During the multi-day Mexican festival Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, families pay tribute to their loved ones who have passed away with food, drink, music and brightly decorated “ofrendas,” (altars)--a practice that advertisers to have incorporated into their own creative marketing. Last year, for example, Netflix used the festival as an opportunity to “honor” deceased characters from its popular shows. This year, Spotify makes a more earnest homage by remembering real Latino artists and their contributions to culture in a massive display at one of Los Angeles’ most popular Day of the Dead festivals in Los Angeles.

Dia de los Muertos is a huge deal in L.A. (the city was founded by Mexican immigrants in 1781). One of the town’s biggest celebrations takes place at L.A.’s Hollywood Forever Cemetery, a massive event that draws thousands of visitors. About 40,000 stopped into this year's event this past Saturday. There, Spotify created an elaborate tribute to late Mexican-American musician Jenni Rivera, the celebrated recording artist who tragically passed away in 2012 in a plane crash in Mexico. At the time of her death, she had been the most successful woman on the Billboard Latin chart.  

Spotify’s memorial, created by Mexican artist Ricardo Solero, included a massive bridge decked out in 100,000 Aztec marigolds that brought visitors to a stunning altar full of Rivera’s favorite foods, sugar skulls, candles, and butterflies--a nod to her nickname, “Mariposa de Barrio." The altar also featured the names of some of Rivera’s most-streamed tracks on the platform.

The tribute extended to the Spotify platform on its Latin music hub, which features Dia de los Muertos playlists featuring music from Mexican and Mexican-American artists of the past and present as well as artwork featuring festival symbols like “papel picados,” colorful papercut banners.

The campaign also features a fun glow-in-the-dark billboard running in both Los Angeles and Houston that, once the sun goes down, underscores how the contributions of deceased artists carry on long after they are gone: