Case Study: Spotify builds student excitement and authentic engagement with Seed

Spotify reaches 50% of UK students with Seed's Secret Social

Spotify faced the challenge of convincing budget-conscious students to pay for its premium streaming service. The key barrier was not a lack of awareness but a lack of relevance, as students did not see a compelling reason to subscribe. To address this, vendor Seed developed an experiential marketing strategy to make Spotify synonymous with student life.

Seed implemented an always-on campus program run by 60 student ambassadors, centered on an annual "Secret Social" event. The solution involved a mystery competition where 250 winners were transported to a secret location for a concert with major artists. Seed built a highly shareable campaign with playlist ticket hunts and limited merchandise to fuel speculation. This approach made Spotify part of student folklore, generating 35,000 competition entries and reaching 50% of students in the UK.

Spotify