Who Says Ads Need to Be Disruptive? Budweiser Brazil ‘UninterruptAds’ Campaign Finds a Sneaky Way to Sponsor Your Spotify Playlist

Budweiser Brazil is sponsoring Spotify playlists by making adverts with songs featuring its brand name in their lyrics. Photo Credit: Budweiser Brazil

Why develop new Spotify promos when your brand is already being plugged in music? Budweiser Brazil is officially integrating targeted ads – or songs with lyrics that mention it by name – into playlists. Budweiser Brazil reached out about the new and “completely innovative” project, which the Africa Creative Agency conceived. According to the AB InBev brand, the campaign, dubbed UninterruptAds, identified song-lyric mentions of “Budweiser” in north of 500 tracks available through Spotify.

Those works include but certainly aren’t limited to “My Luv” by Kafé. Far from being added at random, though, adverts based on the relevant tracks were carefully incorporated into Spotify playlists by genre, Budweiser Brazil indicated.

As a result, ad-supported users enjoying these playlists can now listen without encountering non-music commercials unrelated to the experience, the brand signaled. While it’s unclear exactly how many playlists are equipped with the songs that are doubling as adverts, it’s worth noting that the lion’s share of Brazil’s quick-increasing music industry revenue derives from streaming.

Furthermore, in terms of the decision to spearhead the promotion in the South American nation, Spotify has for some time been experiencing user growth outside North America and Europe. Latin America accounted for 22% of the platform’s 615 million monthly active users during Q1 2024, and according to reports as well as its recent earnings breakdowns, AB InBev has a large and expanding presence in Brazil, population 215 million.

“With this strategy,” summed up Ambev chief marketing officer Daniel Wakswaser, “Budweiser shows that, beyond supporting, it is also part of music. The brand authentically inserts itself into the music scene, promoting a deeper connection with fans and artists.”

Meanwhile, Spotify account director and beverage client partner Thais Altschuller noted the decidedly unique nature of the marketing undertaking.

“This project used audio format as a form of content,” relayed Altschuller, “completely innovative in the segment. In addition we segment the campaign for specific audiences and rhythms, making the ad super organic for users.”Especially because Spotify is developing AI-powered playlists, it’ll be worth closely monitoring the advertising approach moving forward – even if the vast majority of other brands will for obvious reasons be unable to replicate the campaign exactly.

More generally, however, the unprecedented capabilities of AI and Spotify’s growing focus on monetization could render similar methods of capitalizing on playlists increasingly popular. Within that broad framework, tailored promotions could seek to optimize listening experiences around UGC, locations, and/or events themselves in the long run.