Dive Brief:
- The streaming music marketplace is getting crowded, and streaming pioneer Pandora is making a brand marketing push through a multi-channel ad highlighting the Music Genome Project.
- The news comes on the heels of its “sponsored listening” initiative that allows marketers to provide users with an hour of ad-free listening after viewing a short ad.
- Pandora’s CMO said the brand marketing pivot is key to attracting a young demographic.
Dive Insight:
Online music streaming platforms face a lot of competition, including iHeartRadio, Spotify and Apple Music. The response from ten-year-old Pandora is to double down on brand marketing to be relevant to younger listeners. Pandora CMO Simon Fleming-Wood told Forbes, “Keeping the brand fresh is critical. [This campaign meets the] intersection of necessity and opportunity. The fight for the future of music is now. We happen to start from a strong leadership position. We feel great about where the audience is and where the brand is, but the landscape has evolved to where the players aren’t startups; they are extremely well-funded and aggressive.”
The video ad, "The Next Song," appeared online first, but will move to TV this fall. Creative agency twofifteenmccann, a San Francisco-based shop, is behind the 30-second spot that zeroes in on the moment between songs when listeners sit in anticipation of what might play next.
Pandora also recently announced an advertising option for marketers with “sponsored listening” that provides users with an hour of ad-free service after watching an ad video or clicking through to a website. It also rolled out a private ad exchange to auction in-app banner ads to brands.
