PowerPoint Presentation
Shazam Miles Lewis: September 2016
Walk onto stage play this Nokia text alert sound.
Morning
some of you will instantly recognise that sound as that which
told you there was an SMS or text to read on your mobile phone.
Some of you will not have heard that sound for years or if you are
lucky ever....
Now add these 4 simple numbers into the mix and you get the
start of an incredible journey for company that is known today as
Shazam.
Naming that tune has been the name of our game since 2000.
Predictable we are not.
Founded in 2000 we have had hundreds of millions of downloads
and 20+ billion Shazams. Since walking up here we have had some
15,000 Shazams from all corners of the world.
Back then though before the mobile became smart we were a text
based service
You heard a song you liked but did not know the name of you
dialed 2580 from your handset, we listened and then texted you
back.
But it may never have happened....
Todays smartphone user takes for granted the magic of Shazam and
what their smartphone does.
Shazam was developed when mobiles were dumb and investors
especially in the US were bewildered by mobile as a platform.
The first inking of the Shazam idea came from MBA students Chris
Barton Philip InghelbrechtDhiraj Mukherjee in 1999.
The students took their idea Professor Julius Smith at Stanford
and asked to be introduced to their best student. This was Dr Avery
Wang. Dr Avery Wang looked at the challenge said thought it might
not be possible. They worked on the algorithm. Some months later an
excited Avery called the others with the news he had cracked
it...
But the technology had to cross an ocean before if could find
its legs.
The mobile networks in the US were not set up for SMSing and
more strategically North American investor sentiment was very much
focused on the internet whereas in Europe mobile services were more
established. So London it was where investors supported us.
Another obstacle facing the fledgling company was that digital
music had yet to developed into a category. iTunes did not exist.
People were just getting their heads around ring tonesand even then
it would be another 4 years until the Crazy Frog phenominon .So the
strartgy at the time was somewhat forced by a neeed to educate
people about Shazam....
At this time Shazam 2580 was an interesting use of a phone.
Small usage. Not much growth. It was a tough time.
In 2003 . Shazam moved away from a direct to consumer approach
to reach more people and monetize its service through relationships
with carriers and manufacturers. Like AT&T in the US
MusicIDVerizon in US and SongIDWhite labeled and co-branded was the
strategy at the time.
It was 2007 as you can see where usage moved the graph....
By 2007 the markets were shifting in Shazams favour -
People starting to become open to buying digital contentPrices
for media on mobile platforms were finally on a par with what
consumers were used to paying for content in stores or onlineThe
movement to a single monthly fee for data gave you more freedom to
do more on your mobile. Better mobile devices with music players
were hitting the shops
We were though still some way off real recognition or a real
runway to where the business is today.
Then something major happened....
.....on June 29th 2007 this accelerated movement our
way........
It showed people what was possible from the mobile web... It
showed up the limitations of the mobile networks of course who then
had to go and invest billions to support this new world....
The iPhone was not of course the defining moment... It simply
laid some foundations..... The queues and 250,000 unit sales in one
weekend in one country made us re-apprasise plans.... Made us think
about the seisemic changes that were about to hit all of
us........
It would be anohter year though ..........
(It would be another year though..... ) before Shazam had a
major jolt into popular culture and on the road to be one of the
biggest mobile first companies of this new order.
Looking back had Shazam stuck with the business to business
white label approach the gorwth and verb-ification of our name
would never have happened.. The app would not have been created and
I would not be standing here now..........
July 10th 2008 Apple unveiled the app store and version 2,0 of
its iPhone software 500 apps was the sum total available to you
then all built on the new iOS all downloadable to the new iPhone
3G. Shazam was there
We had just 15million users at the time...
Original Apple app store Shazam ad.
This first native Shazam app opened up discovery and then one
click to buy and also to share...... North America sudenly opened
up to us.A few months later Apple ran a TV ad showcasing Shazam the
ad changed everything.....That was the beginning of our
recommitment to a fully fledged consumer strategy....
By the end of September 2008 Shazam had been downloaded more
than 1.5 million times in the app store and the audience hit
20million. The next 12 months (October 08 to 09) added 30
million.
We played with a freemium model 5 Shazams a month.Then bringing
on sponsors to offer users free Shazaming.
As growth exploded we removed all barriers.At the time we also
developed apps for all the platforms, BlackBerry, Nokia,
Android.
The essence remianed the same as we expanded...
Andorid hit in October 08BlackBerry in February 09.
. We were developing for all platforms - Remember the shear
amount of change that was happening... We had to support all
platforms - gambling at this time was not an option.......
With our popularity surging we set our sights on additional
media beyond mobile.
Shazams plans were looking at audio at a macro level not just
confined to music.
In early 2010 US viewers tuning into the SuperBowl witnessed for
the first time ever a television commercial that was Shazam
enabled. The ambition? To position Shazam as The Media Engagement
Company.
So while this particular strategy was only kicking into gear in
2010 it was the same direct response marketing strategy discussed
in the board room in 2003....
Witht his first TV ad under our belts our ambition grew.
The following year we Shazam enabled the programme and half time
extravagaza.
In 2012 we partnered with NBC in the US to Shazam enable the
Olympics output. One of the most simple and most engaging use
cases? The medal count. One button, one touch and Shazam had
it.
Over on this side of the pond we have been Shazam ebabling The
Brits for 2 years. Leading some users baffled as to how we do
it!
Explosive Android usage made us sit up and realise we had to
offer consistency across platforms.
As Apple had kicked the entire app phenomenon off like the
majority of companies at the time iOs was first and this was the
case for a while.
If you moved platforms and a lot of people have and do your
experience of Shazam needs to be the same with the same
functionality and feel.
So our iOs and Android teams work in parallel to develop Shazam
consistently.
With all this expansion and innovation one might have been
forgiven if you thought we had or were ignoring the music
industry.
Music is the backbone to Shazam, the very reason we exist so we
contiue to invest.
Digital music sales whilst now plateauing or decreasing were on
the rise in the mid noughties, the streaming players were just
emerging Spotify launched in 2008 and had yet to grab the publics
imagination but they would.. The music business was about to be
disrupted with a capital D.We are core to discovery and
re-discovery. We are core to part of the purchase journey and we
are core to part of the streaming journey.
We invest in speed of recognition. Avery continues to perfect
the algorithm sometimes when you think there is no way we will
recognise the track and we do its because we plough time and
resource into it.
We invest in our library. There is no point in having speed and
accuracy if we dont have to track and give you a disappointing
experience. And this is not just about the majors. We strive to not
be beaten. Of course mixes and DJ mash ups created in that moment
can and do challenge us We did though sign a deal with JUNO to get
vinyl releases primarily used in clubs to close one gap we
had...
In summary you cant sit still.... Even if your front door looks
the same you have to invest, develpe and innovate. Our agile
processes offer near consistent updates some minor some major
througout the year.
Shazam Connect.
We call it Shazam Connect.
Connecting media to people. People to brands and brands to
people.
Simply at the touch of a button.
Try it if you have Shazam on your handsets open it up now and
experience one of the most effective and simple uses of our audio
recognition tech
In short YES
Shazam is The Media Enagement app. Audio is a given but I bet a
lot of you were unaware we trialed visual Shazam at the end of
2015? Shazam a Pizza Box? YesA Bottle of Vodka? YesA lipstick?
Yes
Ill leave you with possibly the offices favourite campaign of
recent times.
Pour yourself a coke.
Thank You
Did you know, the way you choose to contact someone suggests you
are a digital native or a digital foreigner?
For more please drop me a note
[email protected]@Miles_Lewis_Linkedin.com/in/mileslewis+44
7814522769
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