As the late, great Aretha Franklin said, “Music does a lot of things for a lot of people. It’s transporting.…it’s uplifting, it’s encouraging, it’s strengthening.”  

For many consumers, music has played a key role in helping them through Covid-19. From the ENO’s first UK drive-in opera planned later this year, to continuous innovation from Spotify, to the iconic Take That Meerkat Music Reunion.  

Suki was joined by Rak Patel, Head of Sales UK & Pan EMEA for Spotify; and Rania Robinson, CEO and Partner of Quiet Storm to explore the impact of music on consumer behaviour, its unique position as a brand growth driver, and brilliant partnerships between agencies, artists, platforms and marketers. 

The discussion further focused on: 

• The role music has played during Covid-19
• What innovation has been stimulated and what does the innovate-to-survive mindset look like? 
• How is sonic branding moving forward?
• Will shift of habits come to an end as people return to work? 
• What does the future look like for music and brands? 

Diversity and inclusion was further touched upon by our panellists who had some great insights, initiative and information to share. 

Create Not Hate:

Originally founded in 2007 by Trevor Robinson OBE, founder and ECD of Top 100 advertising agency Quiet Storm. Founded off the fundamental belief that creativity has the power to transform businesses, lives and society as a whole. Create Not Hate is an example of this in action. First an initiative, now a non- profit Community Interest Company. 

Its aim is to help, marginalised inner city young people to unlock their creative potential, whilst also addressing social issues that they live with everyday. The ambition is to make under-represented young people aware of the opportunities in the creative industries and create a pathway into careers through hands on exposure to and experience with all aspects of the creative process. Alongside that, they are providing much needed awareness and education around devastating social issues that have a negative impact on society as a whole.

Find out more here.

Spotify's Culture Next report:

To create Culture Next, Spotify spoke to Gen Zs and millennials around the globe — as well as influencers and experts — to unpack the streaming generation's evolving relationship with culture, brands, and community. The report touches upon how this generation has more inclusive views along with a whole host of interesting insight on culture. 

Definitely worth a read and you can download the report here.