Deezer

Brand, creative and content strategy for the global music streaming brand. Repositioning Deezer through a comprehensive brand reframe and developing the campaign concepts for its eventual TVC launch.

Brand & Positioning Strategy • Campaign & Content Development • Creative Direction • Copywriting

The Brief

Lead brand strategy and creative development, structured across two phases: first, an audit of the brand's existing communications and positioning, then development of new campaign concepts built on that strategy.

The Problem

Deezer had a genuine awareness issue. Spontaneous brand recognition was weak in the UK and Germany. In France, where the brand was well known, it was seen as resting on its laurels.

The existing brand perceptions – relatable, accessible, inclusive – said nothing about the depth of music curation and expertise actually driving the service.

The brand's current campaign work leaned heavily on "Flow," Deezer's personalisation feature, but these ads struggled with weak overall liking and poor brand linkage. Audiences were often mystified by Flow rather than drawn in by it.

The Solution

I started by working out who Deezer actually was, not just what it said about itself. Using the analogy of a music "high street", a mix of mega chains (Apple, Amazon, Google), corporate leaders (Spotify), publishers/labels (Bandcamp, Soundcloud) and curated cool (Tidal), I found that Deezer didn't fit any existing box.

The closest parallel was somewhere else entirely: the passionate indie with knowledgeable staff who live to recommend. Or, in physical terms, Amoeba Music, the world's largest independent record store, run by music lovers for music lovers.

The reframe of Deezer as "Global Indie" rather than another streaming utility became the foundation for everything that followed.

I shifted the brand's positioning from "the world's most personal music streaming service" to "the world of music made personal". A description of what Deezer actually does as opposed to an unprovable claim about being the best.

I built the wider brand narrative around it, repositioning Flow as the entry point to a much broader service featuring editors, curation, live sessions and artist stories.

From that strategy my art director and I devised three creative territories, each built out with a full range of channel ideas spanning video, social, experiential and partnerships. From five distinct campaign concept routes for the TVC, we landed on intimate, observational films built around people lost in their own private soundtrack, moving in rhythm with their music.

Deezer TVC | Brand Positioning • Concept

The Outcome

My engagement covered strategy and concept development, the positioning reframe, brand narrative and campaign territories, through to a full set of developed creative routes ready for production. Deezer went on to produce a TVC campaign built from this direction; performance and engagement metrics from the final campaign sit outside the scope of what I delivered.