Most brands that move into music start by asking what they can put their logo on. The better question is what fans would miss if you weren't there. It sounds like a small shift, but it changes how a brand shows up.
Sense has crafted Vodafone's music marketing strategy with its brand team, and it's been great to now see so much of it out in the world. Recently Mi3 ran a great interview with Vodafone's Head of Brand and Marketing - Lisa Cronin, on why the telco is betting on live music. It's a detailed explanation highlighting how a brand like Vodafone earns a place in culture rather than renting one.
Sport has been the default playbook for Australian telcos for a long time. It's also crowded. Cronin told Mi3 that sport wasn't delivering 'the benefits' Vodafone needed, particularly with younger Australians, and that music kept coming up in research as the passion that mattered most to its customers.
Vevo's Cultural Currency report found that 50 per cent of Australian Gen Z identify with music fandoms, compared with 31 per cent for sport. Live Nation's new Return to Real study found 82 per cent of live music goers prefer exclusive experiences over discounts, and 66 per cent would rather redeem rewards on live music than on discounts on a brand's own products or services.
People are telling brands, very directly, that they want something to remember, a moment, a memory, rather than just money off the bill.
Cronin describes a fan journey that starts the moment a tour is announced, builds through what everyone is wearing and who they're going with, it peaks at the show itself and carries on afterwards, when the post gig slump sets in and people want to keep the feeling going. Live Nation's Love Song study found 96 per cent of Gen Z see those before and after moments as part of the live experience.
That journey sits at the centre of the strategy. We built Vodafone's content model around it, with content planned before the show (the announcement and presale), during it (live capture and fan content) and after it (aftermovies and interviews). A live moment isn't a single night. It's a season of anticipation, a room full of people, and a long tail of content, conversation and community. When a brand designs for the whole arc, every show keeps working for weeks after the doors close.
The Sofia Isella activation Cronin mentions is a lovely example. A tarot reading experience on site at her Sydney show, amplified by creators, gave fans something that felt like part of the night. It was small and specific, and it suited the artist and her crowd.
One line in particular from the interview is Cronin's own litmus test: if Vodafone isn't improving the experience, "then we shouldn't be there at all."
Fans can tell instantly when a brand has barged in. They can also tell when a brand has actually made the night better, whether that's a great network when twenty thousand people are filming the encore, merch that actually means something, or support for local artists who need a stage. Cronin talks about all three, balancing global headliners with emerging Australian talent. That balance is the backbone of Sense's strategy, which set up the live program in three tiers: the big international tours and festivals, Vodafone's own invite only gigs, and backing the local venues, collectives and pop ups that give the whole program its credibility.
You can see that third credibility tier at work in the recent Vodafone Music teaming up with LINES for a rooftop party on Bondi Beach with Sonny Fodera, ahead of his sold out Hordern Pavilion show. LINES has been running free music pop ups for a while, so Vodafone was joining something its crowd already loved and trusted.
4,500 people registered their interest for 250 places. That shows how much people value that kind of access. It's also a nice one for us, because when we developed the strategy a year earlier, we named LINES as the kind of local partner Vodafone should move quickly on when the chance came up. The idea was to back a scene that already has credibility, make the night better for the people in it, and give them access they'd struggle to get any other way.
This is the heart of how we think about brand experience at Sense. Physical experiences can be one of the most powerful channels a brand has, particularly when connected with purpose. Purpose here means a passionate role in the fan's life, a desire to be in the room that the fan recognises and welcomes.
What makes this story so encouraging is that it isn't just a brand feeling good about culture. Vodafone told Mi3 that non-customers aware of its live music program are 41 per cent more likely to choose Vodafone, and customers engaged with the program are 19 per cent more engaged and happier.
Even more interesting is where the measurement is heading. Vodafone is starting to track whether showing up well in music shifts trust. The strategy set up acquisition, retention, spend per customer and brand love to be measured together in one view. Adding trust to that list is a bold and smart move in a category that has had a tough few years on trust. If you trust a network to carry the moment you filmed at your favourite gig and send it to your friends, you're building a different kind of relationship with that brand.
Consideration and engagement look stronger among people who know the program, and trust is now on the scorecard. Cronin is open that some of this may be correlation rather than causation, which is ok. Even so, it's great to see a major Australian brand making the case for experience in public, with numbers attached.
Every category has its version of sport: the common and crowded territory everyone defaults to. The brands that break through are the ones willing to find the passion their customers actually care about, and then commit to it across the whole business. It's no easy task, but the consistency and committment to an experience led strategy is becoming much more desirable and effective as the world moves further into the explosion of AI slop and digital sameness.
Design for the full journey, before, during and after. Measure what matters to the business, and go further than just attendance.
With Sense having created the thinking behind Vodafone's future music strategy, we couldn't be prouder of the commitment to music within the company's DNA. We're even more excited about where it goes next!