Arlo Parks x Spotify.

Ah, Arlo Parks. One of my favourite artists of recent years, and truly the voice of a generation. Spotify had supported Arlo from her very first single, and we wanted to be the #1 partner to Arlo around the milestone moment of releasing her debut album, ‘Collapsed In Sunbeams’, in January 2021. Our ongoing partnership resulted in a global artist marketing campaign to support the release, with the objectives of driving album streams and audience development, tell the story of the album from conception to release and use storytelling to engage audiences beyond the album release moment, and to bring Arlo’s creative vision to life. 

As part of our partnership, we commissioned photographer and videographer Lillie Eiger to produce exclusive stills and video assets, creating a stunning visual identity for Arlo’s album campaign. Lillie’s creative was used across statement OOH in London and New York, Storylines, local and global on-platform marketing tools including Storylines, social marketing campaigns and playlist covers, creating a 360° campaign on and off Spotify. Storytelling elements including playlist clips in POLLEN, Storylines and a deep dive into Arlo’s creative process and journey as a writer in Behind The Pen (a social franchise on Spotify’s NOTEABLE Instagram account) enabled Arlo to connect with audiences on a deeper level, and provide insights into the making of the album and her  journey as a songwriter, poet and musician to date. In addition, our significant marketing spend, on platform and editorial support - plus a paid digital campaign in the UK and US - provided a strategic approach to promoting Arlo’s debut album and growing her audience and streams on Spotify.

With one of our objectives being to keep growing streams and audience growth for Arlo beyond the album release moment, in April 2021 we made Arlo one of the hero artists in the marketing campaign for Spotify’s Our Generation playlist. As one of the first ever cover artists for Our Generation when it launched in 2019, Arlo was a key artist in helping to grow the community around the playlist. In that spirit of community, Arlo chose to spotlight Molly Payton as one of her favourite up and coming artists. Spotify commissioned illustrator Eliza Williams to create bespoke stills and animated assets for Arlo and Molly, which were featured on the Our Generation playlist cover and across a week-long marketing campaign encouraging audiences to discover and listen to Arlo and Molly’s music. Arlo and Molly interviewed each other for a DAZED ‘Head to Head’ feature, which was promoted across DAZED’s global platforms. 

Spotify’s partnership with Arlo and her team continues to this day and beyond, with Arlo recently featuring in UK out of home as part of Spotify’s Wrapped 2021 campaign.