Signal to Story: How Creative Drives Advertising Performance with Spotify

At Smartly Advance, the afternoon breakout session on Signal to Story brought a sharp focus on creativity as advertising’s most underleveraged growth lever. Moderated by Smartly, the discussion featured Kay Hsu (Spotify), Roger Sho Gehrmann (MassiveMusic), Spencer Mandell (Smartly), and Jim Therkalsen (AG1). Together they explored how sound, storytelling, and scaled creative execution can turn signals into meaningful brand connections.

The return of sound as brand equity

Kay Hsu opened by stressing consistency. Campaigns may change channel by channel, but audio offers a unifying thread. For Spotify, sonic identity is not about jingles in the old sense, but about creating adaptable cues that brands can carry across touchpoints.

Roger Sho Gehrmann of MassiveMusic expanded on this idea, arguing that sonic branding is a shortcut to emotion. It works best in categories where products don’t inspire passion on their own, like insurance or banking. He pointed to Netflix’s iconic “ta-dum” and Mastercard’s global sonic logo strategy as examples of brands investing heavily to make sound as ubiquitous as a visual logo. “When you’re not looking at a screen,” he explained, “sound keeps your brand present. It’s a way into culture.”

Creativity at scale is the new battleground

Spencer Mandell, VP of Global Creative Services at Smartly, brought the conversation to the challenge many advertisers face: how to scale creative effectively without losing impact.

Producing endless variations for demographic and geographic personalization is resource-intensive. With budgets shrinking, marketers need partners and tools that can generate, optimize, and distribute creative assets quickly, without diluting the brand story. “Disruption isn’t about being outrageous,” Mandell argued. “It’s about showing up when and where people are most open to hearing your message.”

Balancing short-term performance with long-term brand

Jim Therkalsen of AG1 struck a cautionary note. Too often, he said, brands pour money into performance campaigns that feed algorithms but do little to build equity. Meanwhile, carefully crafted brand campaigns struggle for reach. “Don’t let short-term metrics blind you to long-term brand building,” he advised. The real discipline is in finding the balance, work that performs in the short term but also reinforces the story you want people to remember years later.

Why sound and story matter now

The panel agreed that advertising is at an inflection point. Consumers are flooded with more than 4,000 ad exposures a day, often multitasking across screens. In that environment, sound and storytelling have a unique ability to cut through. From Spotify playlists to podcast integrations, from Netflix intros to retail checkout sounds, audio is once again becoming one of the most powerful brand assets.

The message to marketers was clear:

• Treat sound as a long-term investment, not an afterthought.

• Scale creative in ways that preserve nuance and cultural context.

• Balance performance with brand building, or risk starving long-term growth.

Why this session mattered

If earlier sessions at Smartly Advance highlighted AI and automation, Signal to Story reminded the audience that creativity, particularly in audio, remains the engine of effectiveness. Sonic branding, smart scaling, and storytelling are not side notes; they are the drivers of engagement and conversion in an attention-fractured world.

As brands search for competitive advantage, the takeaway from this panel was straightforward: creativity is still the sharpest tool marketers have but it must be wielded with discipline, consistency, and scale.

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