2021: It’s a wrap!

December 14th, 2021 | Comperemedia News

Who doesn’t love taking a trip down memory lane? Spotify Wrapped has become a genius campaign that users look forward to every December, adding integral value to the listening experience that Spotify offers. The feature has improved on execution year after year, creating a competitive advantage in the music streaming space, all while proving the importance of harnessing user data for creative advertising.

Launched in 2016, Spotify Wrapped has become a tradition

Spotify’s annual Wrapped feature gives users a snapshot of their yearly listening habits. Insights featured everything from top songs, genres, podcasts, and artists to minutes listened, as well as providing rankings on if users were in the top percentage of listeners of their favorite artists this year. The feature also weaved in trending social media topics and phrases like “You Always Understood the Assignment” and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), while also including easily shareable interactive features such as ‘Audio Auras’ and ‘Two Truths and a Lie’. 

Spotify’s newest feature, the ‘2021 Wrapped Blend,’ allows users to see how their music tastes match up with friends, providing them access to a blended playlist with a compilation of top songs.

Spotify has mastered the art of capturing social media buzz

Providing a clear call to action, Spotify prompts users to share their yearly Wrapped cards on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter, while also allowing users to copy and download a link if they’d rather share via private message or on another platform. 

Almost a play on behavioral psychology, Spotify knows that consumers are wired to share, especially when it comes to boasting about being the top listeners of favorite music artists. Spotify has created a narrative with its Wrapped feature that allows each user to be the main character, building a strong relationship between the brand and each customer. The campaign has become a viral hit that has turned regular listeners into unpaid influencers by encouraging users to further marketing efforts by sharing their listening stats on almost all social media platforms. This personalized, ready-to-share content, forces non-Spotify users to have FOMO (‘fear of missing out’) when they see their friends easily sharing and discussing their top songs, which in turn attracts new users year after year.

Spotify takes things one step further

Eliciting an even deeper relationship with artists, Spotify now encourages users to “Shop [their] 2021 Wrapped.” To support the artists that soundtracked another ‘totally-not-normal year’, listeners can purchase merch from the artists they loved this year.

Proving that the Spotify Wrapped feature is not short-lived, users are also given curated playlists with a mix of songs, interviews, and more from their top artists of the year, encouraging campaign longevity and relevancy.

The complicated relationship between privacy and personalization

The use of one’s data has become a lightning rod topic in recent years. Data breaches and the threat of targeted misinformation campaigns have turned the spotlight on how users’ data is collected and used. Most would agree that they prefer a company to know as little as possible about them. According to Mintel research on digital advertising, only 20% of US consumers are comfortable sharing their digital behaviors with brands.

Despite this, Spotify has found a way for users to willingly (even proudly) share their listening metrics with the world. The success of Wrapped shows that personalization that is informative and engaging can create a more trusting and open relationship between a brand and its customers.

What other brands can learn from Wrapped

With the growing awareness of how personal information and activity is shared has come new and easier ways for consumers to opt out of data collection. To create a more open and trusting relationship with your customers, be sure to show them how their data can be used to improve their experience. User-facing usage metrics are a great way to uncover relevant trends and suggestions and – when done in a way that doesn’t come off as ‘salesy’ – can provide your customers with unique insights and useful information that can help to cement the relationship.