🎧 2022: IT’S A WRAP!

‘Twas the night before Christmas,

and my attention was rapt,

refreshing my timeline 

for Spotify Wrapped. 

Spotify Wrapped has been taking over social media timelines every December since 2015. The 2022 version launched this week with a host of new features including your listening personality type (are you a devotee, a time traveler or a jukeboxer?). There’s also a Roblox activation on Spotify Island with quests, games, virtual merch, and photo booth opportunities with 12 artists, including New Jeans and SUNMI. We didn’t even mention the thank you messages for top fans from over 40K artists, or the tie up with FC Barcelona. As a practice in recognizing and celebrating fans, Spotify Wrapped is 😘

💡 Our take

You know a brand activation has successfully owned a niche within culture when it generates a slew of secondary, organic, user-generated content and commentary around it – from themed takes to memes. Perhaps your brand doesn’t have the data (or budget) to offer a Wrapped equivalent, but there is still plenty to learn…

Wrapped gives listeners an opportunity to, firstly, flex their fandom and quantifiably prove that they are Stray Kids’ biggest fan (everywhere, all around the world!). Top fans of participating artists will also get a thank you video message from their artists. By doing so, not only does Spotify give recognition to ‘true’ fans, but also rewards and validates them. The Roblox activation further provides more touchpoints for fans to immerse in their artists’ world. Lesson one: how might you create campaigns that allow fans to prove their passion and set your brand up as an enabler of that fandom?

Spotify further fuels the emotional high by making it easy to share stats, rallying individuals into one giant community gushing about what they love. In 2021, there were 60M shares of Wrapped stories and cards on social platforms. This year, recognizing the evolving ways people are expressing themselves online, Spotify has added direct integrations with Snapchat filters, Bitmojis, and GIPHY, as well as WhatsApp and LINE. Lesson two: help fans connect with like-minded peers who will amplify their passion, and remember to keep evolving your touchpoints to be where your consumers are.

Finally – Spotify recognizes that music choice is not only highly emotional, but also hyper-personal. Wrapped acts as a time capsule of sorts, tapping into the desire for both introspection and self-discovery. The desire to understand yourself better is universal – across APAC, interest in personality tests is on the rise – but it particularly resonates with younger consumers who are still figuring out who they are. Lesson three: giving this group (data-driven) insight into their behavior will bring themselves closer to themselves and your brand.

Not sure how to put these lessons to work? Drop us an email, we’re happy to help.

For those of you born before 1997, ‘fax, no printer‘ is Gen Z speak for ‘undeniable facts I agree with’