Pandora urges holiday travelers to turn the 'Sound On' with OOH push

Dive Brief:

Music streaming platform Pandora is debuting a new brand narrative platform and campaign called "Sound On," according to a company news release. The multi-channel effort will focus on experiences and sentiments around holiday travel and will highlight artists such as Cardi B, Carrie Underwood, Lil Wayne and Pitbull.
Through January 2019, the campaign creative will be featured in high-traffic travel hubs, including airports, buses and trains in Atlanta, Miami, San Francisco and more. Pandora will run a 250-foot LED billboard at the World Trade Center station's Oculus transportation hub in New York City.
"Sound On," created by Pandora's in-house creative team, includes digital and large-scale out-of-home (OOH) elements that feature about 1,200 creative iterations that capture relatable travel moments like lost luggage or train delays.

Dive Insight:

Pandora is zoning in on the idea that music can make most situations better, even chaotic holiday travel. The streaming platform aims to interact with listeners at key moments throughout their journeys and offer streamlined, personalized experiences with music, playlists, podcasts and offline listening.

Targeting consumers at bustling travel hubs over the holiday season could help Pandora expand its user base, which the company says numbers 68 million. The extensive OOH campaign should heighten brand awareness for Pandora, making the platform stand out in the music streaming space and compete with rival platforms like Spotify, which has grown to be a more dominant player in the competitive space.

More marketers are embracing OOH elements for brand building and driving sales. Brands that devote at least 15% of their media budgets to OOH have seen increases in brand trust by an average of 24%, perception of brand quality by 106% and customer loyalty 275%, according to IPG Mediabrands' OOH division Rapport.

High-traffic areas like airports are popular spots for campaigns that target a wide variety of consumers. Absolut Vodka debuted an OOH campaign in June, called "Global Selfie," that urged travelers flying from Frankfurt to Singapore to upload selfies to an online platform that were then displayed on digital displays at Frankfurt airport.