The sweet music of great writing

Ahhh, data!

The enemy of creativity.

The evil troll that chases ideas, free-thinking and eureka moments under a bridge where they must hide.

Well, not always.

Take Spotify's recent brand campaign, rolled out in 14 countries and with a focus on out of home (incidentally, the new category of the 2016 DMA Awards).

Born out of the data the music provider gathers to provide its listeners with the audio they want, Spotify identified a sweet spot, a story-telling goldmine: the human-curated playlist function.

Spotify dug deep into this user generated behaviour to build a series of creative executions that homed in on the titling around playlists, and copy followed to bring about a conversation around those playlists. In the UK, Spotify even rolled out a Brexit-flavoured billboard following the vote to leave the EU:

Key, though, is the insight that underpins the localised narratives.

The campaign is a timely reminder of the power of data in driving engaging creative and copy. Ad legend John Hegarty started the year by asking if too much data imperils creativity, and the incorrigible Ad Contrarian has long railed against the marketing industry's heavy reliance on intel, rather than ideas.

So the Spotify campaign represents that holy grail for marketers, a happy coming together of genuinely valuable insight and creative execution to show it off. Indeed, Spotify's CMO Seth Farban spoke about how data inspires and provides a window into the emotions people express and experience.

The work is a goldmine of well-written, smartly voiced copy, sitting on colorful and varied platforms. All in real-time as well, with messages that resonate and can turn a reader's frown upside down. And as Spotify strives to outperform rivals like Apple and Tidal, more creative thinking like this in 2017 and the next 12 months could be a treat for eyes and ears.