This year marks Spotify’s 12th appearance at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. I’m writing to you straight from the Croisette, where Spotify Beach is buzzing with excitement.
In the days leading up to my arrival, I’ve been thinking about the projects I’ve helped bring to life during my time at Spotify, and even the campaigns that came before me. They’ve each felt distinct, but there’s a common thread running through each of them: a connection to culture that’s embedded from the start, not forced.
Music, podcasts, audiobooks, creators, artists…it’s all here, and so are the fans. Being part of a fandom puts people in a uniquely open, attentive mindset. That’s the starting point: when audiences are emotionally invested, advertising lands in a deeper, more meaningful way.
Culture has always been a creative guiding light. It’s not a layer we added on top. Being genuinely true to our brand and our audience is how we thought about every brief.
From the C‑suite to the media planner’s desk
When I think back to A Song for Every CMO, we were speaking straight to the C‑suite. ICYMI: It was a playful way to celebrate industry leaders by surprising them with a custom song. It was our way of saying “thanks” for years of partnership, and doing it in the most Spotify way possible.
As our products evolved, so did our audience. We started the ads business by selling Direct, which is great for high-impact placements but can be limited in scale and measurability. As we invested in automated channels like Spotify Ads Manager and the Spotify Ad Exchange, we opened the platform to a much broader advertiser base.
Our storytelling had to shift along with it, speaking not just to CMOs, but to the media buyers and planners building campaigns every single day. That’s where Spreadbeats and Tunetorials came in: uniquely Spotify in tone and creativity, but more product‑focused and educational, designed to demystify what we offer while keeping things fun.
The industry has taken note of this work, and I’m proud to say we’ve won a record number of awards and accolades for our creative campaigns through the years.
Landing the “why” along with the “how”
As we started thinking about our latest campaign, we saw an opportunity to put the power of fans in full focus. Our rationale was that without the why, the how only gets you so far.
You’re Among Fans is our answer to this challenge, our latest campaign and the next chapter in how we tell our story. It keeps our signature approach of taking something mundane from a marketer’s everyday life and making it unmistakably Spotify. We’ve done it before—turning a spreadsheet into a music video with Spreadbeats and turning tutorials into original songs in Tunetorials.
With You’re Among Fans, we’re taking the audience briefing—something every media planner has sat through hundreds of times—and handing it to creators like Lizzo and Jay Shetty. They tell the story of Spotify’s fans in their own words, bringing it to life with authenticity and personality that can’t be faked.
It's a brand statement rooted in conviction. The campaign is designed to make advertisers appreciate the unmatched power of Spotify’s audience: fans with a highly attentive, positive mindset immersed in the content they love. Once you believe in the context, reaching the audience with Spotify ads becomes much more compelling.
Why this matters at Cannes
Twelve years in, the message we’re bringing to Cannes has never felt more urgent. We’re living in a moment where consumer trust is eroding and people are asking themselves how platforms make them feel. The answer on Spotify is different—nearly 90% of users report feeling positive during their time here, compared to up to 40% who regret time spent on other platforms.
For brands, that’s the opportunity: to show up inside genuine attention, to add value to fans in spaces they love, and to drive real business results.
Fans are the most powerful force in culture today, and nowhere do they show up more completely than on Spotify.
I’m excited to be in Cannes this week talking about how we bring that energy to advertisers, and how fandom shapes the creative story we tell. Because culture isn’t just part of the brief. For us, culture is always in the brief.