When You Hit Pause, You’re Still Playing

What Spotify’s “Pause Is Part of the Song” teaches about human rhythm, social-first brands, and why small breaks can make your marketing hit harder.

Author

Javier García
November 21, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

In partnership with

Introduction

Welcome to another exciting week!

Table of Contents

Sponsored Section

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Over the next year, Roku predicts that 100% of the streaming audience will see ads. For growth marketers in 2026, CTV will remain an important “safe space” as AI creates widespread disruption in the search and social channels. Plus, easier access to self-serve CTV ad buying tools and targeting options will lead to a surge in locally-targeted streaming campaigns.

Read our guide to find out why growth marketers should make sure CTV is part of their 2026 media mix.

Best Ad of the Week

Spotify – “Pause Is Part of the Song” (2025 Global Campaign)

Spotify’s “Pause Is Part of the Song” reframes a tiny universal behaviour—the moment we hit pause—as something meaningful. The film shows different people freezing music at decisive moments: a cyclist stopping to help someone, a chef turning off their playlist to taste a dish, a student pausing before sending a message, a woman silencing music to watch her child sleep. Each vignette ends with the track resuming exactly where life left off. The closing line reads: “Life doesn’t interrupt music. It completes it.”

Key marketing lessons

• Celebrate behaviour, not consumption: Spotify highlights the moments between listening, revealing emotional depth in something mundane.
• Human rhythm as brand rhythm: The idea positions Spotify not as background noise, but as a companion that adapts to life’s tempo.
• Minimalism improves emotional punch: Soft visuals and a single piano track make the storytelling feel intimate and sincere.
• Universality at scale: Everyone pauses music, making the concept globally relatable without localisation.
• Story-first product proof: The seamless track continuation quietly demonstrates the product experience without explanation or features.

If you want the next ad lesson centred on a European brand, a challenger brand or something more experimental, just tell me.

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Weekly Tip

Avoid Over-Explaining

Your audience doesn’t need every detail to understand the point. Give just enough context to make the message clear.

• Share the essential idea, not the full backstory
• Trust readers to fill in obvious gaps
• Let simplicity carry the insight

When you stop over-explaining, your message becomes tighter, clearer, and far more engaging.

Weekly Challenge

Audience Warm-Up Story

This week, re-engage your followers before posting:

• Before sharing a main post, publish one short Story that warms up your audience with a question, poll, or quick thought related to your niche
• Do this three times during the week, each time a few hours before a feed post
• Track whether your posts gain more comments and reach when preceded by a warm-up Story

Pre-engaging your audience primes them to interact with your content.

Submissions + Feedback

Hope you enjoyed today’s post, if you know someone who may be interested, feel free to send it to them.

Also, if you want me to cover any specific subject on the next issue or share some feedback, feel free to reply to this email.

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