From Spotify to Facebook - Connecting during a crisis

In the early days of Coronavirus, like many around the world, we were faced with huge challenges. Overnight as the nation was forced into lockdown, people needed to stay connected to friends, colleagues and loved ones quickly became a major concern. With unprecedented numbers working from home, we needed to reassure customers that our network could manage the increase in usage. 

Concern on the streets

Designated as key workers, our people were still out and visible in the street. With comments from social media showing us that some were concerned why our engineers were still outside working, we needed to quickly and widely communicate how essential the work they are doing is which is why they are key workers. 

Connecting in new ways

Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts are already ways we regularly keep in touch. With these we quickly communicated this important information to our followers, however we needed to reach a far wider audience.

Spotify became a popular choice with 153 million ad-supported users in the UK of its ad-supported version, helping us reach directly into the ears of hundreds of thousands of people at a relatively low cost.

Along with announcements on local radio, Facebook and Instagram adverts, plus posts on our social channels we were able to reach millions of people across the UK.

We saw an immediate impact on social media with more people thanking our engineers for keeping us all connected during lockdown. Where people did still criticise us we found that others stepped in to correct them.

Protecting our people

Spotify helped us reach over a million people, with an audience we hadn't previously reached. Radio adverts helped extend this to nearly 25% of our UK target audience, together with digital adverts on Facebook we reached over 25 million people.

Most importantly it shared a message that helped protect our engineers and share some of the great work they have been doing at this difficult time.

People power

We instantly saw a change in conversations online with people defending our keyworkers, highlighting the importance of work they are doing. The support you gave was really appreciated by our team, with engineers who had experienced abuse commenting on what a difference your support made after difficult encounters.

Those responding to an arson attack in Glasgow were  also very thankful for the crisps and soft drinks supplied by locals as they worked through the weekend.

At the heart of what we do

Our engineers have been great, for so many reasons, during this crisis. Many have shared how their life has changed since coronavirus.

And despite the challenges during this crisis, our engineers have often given us (and we hope you) something to smile about.