Brands have their advertising strategies on Facebook, Twitter and other networks down by now. But with Spotify’s growth in popularity and addition of unique advertising opportunities- brands are taking advantage of the tuned-in audience.

Recently, eMarketer released a case study from Carnival Cruise Lines and their unique use of Spotify advertising to target Millennials. Carnival created a Carnival Cruise Tunes playlist, with four full hours of music. They also integrated the playlist with their 2 million strong Facebook page. The paid media on Spotify helped to amplify the reach of the playlist and encourage listeners to subscribe to it. The results outperformed their goals by hitting 800 hours of listening and an average engagement of 20 minutes with the playlist.

Much of the success though, came from earned impressions. Many Spotify users talked about the playlist on Twitter and this helped Carnival identify brand loyalists and influencers. The Real Time Report described how Campbell’s Go Soups targeted Millennials on the radio service with a playlist for each new flavor. Campbell’s even offered a coupon for every 3 songs a user listened to.

eMarketer estimated that internet radio listening will be up 11% in 2013, and the popularity of apps such as Spotify will continue to provide interesting ways to advertise to Millennials.

photo credit: Christian Lambert Photography via photopin cc