Lizzo, Jay Shetty Handle Audience Briefings for Spotify Ads

Spotify Ads launched "You're Among Fans," positioning its audience as highly engaged fans whose attention, loyalty, and enthusiasm make them valuable to brands.

Creative agency BBDO New York developed the campaign, which centers on the audience briefing, a familiar advertising tool.

Spotify hands the presentation to Lizzo and Jay Shetty, both of whom have built devoted communities on the platform.

In the hero spot, Lizzo guides advertisers through a customized Spotify office space designed around her own visual identity and personality.

The partnership comes just as the singer and flutist is releasing her new album, "B*tch," on June 5.

Lizzo's presentation makes the case that brands benefit when they appear alongside content people actively seek out.

Spotify already hosts audiences that are deeply invested in the artists, creators, and shows they follow.

So instead of generating hype and attention from scratch, advertisers can place their messages inside communities where these already exist.

"Who understands Spotify fans better than the artists themselves? That idea sparked the entire campaign," Ricardo Franco, EVP and executive creative director at BBDO New York, said in a statement.

The campaign also arrives as Shetty's influence continues to expand.

On the same day as the launch, Spotify and Netflix announced a brand partnership that will bring video versions of "On Purpose" to both platforms.

"We thought our audience deserved a little more attention. The same kind of attention brands get when they talk to fans on Spotify," Rich Frankel, global creative director at Spotify, added.

Spotify is saying that fan attention has a dollar value and that brands can access it without building it themselves.

This approach is a harder sell than reach numbers, but a more defensible one as advertisers get pickier about where they put their money.

The Artist as Media Planner

The launch includes 30-second films starring Lizzo and Shetty, supported by shorter videos and static creative running across Spotify, LinkedIn, YouTube, and social media.

In Lizzo's execution, the artist walks advertisers through the habits of her most dedicated supporters.

The 4x Grammy winner pulls back the curtain on "locked-in" fans who show up 12 hours early, treat album drops like national holidays, and scream every lyric like they co-wrote it.

Shetty's version takes a different approach, focusing on trust, intentionality, and the relationships he has built through his podcast audience.

Together, the films establish fan activity as a measurable asset more than just a vague emotional connection.

Spotify and BBDO also created downloadable audience briefing decks inspired by each creator's world, giving media planners practical resources they can use.

Local creators will also join the initiative in additional markets later this year.

Fandom as Media Currency

The latest efforts come as part of Spotify's wider brand marketing strategy, which gives audiences and marketers a bigger reason to care about fan behavior.

Recently, the company launched "Reserved," a ticketing feature that rewards top listeners with early access to concert tickets based on engagement signals.

Like "Reserved," "You're Among Fans" converts audience data into something more tangible.

In one campaign, the reward is ticket access, while in the other, it's advertiser insight.

Spotify Ad's latets push offers several lessons for brands looking to strengthen advertiser or customer relationships:

• Use familiar industry formats in unexpected ways: Turning a standard audience briefing into entertainment makes the information more memorable.
• Let trusted voices tell the story: Creators and influencers can often explain audience value more effectively than corporate press releases.
• Focus on attention quality: Deep engagement can be a stronger selling point than raw audience size.

Whether it's giving tickets to fans, placing artists on jerseys, or handing advertisers creator-led briefings, the company is emphasizing that fandom creates measurable value.

Spotify's approach comes down to making fandom visible.

Fan behavior becomes the campaign itself, and this gives advertisers a clearer picture of why these audiences are worth paying for.

Our Take: Are Fans the New Media Asset?

Spotify is selling proof of real attention.

While most platforms promote scale, Spotify Ads is showcasing what you can do with the depth of its user engagement. 

On Spotify, your ads run next to content that someone chose, sought out, and kept coming back to.

This pitch is closer to what a Super Bowl spot does for a brand, at a fraction of the cost and with actual targeting.

The risk is that "fan engagement" is still fuzzy to a lot of media buyers, and the audio platform has to keep finding ways to put a number on it.

These creator-led briefings are Spotify's answer to this problem.

We think that "Reserved" is worth watching for a different reason.

Every time a fan claims a ticket through the feature, Spotify gets a sharper data point on who its most committed listeners are.

This kind of signal is harder to fake than a stream count, and advertisers will start asking for it.

Looking to build campaigns that don’t rely on starting from scratch?

Explore these top brand strategy agencies in our directory to turn existing equity into something that still lands.