Spotify Asks Creative Leaders What Music Inspires Them

Source: Adage

Spotify is certainly taking this year's Cannes Lions festival seriously. The music streaming service is launching a new campaign to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Lions that will pay tribute to people who have helped "shape creativity" by asking them what songs inspire them.

Created by Droga5, the campaign, dubbed #60Inspirations, launches Monday and features people like Arianna Huffington, Maurice Levy, Bob Greenberg, John Legend and John Boiler. Wendy Clark, senior VP-integrated marketing at Coca-Cola, is also one of the "titans." The two companies signed a global deal in 2012 to create a seamless, social music sharing experience. Rounding out the list of titans are Shelly Lazarus, Chairman Emeritus, Ogilvy & Mather, Steve Stoute, CEO at Translation, David Droga, founder of Droga5, and David Lubars, chief creative officer at BBDO .

The campaign lives online, and will result in a unique Spotify playlist of 60 songs, along with commentary from the titans about why they picked them. It'll also be pushed via out-of-home ads appearing at the airport in Nice.

Erin Clift, VP-global marketing and partnerships at Spotify, said that while last year, the company went to Cannes in a very "simplistic" way, they really wanted to make a bigger splash this year. Along with #60Inspirations, Spotify is also taking over a restaurant on the Croisette to create a space to showcase ways music has inspired advertising in the past year, and holding sessions for Cannes delegates about creativity and music. There's also a new app, "Resonate," that will let attendees explore their "agency's soundtrack," and of course, a mid-week party to celebrate it all. Ms. Clift said that each titan was picked based on people who play a unique role at Cannes, or who serve as inspiration for those attending.

Of course, there's a business agenda too. Ms. Clift said that since Spotify does monetize its product by partnering with brands and agencies, Cannes is the perfect place to "showcase some of the amazing pieces of work that are happening when music and experiences that inspire customers are being integrated.""There's such an undeniable relationship between music and creativity," she said. "Spotify is really about access to music, and there is a lot of innovation happening around music."

Spotify is also starting to position itself more as a "curator" for great music rather than a more general, free-for-all conduit to access it. While the service has more than 20 million tracks that listeners can browse through, recently introduced product features like Discover indicate a move towards more "social listening," based on recommendations from people and artists you follow. "It's amazing to see what David Droga's taste in music is, what he might be listening to at Cannes," said Ms. Clift. "We really want to associate music with moments."