Shazam for Brands launches as the company seeks to provide a tailored ad experience

Shazam for Brands launches as the company seeks to provide a tailored ad experience

Shazam has spent years building close relationships with brands, and brands have rewarded the app by using it as part of large-scale commercials both in Europe and the US.

Now, the company wants to move beyond the "Shazam it" campaigns, and is leveraging its expertise by launching “Shazam for Brands”, a product that aims to unite brands with its global audience. 

Greg Glenday, Chief Revenue Office at the company, states: “We are launching Shazam for Brands because we believe Shazam is uniquely positioned to become the default platform for connecting the mobile world with the real world. […] Today’s launch introduces new technology and content tools for brands to utilize data and engagement in a way defined by the very audiences they seek.”

The company’s audience is a key target for advertisers as it is tech-forward, active and engaged with the world - often using the app whilst out and about. 

Shazam will offer a suite of tools customised for brands, including Shazam Data Insights, which analyses consumer’s engagement with content to provide advertisers with accurate data from which they could - for example - decide to partner with a rising star or simply measure the effectiveness of their branding messages.

Shazam Branded Content will enable brands to provide an engaging in-app experience to users that want to know more about a product, and Shazam Brand Connect will bring the experience into the real world, offering the ability to scan real objects, like in the “Share a Coke and a Song” campaign launched earlier this month, or enabling the app to react to audio watermarks that can be attached to any live event. 

Shazam plans to get people that ‘matter’ in the brand space talking and trying out these new features at the 2016 Cannes Lions, of which it is the official music partner.

The company has built a remakrable product and user base, and it's a key reference point even for BBC programmers when deciding which records are getting 'traction', however as of August 2015 the company had lost investors £25m over the previous three years, which means that figuring out to effectively monetise the product is at this point priority number one.

 

(Andrea Leonelli)