres, artists, songs, etc—allowing Sunsilk to personalize its message that resonates stronger with its audience.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

With the help of Spotify, Sunsilk created a Music Analyzer called the GOOD VIBES CHECK which looks at a users’ Spotify music history and pinpoints the top mood, genre, tempo, and danceability of the songs they have listened to. Depending on what is predominant in their music history, one would be classified under any of the following: 1. Hyperbae Vibes – prefers danceable music 2. Isla Girl (‘Island Girl’) Vibes – prefers beach vibes music 3. Quaranchill Vibes – prefers low BPM music 4. Senti (‘Sentimental’) Vibes – prefers acoustic music and love songs 5. Saranghae Vibes – prefers K-Pop music The music analyzer also recommends a Good Vibes Playlist for them to continue listening to everyday based on their result. The brand engaged with users of Spotify’s platform through native audio, display, and video placements while measuring the impact of the execution on awareness with a brand lift.

List the results (30% of vote)

The campaign provided amazing results for the brand: • Native placements within the platform reached 1,639,931 users from Sunsilk’s target audience, achieving 26% more versus its intended target reach. These users saw the brand’s ads for an average of 5.6 times throughout the campaign. • 2,413 tried and completed analyzing their Spotify profile to find out their “vibe” (vs. the 2,250 target completions), which is an amazing 7% achievement versus KPI; • 15.42% continued to listen to their recommended playlist after trying out the experience. Through Spotify’s music analyzer solution, the brand saw an overall increase in unaided and prompted awareness by 2% and 1%, respectively. Spontaneous ad recall also rose significantly by 32%.

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

Utilizing Spotify’s Web API, Sunsilk can look at data-fueled insights and dive deeper into key aspects like the following: • Users’ past listening history • Identify patterns around their favorite genres, artists, and songs • Grouping usually listened to songs based on factors like tempo, danceability These data allowed the brand to personalize its message and created the five different Good Vibes Check, which is essentially playlists that are tailor-fit to each consumer. Once users get their results, the music analyzer recommends a Sunsilk Good Vibes Playlist for them to save on their profile and continue listening to everyday – the recommended playlist would contain songs that are also similar to their music preference.