What We Can Learn from Spotify’s Wrapped Campaign

Another year of Spotify Wrapped has surpassed, and what better time than now to dissect the campaign that has so many of us in a chokehold? If you’re unfamiliar with Spotify Wrapped, the campaign provides Spotify users with a summary of their annual listening habits. It was released in 2016, preceding the application’s “Year in Music” feature which was released in 2015.

After some rebranding, hardcore graphic design improvements, and serious strategizing on what gauges the interest of melomaniacs, Spotify Wrapped was born. You’ve likely seen screenshots on Instagram of your friends’ personalized Spotify Wrapped results over the past couple of weeks. After all, you’re not not going to brag if you’re in Fleetwood Mac’s 0.1% of listeners.

So what can we learn from the campaign that has other music streaming services wishing they’d thought of it first?

Here are 5 major takeaways.

People are interested in themselves

People are fascinated by their own habits. We try to put ourselves in the shoes of consumers when we market. What do they need? What do they want? What are they interested in? Newsflash! We’re interested in ourselves. We want to understand ourselves better. We gain pleasure in reaffirming our own beliefs about ourselves. This makes being told that our listening habits deem us “The Adventurer” all the more pleasurable. “I knew it!” we think.

At the end of the day, we humans are innately interested in ourselves. It's a survival instinct to care about ourselves. And Spotify has arguably recognized this reality more than any other brand. By catering this campaign to the personalized needs of its audience, the app has created a feature that speaks to all of its listeners in their own language.

Graphic design and UX are more important than ever

If you have seen your own Spotify Wrapped, then you don’t need me to tell you that it takes immersive to a whole new level. From background songs to dreamy graphic design layering, the experience captivates you. As much as we are interested in learning about ourselves, we are also suckers for entertainment. We want to be impressed by cool digital art, fun transitions, impeccable music timing as soon as we’re enlightened by our top played song.

If you’ve been debating hiring a graphic or UI designer to your team, this is your sign to take the plunge.

Data does it

It’s safe to say that without data, Spotify Wrapped would not be possible. Metrics are the only reason the campaign can provide listeners with real life statistics. You’re not in the 0.1% of Fleetwood Mac’s listeners because Spotify guessed so. They know so! And using data is an incredibly smart way to teach us about ourselves since the average person can’t find this information themselves.

We know data is powerful, and the Wrapped campaign only reinforces this.

If it ain’t broke…

Spotify has seen years of success with this campaign. One mistake many brands make is altering a campaign once it has done well so it can “evolve.” Spotify understands that if “it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” Instead of completely redoing the campaign annually, they simply add a new slide like “What type of listener are you?” This small, but fun, addition allows listeners to know what they can expect with the campaign.

We’re creatures of habit!

Social media is working with us

The last lesson we can learn from the Spotify Wrapped campaign is that social media is working with us. Spotify doesn’t need to market this campaign extensively because Instagram users do it for them. We are so impressed with the year-end feature that we want to share it with others. We want feedback. We want validation. We want to socialize.

For brands looking to drop an immersive campaign, make it so cool that consumers do your marketing for you.

Spotify Wrapped has once again blown all of our minds through a campaign that simply tells us the music we listened to that year. Influencing Apple Music’s “Replay” campaign that started in 2019, and taking over social media, Spotify is dominating the music industry with one-of-a-kind campaigns that immerse consumers like never before.

For marketers everywhere, use this campaign as inspiration. Rather than hanging up your coat and wishing you’d thought of it first, think about what you can learn from Spotify’s innovation. Consider these 5 major takeaways the next time you strategize a new campaign. It’s all fair play for 2023.

Sydney Vardja is a PR Specialist for Jelly Marketing where she works with clients across North America to achieve their campaign dreams.