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Saatchi & Saatchi, ASB and Spotify team up to form musical medley of Olympic moodiness

With a customer base of over
four million paying subscribers and over 15 million active users, it’s fair to say
Spotify’s rise has been nothing short of gigantic. And, as it seeks new ways of
monetising its service, its sight is set on big brands that are equally
keen to tap into the service to create unique marketing opportunities. The
likes of McDonald’s and Reebok are already on board with their recommended
playlists, and it’s even making tracks in political circles, with the creation
of the official
2012 Obama campaign playlist
. It recently gained some traction locally,
too, with ASB and Saatchi & Saatchi teaming up to create what it says is a “New Zealand
media-first” branded Facebook app that integrated with the Spotify platform and
industry commentators to create an ‘Olympic Moods’ soundtrack to the Olympics.

The Moodulator app shared regular updates from the Olympics and invited
Facebook members to record their reaction to the news using a series of sliders, which gauged emotions such as pride, happiness and excitement.
And now that the games have wrapped up, a soundtrack summarising how New
Zealanders felt over the course of the two weeks is available for free download via Spotify. Over the course of two
weeks, the campaign received 17,500 total visits and 14,800 individual visits.

Saatchi & Saatchi group
account director Philip O’Neill says ASB already had a relationship with Spotify
and was also a key partner of the Olympics, so it was about unifying the two.

“It was spotting the
opportunity to bring together those two significant partnerships in a way that
would add something to both. And it gave people another way of experiencing the
Olympics.”

ASB is no stranger to social
media and technological innovation. It came out trumps this year when Canstar
dished out its inaugural annual online banking award, recognised for its
leading edge innovation in the departments of internet banking, banking website
and online apps.

The bank also has active
Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube accounts and features in Financial
Brand’s Top 35
Banks on Facebook
and Top 35
Banks on Twitter
.  It was also awarded the Service
Innovation Award
in the 2011 BAI-Finance Global Banking Innovation Awards
for its Facebook virtual branch.

O’Neill says this kind of
success means customers having a heightened expectation of ASB.

“Those used to engaging with
ASB through social channels expect ASB to deliver something interesting and the
Moodulator was another way of doing that.”

But not everyone gets social
media right, and O’Neill credits ASB success in part to its ability to use
social media in way that delivers value and enhances the user experience,  “rather than it being another intrusive
way to get in the face of people”.

The final playlist looks to
be an eclectic one, featuring everyone from Jay-Z to Whitesnake, Foo Fighters
to Marvin Gaye. Stadium anthem rockers Queen make numerous appearances and there’s a couple of Kiwi songs thrown in for good measure.

“There are a lot of classic,
particularly New Zealand anthems which crop up again and again,” says O’Neill.
“That’s not surprising given that patriotism breeds patriotism. When you’re
feeling great about a New Zealand sports person it’s not surprising that a
great New Zealand song is the first thing that comes to mind.”

Successful as it
is, Spotify still has massive licensing fees to pay and brand apps could prove to be
very lucrative. Along with the Reebok and McDonald’s branded apps, earlier this
year the music service announced partnerships with Intel, AT&T and a
worldwide deal with Coca-Cola, all of which ought to go someway in helping it
reach its targeted revenue of US$889 million this year.

Credits

Client: ASB

Client: Debbie Lowe, Senior
Campaigns Manager

Agency: Saatchi &
Saatchi

Executive Creative Director:
Antonio Navas

Creative Team: Arnya
Karaitiana, Phil Hickes, Adam Thompson

Digital Director: Fee McLeod

Executive Digital Producer:
Haydn Thomsen

Design & Development
Partner: Gladeye

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