Spotify has inked a global partnership agreement with advertising agency WPP. Photo Credit: WPP
Spotify has officially inked a partnership agreement with advertising and PR agency WPP (LON: WPP), which is poised to integrate the audio platform into its varied products and solutions.
London-headquartered WPP and Stockholm-based Spotify unveiled their tie-up in a formal release that was emailed to Digital Music News. Under the union, WPP – which today reported £7.22 billion (currently $9.02 billion) in H1 2023 revenue – intends “to offer its clients early access to Spotify’s innovative ad products,” per the businesses.
These same clients will likewise have early access to the Podsights and Chartable owner Spotify’s “first-party intelligence and creative ways to reach engaged audiences at scale,” WPP drove home, pointing specifically to “an exploration” with its Choreograph “global data company.” Choreograph arrived on the scene in April of 2021.
Also forthcoming are a joint effort to help WPP clients understand “listening patterns in order to inform more creative and effective digital audio advertising strategies” and “market-leading thought leadership and scaled training” programs focusing “on digital audio creativity and Spotify’s innovative ad products,” according to the multifaceted announcement message provided to DMN.
Similarly, the AKQA and Grey Group parent WPP expects to share with its clients “early access to Spotify’s neuro-insights research focused on audience trends and insights,” per the entities. In keeping with the latter, the involved parties have already put out “a WPP client-specific version” of the “Sonic Science” study published by Spotify years back.
Drawing from “participating listeners’ subconscious reactions to ads while engaging with Spotify playlists and podcasts,” the newer of the resources rather predictably touts the purported benefits of advertising on the music and podcast service.
Addressing the WPP pact in a statement, Spotify global head of advertising sales Brian Berner said in part: “We’ve long partnered with WPP to enable agency planners and buyers to make more informed decisions when planning for digital audio. With our new global partnership, we’re helping WPP clients modernise their strategy and planning.”
The Spotify-WPP deal has entered the media spotlight as the former business is continuing to capitalize upon artificial intelligence – including in advertising.
To be sure, the AI DJ developer Spotify has for some months been creating AI versions of its popular podcast hosts to read adverts. Meanwhile, WPP is also looking to take advantage of the unprecedented technology, according to CEO Mark Read.
“We have exciting future plans in AI that build on our acquisition of Satalia in 2021 and our use of AI across WPP. … We are delivering work powered by AI for many clients including Nestlé, Nike and Mondelēz. AI will be fundamental to WPP’s future success and we are committed to embracing it to drive long-term growth and value,” the WPP head spelled out when discussing his company’s earnings report.
