Data and Creative Make the Best Campaign of 2017

The promise of the future of advertising is the co-mingling of consumer data and creative input to generate insight driven work reflective of real human experiences. That's a wordy way of saying creative and data should team up. This is the reason holding companies are swallowing up media shops and expanding marketing science firms. With great data comes great power, and creative. Right?

Well, it's a mixed bag. Neither data nor creative can survive alone in the world of advertising, so there is always some interplay and neither are ever mutually exclusive. But truly brilliant interplay between the two should make the data sing and the creative resonate, rather just have the two co-exist. Easier said than done. Finding the middle ground is still a struggle that creatives, strategists, and data analysts deal with on every campaign and execution. Does this appeal to the right people? Are we inferring too much from these data points? These questions aren't new or groundbreaking, but create strife nonetheless.

The best example in my mind is Spotify, a company born from data, who created the most clever, funny, relevant, and data-driven campaign of the year. Spotify's "2018 Goals" is in fact a continuation of a campaign from previous years, but the staying power of this out of home campaign shows that when properly married, data and creative can makes for truly compelling and resonant work.

Taking user listening data, of which Spotify amasses mountains of, the music streaming service celebrated their most ardent, and often whacky, listeners by setting goals for the new year. From political jabs about the revolving door of White House Press Secretaries to beffudling hours at which to listen to "Boozy Brunch" playlists, each billboard displays the unique behavior of Spotify's diverse user base - all based on data collected by the company. 

I find this campaign so compelling not just because it's clever or because it has something to do with music, but because it humanizes data and makes it expressive and relatable. We live at a time where "big data's" encroachment into our daily lives seems inevitable, and therefore accepted, yet viewed with a healthy dose of skepticism. We love Spotify's Discover Weekly playlists but feel slightly freaked out when Amazon tracks us across the Internet serving up banners for shaving cream, even if we just bought some (which is especially worrisome when you have a beard like I do). I think where the Spotify campaigns distinguishes itself is in making the algorithms seem more relevant and understandable. We love when the platform suggests new artists and music and this campaign shows the direct application and future possibilities of those algorithms.

Finally, I think this campaign is great because it doubles as promotional material for Spotify's USP. Wrapped up in the above is the fact that Spotify didn't just want to regurgitate your listening habits in quippy copy: it needed to promote itself as the premier source for algorithmically driven music streaming. "2018 Goals" is masterful in not only creating entertaining and relatable content, but selling the brand on what it's best at. 

Shout out to Google, whose "Year in Search" has been using a similar tactic, albeit more of hard-hitting recap (I forgot the Eclipse was this year. Batshit). Google and its function is so ingrained in our day-to-day that it doesn't get greeted with the same wide-eyed enthusiasm as the Spotify campaign, but the overall message and powerful themes make for reflective and expressive creative.

Netflix also jumped on the bandwagon. Theirs is very derivative, but fun nonetheless. People's viewing habits are strange. For a more interesting look at the ways in which Netflix uses data to drive and respond to consumer behavior, check out their article about how they personalize the artwork in each thumbnail based on your past viewing habits. Subtle yet clever stuff.

Edit: Spotify has followed up by fact-checking the biggest songs of the year. In partnership with the New York Times, Spotify sorts through the "fake news" of this year's lyrics. Another great show of crunching data.