Case Study: YouTube Music

There's no shortage of competition in the streaming music world, with major brands fiercely vying for consumers' attention. So when Anomaly was tasked with launching YouTube Music, the agency knew they needed to create something that would demand attention.

“The music streaming category is well-established, and few consumers are actively seeking a new music service,” explains Anomaly's Chief Strategy Officer Gareth Goodall. “We really needed to cut-through and make people care about a new music service by framing it in a way that perhaps the competition had never done before. Key to success was identifying a music lover that had historically been under-serviced by other streaming companies.”

This meant shifting their focus to a broader and more representative set of people – including BAME individuals as well as those that identify as non-binary – and playing with viewers' expectations of the stories these people would have to tell, and the music they'd be listening to.

Instead of showing people in social scenarios, enjoying music with groups of friends and at parties, Anomaly decided to focus on a more personal relationship. For many people, their connection to music goes much deeper than background noise – it's a “jacknife for their emotions”, as Goodall describes it. These were the people Anomaly wanted to spotlight, shining a light on the way they used music to help define who they are.