Spotify creates campaign for Vietnam’s 80th Independence Day
Looking to engage young people in Ho Chi Minh City during one of Vietnam’s most important celebrations, Spotify’s new campaign matches users’ music taste with folkloric figures
Coinciding with Vietnam’s 80th Independence Day, Spotify has collaborated with local creative agency Happiness Saigon on a new campaign that taps into the festive mood through music.
With the anniversary always proving an emotionally-charged moment across the country, and serving as a period for both reflection and celebration, Spotify and Happiness Saigon wanted to find a way to enhance this experience.
Understanding that music is a natural vessel for feeling and memory, they devised a campaign in Ho Chi Minh City that encourages locals to connect their taste in music with a figure from Vietnamese folklore.
Within the Spotify app, users’ listening habits are combined with the results from a music personality test to determine which ‘Vietnamese Spirit’ they are most aligned with. There are eight Spirits in total, each being a legendary name from the country’s history and culture.
These include The Romantic (Tiên Dung & Chử Đồng Tử), The Melancholic (Nàng Tô Thị), The Optimist (Mai An Tiêm), The Warrior (Thánh Gióng), The Dreamer (Tấm), The Pathfinder (Lạc Long Quân & Âu Cơ), The Old Soul (Lang Liêu) and The Storyteller (Trạng Quỳnhand).
From here, users are provided with a personalised Vietnamese Spirit profile, several curated playlists, and a collection of shareable assets to reveal to their followers which Spirit they were given.
To promote this experience, Spotify and Happiness Saigon also created a series of OOH installations that further personify the Spirits. Across Ho Chi Minh City, eight different custom-built structures and vehicles capture the essence of each one, and also spotlight iconic Vietnamese musicians that share that Spirit’s identity.
The campaign is running throughout September and Spotify are rewarding users who visit one of the eight installations and post their own ‘Viet Spirits’ moments online with small cultural gifts such as themed incense sticks and bandana scarfs that serve as “youthful tokens of identity and pride”.
Reflecting on the importance of the project, Nichi Gatdula, creative director at Happiness Saigon, says: “Doing this campaign at such a momentous time in Vietnam is not just an opportunity, but a privilege. Spotify Vietnam is evolving into more than just a streaming platform, it’s becoming a brand that actively celebrates and nurtures Vietnamese culture. It’s this cultural relevance that sets Spotify apart, allowing us to be part of Vietnam’s story as it shapes its modern identity.”
