Why Spotify Wrapped is Pure Marketing Genius

Unless you’ve been living under a digital rock, you’ll know all about Spotify’s annual tradition of providing its users run downs of their listening habits at the end of each year.

Referred to as Spotify Wrapped, the 2021 edition brought the campaign back with a bang, with a number of shiny new features for users to enjoy.

Spotify Wrapped is an example of true marketing genius, effectively taking over social media during its release week each year.

This article explores just what makes it so successful.

It harnesses the power of sharing.

The key to the success of the Spotify Wrapped campaign is the focus on creating content that it’s users want to share.

The New York Times [linked] once investigated the factors which compel social media users to share content. Their studies found that people do so to bring valuable information to people that they care about, to define their own sense of purpose, or to engage in social activity.

Spotify Wrapped content fulfils all three of those factors.

Spotify users are driven to share their listening habits as a way to define their own sense of purpose, and then seeing others do so causes a sort of social contagion. Social media users hurry to share and compare their insights with their friends, creating memes about the campaign along the way. Essentially, the power of FOMO (that’s fear of missing out for the non millennials) is harnessed in its truest form.

Sharing is made effortless.

All visual content for this campaign was designed with shareability in mind. Insights are presented to users in a range of formats, optimised for different platforms.

Spotify users can share their top artist on Twitter with a pre-made tweet template. Another option emulates Instagram’s story format, which encourages users to share the Spotify data on their own Instagram stories. Square, Instagram post-optimised images are also available for users to share on their Instagram feeds.

It rewards loyalty.

Only those who have Spotify premium subscription get to join in on the fun, making the delivery of the statistics feel like a reward.

It shows off the apps features

Spotify’s 2020 Wrapped campaign included data from podcasts for the first time, and the 2021 edition followed suit. As podcasts rapidly expand in popularity, Spotify are eagerly establishing themselves as the go-to podcast platform.

It’s a conversation starter.

Campaign content was widely shared by users and opened up conversation among them. User generated content was an integral part of the campaign, as social media users contributed their own memes and commentary to the campaign hashtag.

It’s bang on target.

Spotify’s target audience is largely made up of millennials. The 25–34 age bracket composes Spotify’s main customer base, with the 18–24 group following close behind. This fact likely influenced the social media-based campaign structure.

It’s fun.

Perhaps the biggest factor in its continued success, Spotify Wrapped is fun. Global audiences’ feeds have been saturated with pessimism for the past two years, and people are starving for some light heartedness. Spotify Wrapped brings that in droves.

That’s a wrap.

Spotify’s Wrapped campaigns are eagerly anticipated each year. With their trailblazing approach year on year, there’s factors in its success that we can learn from and apply to other digital projects.

Images are courtesy of newsroom.Spotify.com