The marketing genius of Spotify Wrapped
Spotify Wrapped is one of the most innovative viral campaigns we’ve seen in the last 20 years.
90M engagements
60M shares
21% increase in downloads
With no paid spend behind it. Just good old-fashioned word of mouth by people sharing what they listened to most.
Highlighting people, not the product
Selling a product is boring.
It’s what advertisers do when they don’t really understand the brand or the audience. They don’t understand what gets people to share things about their life.
When your marketing is just talking about your product, there’s no incentive for people to share it.
People share what makes them look good and what expresses their individuality. And with something as universal as music, sharing your most played artists and songs connects you to find people with the same taste.
People were so excited to share their music taste over the past year that it became a trend.
And the more people share, the more free marketing for your brand.
Extra personal
They tell a story with messages that match the way your music makes you feel.
They used a brand archetype model to help them connect with their customers on an emotional level to let your personality shine.
Sharing this data snapshot is what propelled Spotify into an intersection of tech, music and culture. “Suddenly we started to realize that this was an incredible way to get our passionate users to shout from the rooftops around the brand,”
- Alex Bodman, VP and Global Executive Creative Director at Spotify.
Key takeaways for your brand
Understand what gets people to share about their life.
The people that post about their Spotify Wrapped results aren’t all influencers and daily content creators. They’re normal people who probably use social media more for scrolling than posting, yet they still post about their music taste over the past year.
Everybody that uses Spotify and sees a post like this thinks "Hey, I could post too, my taste in music is also cool and everybody needs to know!"
Because people share things that make them look cool / smart / important, etc.
Brands like Netflix and Amazon can do the same with their platforms.
To get people to share your product, make it so they’re sharing a bigger story that satisfies their needs, not your CMO’s.
Highlight your biggest fans and make them a part of culture.
Make it personal so every post is a little different to keep up the novelty.
Incentivize loyalty — The more you use the product, the better you look.
Create a flywheel. Give a better product experience and they will share that experience to have more people try your product.
So don’t be boring, don’t talk about your product. Let your customers talk about themselves through your product.