Spotify, Behr and Katy Perry team up to make Music in Color
Synaesthesia at the core of unique brand collaboration
Last week, Spotify launched ‘Music in Color’, a collaboration with Behr, a paint manufacturer, and Katy Perry, to visually illustrate the singer’s connection between music and colour.
According to the singer, every song suggests a specific color, referenced to Behr paints. The interactive color tool, found at BehrMusicInColor.com, works across the entire Spotify music library by identifying key characteristics in a song, based on tempo, key and other musical attributes, to create a unique experience for each song and user.
Behr hopes that combining Spotify’s streaming intelligence and the array of paint colors from Katy Perry’s signature collection, millennial users will be inspired to paint their homes the colour of their music taste.
Music & brands
Behr is among a number of brands that have recently partnered with Spotify on tech integrations designed to be more engaging for listeners than straightforward audio ads. In February, M&M’s brought back its Messages packaging which included scannable codes that opened different Spotify playlists. Music visualizers have also been used by Ferrera’s SweeTarts, a sweet brand. This summer they released an online mixer that let users emulate the music production process and visualize their beats.
Synaesthesia
Music in Color’s guiding principle of synaesthesia, where one sense influences others, also informed a 2019 initiative from cookware brand Tramontina, which used an algorithm to convert Spotify songs into recipes. Behr’s campaign feels more successful in capturing the imagination of a mainstream audience, especially the unexpected use of a star musician in an unusual category.
In a one minute Music in Color campaign film, Katy shows off the palette by performing highlights from her biggest hits. As she does so, she and the white room she’s in are automatically transformed into a different color to express each song, taking fans on a technicolor journey through the exclusive colors that Perry designed for Behr’s new collection.
An unexpected partnership
Behr is keen to make a closer association between paint business and music streaming with this campaign starring Perry, hoping that by associating its products with songs fans enjoy can spur them to purchase color palettes that match the mood of their listening habits.
Response to the campaign has been overwhelmingly positive, showing the power of music to bring cultural relevance to unlikely sectors.
As more people work from home, and as home renovations continue to boom during the pandemic, aligning cultural interests with living space aesthetics could hold greater appeal for consumers. Response to the campaign has been overwhelmingly positive, showing the power of music to bring cultural relevance to unlikely sectors.
