Tidal Strategic Report Eden, Tej, Audrey, & Olivia
Eden Thasiah eethasia@syr.edu
Olivia Price osprice@syr.edu
Tej Malhotra tbmalhot@syr.edu
Audrey Fink aufink@syr.edu
Agenda Assessing the Competition Goals and Research Questions Consumer Research Insights and Methods Creative Development Implimentation and Media Measurment
The Competition Assesment of the music streaming landscape Looking at GWI Data with the target Gen X and Y...
Responses from the Gen Y and Z demographics on Tidal is significantly lower compared to major music streaming platforms. According to GWI, only 704 users from Gen Z and Gen Y in the US reported using Tidal in the last month, whereas the leading platform, Spotify, received 11.22k responses.
GWI Gen Y and Gen Z, 2022 Q1 - 2023 Q2
Market Growth From quarter 1 of 2022 to quarter 2 of 2023, the music streaming platform market has grown slightly. As shown in the graph, the percentage of Gen Y and Gen Z that have paid for a streaming service went from 41.4% in Q1 2022 to 42.8% in Q2 2023
Goals
Tidal hopes to boost brand awareness and usage in college students Tidal's 70.8% data point percentage suggests a strong appeal to younger demographics. This aligns well with the college student age group, indicating that Tidal is already resonating with a youthful audience. Tidal's commitment to social justice causes, as part of its artistowned ethos, can resonate with socially conscious college students.
Tidal will amplify its core value, supporting artists in this new campaign.
Understanding College Student Music Consumption Research questions: What are the main contributing factors to college students' decision-making process in the case of music streaming platforms? How can college students be persuaded to switch their existing music streaming platforms for a new one?
Methodology: Conducted qualitative interviews with four Syracuse University Students ages 20-22 who listen to music daily. Our questions focused on factors influencing decision-making, loyalty, external influences, and the role of advertisements. Asked about shared playlists, social connections, pricing, and the fear of missing out (FOMO)
Findings and Insights
Community
Personalization
“I like Spotify wrapped at the end of the year, I like that I can see what my friends are listening too”
“I like the ability to listen to similar songs to what I’m listening to through suggestions”
Community plays a pivotal role in shaping college students' decisionmaking process regarding music streaming platforms, because of the desire for shared experiences and social connections.
Personalization emerges as a significant theme due to the desire for tailored content and individualized experiences
Cost
FOMO
Ease
“I would switch to Spotify [from Apple Music] if money was not a factor”
“In high school everyone had Apple Music so I got it, now everyone has Spotify in college and I wish I did too”
“Even though I want to be on the same [platform] as my friends, it's too hard to move all the music“
For this target FOMO or the “Fear of Missing Out” is a driver for changing music platforms due to desires to be included in certain features and have shared platforms with friends.
The theme of ease is key here since the target expressed the difficulty of transferring their music to a new platform as a barrier.
The element of cost, especially within the context of family plans, stands out as a crucial theme in the decision-making process
Meet Gavin: Trendsetting College DJ Why Tidal Should Target Gavin: Gavin's early adopter mentality aligns with Tidal's commitment to exclusive releases and cutting-edge features. Tidal's emphasis on audio quality caters to Gavin's appreciation for high-quality music. Collaborative features on Tidal allow Gavin to showcase his DJ skills, increasing his influence and social status within the music community. The platform's diverse catalog and support for emerging artists resonate with Gavin's interest in niche music.
Targeting Gavin as a brand ambassador can position Tidal as the go-to platform for trendsetting college DJs, enhancing its appeal among early adopters and music enthusiasts.
Creative Development
Ad A
Ad B
Focused on the celebrity roots of Tidal, featuring huge names in the music industry. Talks about the importance of artists coming together and remembering their beginnings
Story-telling based ad featuring small artists and how the music culture is a critical aspect of their lives. Humble beginnings and faith in the arts.
RECAP FROM QUANTITATIVE REPORT
MEESAGE TESTING We compared the results of two Tidal ads to see how they were percieved and which messages were more successful
Overall Ad A, which featured celebrities and their music experience, got more positive reactions
RESEARCH QUESTIONS We asked which ad was more effectiveness and correlations affected these results.
AD A generally outperformsed AD B in all aspects, with higher scores in Initial Reaction, Attitude, Clarity, Relevance, Memorability, and Behavioral Intention.
METHODS Conduct survey to gauge message effectiveness using Likert Scale
Ad A was overall more successful, specifially with younger, higher income audience.
CONCEPTS FOR MOVING FORWARD What about Ad A is more favorable and how can we implement this in our strategy?
Ad A focuses on selling every artist’s dream--making it big and collaborating with those you idolize. Focusing on a younger, high income audience, we can anticipate a positive reaction if we focus on this concept.
CORRELATION OF PARTICIPANT AGE & RELEVANCE
CORRELATION OF PARTICPANT INCOME & ATTITUDE
PRIORITIES
Putting it all together... 01 Prioritize clarity in ads: Many people aren’t familiar with Tidal, hence the need to introduce the platform, as well as promote it.
02
Intentional advertising among our audience demographics Ad B demonstrated higher reports of relevance among college students that are artists/music creators. Artist and story-driven ads should be directly targeted to creators in order to gauge our more niche targets.
03 Combine aspects from both ads While Ad B had higher relevance for creators, Ad A was overall more effective. By combining the memorability of the celebrities in Ad A with the personal story-telling aspects of Ad B, we can resonate with a larger, more broad audience
Recommendations
To stand out we suggest highlighting... 01
02
03
High-Fidelity Audio:
Artist-Owned Platform:
Emphasize Tidal's commitment to superior sound quality with high-fidelity audio streaming, catering to music enthusiasts
Showcase Tidal as an artist-owned platform, empowering musicians and ensuring fair compensation. This unique positioning resonates with users who want to directly support their favorite artists, differentiating Tidal in the streaming market.
Partnerships and Integrations: Building off the first two, explore strategic partnerships that align with audio quality and small artists/ artists who support the artist owned approach
Overall Strategy 01
02
03
04
WHO
WHAT
WHERE
WHY
Early adopter college students who are artists and passionate about the music industry.
Showcase Tidal’s core value--its promotion and support of small artists.
Tik Tok activations, sponsored events, and traditional video advertsing.
To boost brand awareness.
Implementation and Media Recommendation of Media Platform: TikTok Harnessing TikTok's Music Side for Emerging Artists By aligning with TikTok's ongoing trends and challenges, Tidal can seamlessly integrate into the platform's culture, fostering a sense of relevance and timeliness. Leveraging TikTok to build Tidal's community and attract aspiring musicians. Rapid spread of Tidal's content, increasing visibility and engagement.
Utilizing TikToks Impact on New Artists New artists to gain instant recognition. Gateway for artists to share their music and stories. Potential for organic growth and increased visibility
Implementation and Media
Example artists: Kenya Grace Paul Russel
"New Artist of the Week" Campaign Introducing a weekly promotion on Tidal's TikTok account. Showcasing artists performing one of their songs accompanied by short interviews about their journeys Sharing their stories about how Tidal has played a crucial role in their success Call to Action Encouraging users to explore Tidal through TikTok (and hopefully sign up!) and discover the latest tracks from promising, up-and-coming musicians. Inviting the audience to actively participate in Tidal's "New Artist of the Week" series for an immersive and interactive experience. .
How will this work? Option 1: Open Submissions Portal Feature a snapshot of the Tidal website with a "New Artist of the Week" banner, apply on your Tidal account. Encourage artists to submit their work through a dedicated online portal. Simple form: Upload music, provide a short bio, and share social media links.
Option 2: Social Media Hashtags Create a sense of community by introducing a unique hashtag: #TidalNewArtist. Artists are invited to use the hashtag when sharing their work on social media to have a chance to get featured. Must have a Tidal account to be considered.
Engagement Metrics on Social Media:
Evaluation KPIS Goal: Increase the number of new user sign-ups by 25% by 2025 Goal: Increase engagement by 20% within the next 6 months Goal: Persuade college students to subscribe to Tidal by showcasing their cutting edge-technology and support for emerging artists
Metrics: Likes, comments, shares, and follows on Tidal's social media account. Rationale: Assessing the level of engagement and interaction with Tidal's content on social media platforms.
User Retention Rate: Metrics: Percentage of users that stay on a platform over time Rationale: Long-Term Engagement- A high retention rate indicates that users are finding value in the platform and are more likely to remain engaged over time.
User Acquisition: Metric: Number of new user sign-ups. Rationale: Monitoring the expansion of the user base directly linked to the impact of the TikTok campaign.
Sponsored Campus Events Another great opportunity for Tidal to increase awareness among college students is to host Tidal-sponsored music events. This not only tailors to our more niche target audience of the college music creators, but it also implements the FOMO and herd-mentality reactions of the greater college student body. These events would feature branded products, Tidal-exclusive DJ sets, and even limited-edition students discounts for those who attend.
Thank You!