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Lord & Taylor?s fresh Spotify push looks dated with poor user experience

Department store Lord & Taylor is promoting a new collection through a curated playlist on popular music streaming application Spotify, but the effort's potential could be limited as the content is hard to find.  

Lord & Taylor is using a combination of celebrity outreach, hit music and the popularity of Spotify to push its new line, Design Lab. The playlist embodies the essence of the collection featuring music from the top 40 genre, but Spotify technological issues may cut off the campaign?s potential. 

Although despite these complications, marketers are in favor of the creative marketing style and think it is something brands will employ more in the future.

?Choosing a playlist to market a new collection is a great idea,? said Amy Leavitt, product marketing director at Briabe Mobile. ?It?s content marketing, but in a way that can really connect with their target audience.

?Music and fashion go hand in hand, and creating the connection between the audience and the fashion via the music is a really unique approach,? she said. ?This is a non-intrusive way to market to consumers, by pairing their advertising with entertaining content that their consumers would likely already enjoy.

?Mobile devices are our primary on-the-go music players in most cases due to different streaming services like Spotify, so not making the playlists available to mobile users would have cut out a large segment of Lord & Taylor?s consumer audience.?

The playlist proves difficult to search for on the mobile screen with the only direct access being the ads. Without these mobile users this unique marketing idea could be useless.

Lost potential 
Spotify also allows users to share these playlists on their social media accounts, which are integrated into the app. However, once shared, these posts do not show up, leaving out potential consumers through social media engagement. 

Music artist Ella Henderson is partnering with Lord & Taylor for this. The playlist features Ms. Henderson?s music and advertisements with her are played throughout Spotify promoting the line and playlist.

Users are looking for an experience with the least amount of effort. Having a curated playlist allows listeners not to have to search for music, which is an increasing trend in consumer desires.

The upside 
Although these problems have arisen with the playlist, it could still have positive effects.

Even if users do not continue on to listen, advertising this on other Spotify channels with Ms. Henderson creates awareness for the line. A popular celebrity discussing the collection grabs the attention of consumers, especially with this new spin on marketing.

Spotify is a widely used music streaming app that has the option of creating and listening to playlists, a feature that is not seen in many other streaming apps. Accessing these consumers can be a huge asset to Lord & Taylor.

While listening, Ms. Henderson will pop in to mention the line and urge consumers to take a look on Lord & Taylor?s Web site, which is also mobile optimized. 


Users can click to see the collection or listen to the playlist

Lord & Taylor has also recently implemented beacons. Following a successful pilot of iBeacon technology, Hudson?s Bay Co. will be rolled out the program to 50 Lord & Taylor stores in the United States and 90 Hudson?s Bay locations in Canada last November (see more).
 

Adidas recently did something similar with the #BoostYourRun campaign that drove more than 250,000 users in four weeks to a branded hub on Spotify?s mobile application where they could create a customized playlist (see more).  

?I think brands are always looking for new ways to connect with their audience,? Ms. Leavitt said. ?With mobile ad spending nearly double what it was last year, I think brands are really starting to understand that mobile is where you need to be to connect with your audience. As more companies begin utilizing mobile, they are seeing the importance of unifying their content, mobile and social strategies. 

?Whether it?s a music playlist, a video, or an interactive game, I think we?ll continue to see brands get creative in terms of their content marketing strategies in the future to make sure they are differentiated and stand out,? she said.

Final Take
Brielle Jaekel is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer and Mobile Commerce Daily, New York