Spotify

With Apple’s acquisition of Beats and Google’s heavy investment in marketing Google Play, the race was on to build the most beloved music streaming brand in the world. Spotify invited COLLINS to improve their long-term competitiveness against these entrants, who surpassed it in resources and brand recognition. 

Spotify began with a clear proposition: access the world's music for a low fee. This proposition, however, was not durable. Over time all music streaming platforms would deliver the same, seemingly infinite music catalog to listeners.

Spotify needed a new value proposition — one that drove business value, created a barrier to other entrants, and strengthened with age.

When abundance defines a category, we argued, the most valuable proposition is personalization. Spotify’s user data validated this argument. Playlist creation – a form of D.I.Y. personalization as old as mixtape and mixed CD creation – was among the most important of user behaviors. It led to business value: increases in daily active usage, monthly active usage and conversion to Spotify’s paid tier. It also created “stickiness” over time. Listeners become invested and reluctant to switch platforms. Finally, this proposition creates a barrier to competition. Achieving true personalization is iterative, costly, and time consuming.

Apple bet on human music curation. Google Play seemed more like a “fear of missing out” play than a strategic priority for the search giant. Spotify alone had the opportunity to push music personalization into new, innovative places. The Swedish company wasn’t, we advised, in the business of music streaming. It was in the business of “personalized music experiences.”

To bring this to life, we evolved the Spotify brand. The goal was to create a look signaling that Spotify was as rich and lively as the music culture it fronted, rather than simply a technology service that served up songs. Spotify would go on to prioritize personalization as its key differentiator, fueling its valuation to $19B from $6B. Popular personalization innovations included: Spotify Wrapped, Spotify Running, Discover Weekly, Spotify Mixes, Blend, and DJ.