The Sound of Success
We are going on a family staycation Friday, and I am dreading it. No, I am not dreading the time spent with my loving wife to be and children – although we have done a lot of that recently. No, I am dreading the journey. They usually say the trip to a destination is half the fun, well that person has never been in Kelly’s car for more than two hours listening to Peppa Pig or the soundtrack from Moana on a never-ending loop. And there’s only so many times you can listen to Everything is Awesome.
(I’ve trained them that in my car it’s only proper music, but no such luck in hers, and we need the boot space!)
Taking my mind off the worry reminds me of when music-streaming app Spotify and ride-hailing app Uber let the passenger be the DJ. These two very different products collaborated in 2014, in a campaign joyfully titled ‘A Soundtrack For Your Ride’.
The idea was simple, engage more users. To do that it had to be personal and get them to like using the app. By syncing up the tech, it gave the Scandinavian wizards at Spotify a better chance to attract the young hipsters before going on a night out. The app makes it easier to heighten the excitement by choosing the perfect song to fit the mood while waiting for your taxi.
Once your ride arrives, you are in charge of the in-car entertainment until the driver drops you off.
The vibe was picked up quickly after launching in 10 major cities: London, Los Angeles, Nashville, New York City, Mexico City, San Francisco, Singapore, Stockholm, Sydney, and Toronto.
The Uber and Spotify partnership was about exposing brands to both serve the same market, and it’s a perfect match. Uber’s value reached $40 billion in late 2014. They were able to drive themselves to even greater success together. Since that time, Uber has grown to a valuation of over $66 billion. From Uber’s viewpoint, the collaboration will improve its users’ experience. The capability to choose the soundtrack for a ride is something that millennials love. This self-service for musical happiness is a great way to get to large chunks of users in a quick style. Spotify now has 12.5 million premium users and 50 million active users in total. Spotify now has one more channel to get users to sign up for its Premium service. This campaign was an enormous opportunity for acquiring new paid users and building brand loyalty.
This collaboration is one of those examples, where both tech-savvy, mobile focussed, companies reached out and worked together and still got things done their way. Enhancing the Uber service gives Spotify greater exposure, which ultimately gives customers a better experience, which reflects better on Uber drivers. All for people winning – Absolutely perfect!
(Now where’s my Spotify list.)