Spotify’s advertising business has grown tremendously over the past few years—and our geographic footprint has expanded to match. One region of focus is Southeast Asia (SEA), the second-fastest-growing region globally in terms of internet users (source: eMarketer, Southeast Asia Digital Users Forecast 2022). Last week, our advertising leaders joined together in Singapore for a four-day experience to set the stage for new and relationships and grow existing ones with advertisers in Southeast Asia.
“With our strong audio content and ubiquity strategy, Spotify is at the heart of Gen Zs and millennials in this region,” saidSea Yen Ong,SpotifyHead of Sales, SEA. “On Spotify, advertisers have the opportunity to connect these uniquely engaged audiences with visual formats in the foreground and audio in the background on one single platform. This is an advantage which many other platforms and publishers are unable to promise or deliver.”
Setting the Table: All Ears on You Supper
To enhance our relationships with this community, we invited more than 40 senior brand and advertising partners to our first Singapore All Ears on You Supper at Riviera Fullerton. The night was filled with strategic conversations from regional decision makers across APAC, a delectable culinary experience, and a special artist performance.
Spotify’s newly appointed Head of Enterprise Sales for JAPAC, Brad Grealy, opened the evening with a welcoming address. Then, Sea Yen held an open conversation with Chef RémyCarmignani about his culinary inspirations, musical inspirations, and what guests could expect from the menu prior to the five-course meal.
Spotify Advertising’s newest and first-ever global B2B brand campaign, All Ears On You, is all about the immersive listening experience and the spellbinding nature of audio. To mirror the surround-sound nature of our platform, Spotify U.K. hosted a special evening filled with food, music, and celebration called All Ears on You: The Supper.
The multisensory evening included good food and good sounds, starting with a meal prepared by Johnnie Collins, head chef at London’s Light Bar & Dining. Henrie Kwushue, South London–born DJ and host of Spotify Original Podcast Who We Be TALKS_, enriched the dining experience with rhythmic beats. Following Henrie’s set, Years & Yearstook the stage to perform some of their biggest hits, including “King” and “Desire.”
But it was the evening’s dessert chef Ravneet Gill, host of Junior Bake Off and author of The Pastry Chef’s Guide: The Secret to Successful Baking Every Time, who stole the show.Sheserved a delicious assortment of flavorful pastries, including slices of basque cheesecake and pots of vanilla custard topped with bramley apple compote.
For the Record got the inside scoop from Ravneet on the immersive experience of baking, which she says can be enhanced with the right audio backdrop.
Just last week, Spotify Advertising launched its first-ever global B2B brand campaign, All Ears On You, celebrating the power of Spotify’s immersive listening experience. We also partnered with film director Amber Grace Johnson to create a video that paints a vivid picture of that influence. Using a mixture of live action and visual effects, Amber helps illustrate the utterly engrossing artists, podcasters, and creatives who populate our platform with their work—and keep listeners listening. So, what better way to keep the momentum going than with an ear-catching, in-person concert from two-time Grammy award-winner Megan Thee Stallion?
The concert took place at Manhattan’s Classic Car Club, a 3,200 square foot space located along the Hudson River. The evening began with a set by Brooklyn-based DJ Olivia Dope, who boasts some major star power of her own. The DJ has toured with Ciaraand Saweetieand is known by fans for her crisp, surround-sound beats and “90s aesthetic” fashion sense.
After building anticipation among attendees, Olivia welcomed Megan to the stage, where the rapper started off the evening with “Realer.” The viral star also performed some of the biggest hits in her arsenal, including “WAP,” “Body,” and “Savage.”
When advertisers create digital audio for Spotify, they have the opportunity to reach passionate music lovers and dedicated podcast listeners who tune in day after day—a truly engaged audience, if not the most engaged audience. And as audio content consumption is on the rise with no signs of slowing down, digital advertising is also becoming more mainstream. Now, Spotify Advertising is taking advantage of this reality to excite advertisers, publishers, and creators about this opportunity with our first global B2B brand campaign, All Ears On You.
We’re showing advertisers what it truly means to reach a fully engaged audience by imagining the Spotify experience as a moment where each listener is immersed in Spotify as they go about their day—protected from the noise and distractions of everyday life.
One part of our campaign is a stunning video created in conjunction with film director AmberGraceJohnson. The video, which was shot in Mexico City, shows this true immersion in a beautiful sync of live action and visual effects, all set to the song “Feet Don’t Fail Me Now” by Spotify RADAR artist JoyCrookes.
For the Record grabbed time with Amber to speak with her about her love of music, the creative direction that went into the campaign, and her goal in working with Spotify’s advertising team.
Why were you interested in working with Spotify?
Music is one of the biggest motivators in my life. I’m a person who needs 360-degree stimulation. Music helps me romanticize the mundane by injecting it with pure delicious immersion. It’s pretty wild to think of how terrifyingly vital a role Spotify plays in my every day—feasting my ears with the infinite soundtracks of my life.
And because I love all genres (and even surprise myself with what I come to love), Spotify gives me the means to discover newness (and oldness). I truly believe the world would be a lost and scary place without this medium.
I’ve always been a fan of Spotify. Since I started professionally directing three years ago, I had Spotify on my list as a brand I admire and dreamed of working with. And this experience absolutely lived up to that dream of mine.
Tell us a little about the direction in the All Ears On You film. What are the elements you set out to convey?
Powerful women and the art of letting go. This film is a window into the life of someone truly present—a young woman who defies the gravity of today’s experience by way of music. Our main character is able to rise above the ambush of the digital zeitgeist, an at-times suffocating frenzy.
As someone who lives and dies by Spotify, I believe music has healing powers. And whenever I’m in a bad mood, I play JamesBrown’s “People Get Up and Drive Your Funky Soul,” and it works like magic. I wanted to share the wonders of music and how it can transport you to another dimension, if you let it.
In this piece, we revel in a spirit so comfortable in herself that she makes you feel free enough to do the same. If anything, we want people to watch this and feel inspired to romanticize their lives, add a bit of spice—no matter how mundane—to something like a dizzying commute home from work. My goal is to sweep you off your feet with some Spotify.
The song in the video is “Feet Don’t Fail Me Now” by Joy Crookes. How did you choose this song? How did it influence the story within the video, and vice versa?
We were all hell-bent on finding the perfect song that was magnetic and soulful and by an artist on the rise. Spotify’s algorithm is strong and has personally put me on to a number of artists I wasn’t privy to. Finding that balance was essential, especially for a brand with real influence on how the world experiences music.
When we were auditioning songs (I want to say, we tried hundreds of options!), “Feet Don’t Fail Me Now” just hit differently. It had this Amy Winehouse-meets-Bond feeling. There’s something with the instrumentation that made me feel like it’s in the spirit of a James Bond soundtrack. And, of course, the lyrics are very synchronistic with the visuals. Joy Crookes is an artist’s artist, on the cusp of something greater, with real intention behind her craft.
Director Amber Grace Johnson
There’s a part of the video where the music totally cuts out and then little podcast snippets start. Was that something that you envisioned from the beginning?
The original concept was centered around this one girl inside her bubble living her best life amidst an intense world of distractions. I was inspired to expand beyond her point of view and introduce other characters who also find an almost delirious escapism in music. Whether you’re a couple falling in love while sharing a song, listening to an alien podcast trying to pass time in bumper-to-bumper, or a dreamer who’s healing her anxiety with a meditation podcast—we all can live at ease in our bubbles if we desire to.
You typically work on consumer campaigns. Did you change your approach when directing this B2B video for Spotify Advertising?
I think the best advertising is rooted in a simple idea: how to successfully sell a dream and a feeling. In this film, you hardly see the product, but you can feel its impact.
In order for me to fall in love with anything I do, I have to see the beauty and purpose in it. I try my best to approach advertising as an art form and with some psychology. At a basic level, what do people want? What makes us feel? People are excited about what other people are passionate about. And I personally engage in videos that make me forget where I am and take me on a ride. For this film, music in itself, is a lifeline to so many people. In no way did this concept or process feel like advertising to me.
What are you hoping people walk away from this thinking and feeling?
We live in a special time where social media and technology have made us question ourselves and perform in an unrealistic and unnatural way. I believe we’re all dying for some realness—a much-needed pivot to a more stripped back, raw and real, less self-serious existence. I hope this piece reminds viewers of their inner child and that it’s sexy to be yourself!
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