Spotify treats advertisers to a music video coded inside a media plan spreadsheet

Here’s the nerdiest yet most delightful B2B idea you’ll see this week—a campaign from Spotify Advertising that truly brings the world of music to marketers where they live. In Excel spreadsheets. Working with FCB New York and Uncharted, Spotify created “Spreadbeats,” a music video created and distributed entirely in a media plan spreadsheet. As seen in the screen-capture video above, the boring old sheet springs to life when a tiny face pops up on cell E7. The mischievous character starts to roam around the sheet, then blasts completely out of it—and heads off on a colorful journey, set to a John Summit track, featuring some impressive animation all created in Excel formatting. Spotify began sending the Excel file (ours was personalized with “Good morning, Ad Age!” at the top) to brands and agencies this week, in markets including the U.S., Canada, U.K., Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, India and Singapore. For advertisers already working with Spotify, a second tab within the file includes that company’s media plan. The idea is to make every touch point with Spotify a vibrant experience, even in the business space. “Spreadbeats” got a welcome reception right out of the gate from Cannes Lions judges, who included it in the short list for the Titanium Lions awards ahead of the June 16-21 advertising festival in France. Also read: Las Vegas Sphere, DoorDash, CeraVe among 20 Titanium contenders at Cannes “The media plan is the unsung workhorse of our industry, and it’s not necessarily the first thing you’d think of to tell a story creatively,” said Rich Frankel, global creative director at Spotify. “Through Spreadbeats, we are using the analytical tools of our trade to deliver a memorable experience. We hope to inspire our brand and agency partners to never look at a media plan from Spotify the same way again.” Spotify excels (forgive the pun) at B2B advertising, with celebrated past efforts including “A Song for Every CMO” and the “Perfect Pitch” podcast. Popular Creativity stories from Ad Age: Sign up for our daily Creativity newsletter to see the best stories of the day.

Spotify treats advertisers to a music video coded inside a media plan spreadsheet

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