Even earlier than this yr’s Spotify Wrapped dropped, I had a hunch what mine would reveal.
Lo and behold, one among my most-listened-to songs was an obscure 2004 monitor titled “Rusty Chevrolet” by the Irish band Shanneyganock. I heard it first due to my son, whose good friend had been singing it on the swings at college. My son discovered it totally hilarious, and it’s been taking part in in our home nonstop ever since.
Like mother and father everywhere in the world, I rue how my son’s musical tastes have hijacked my listening historical past. However I’m additionally tickled to study that our family might be one of many few even listening to it.
Spotify Wrapped is an annual marketing campaign by the favored streaming music platform. Since 2015, the streaming service has been repackaging person knowledge – particularly, the listening historical past of Spotify’s customers over the previous yr – into engaging, customized slideshows that includes, amongst different knowledge factors, your high 5 songs, your complete listening time and even your “listening personality.” (Are you a “Replayer,” a “Maverick” or a “Vampire”?)
As a shopper conduct researcher, I’ve considered why these lists get a lot consideration every year. I believe that the success of Spotify Wrapped could have quite a bit to do with how the flashy, shareable graphics are linked to a few elementary – and considerably contradictory – human wants.
Individuality and belonging
In 1991, social psychologist Marilynn Brewer launched what she coined “optimal distinctiveness theory.”
She argued that most individuals are torn between two human wants. On the one hand, there’s the necessity for “validation and similarity to others.” Alternatively, folks need to categorical their “uniqueness and individuation.” Thus, most of us are continuously striving for a steadiness between feeling linked to others whereas additionally sustaining a way of our personal distinct individuality.
At Thanksgiving, for instance, your want for connection is probably going greater than happy. In that second, you’re surrounded by household and buddies who share quite a bit in frequent with you. In actual fact, it could possibly really feel so fulfilled that you could be begin craving the alternative: a solution to assert your individuality. Possibly you select to put on one thing that actually displays your character, otherwise you inform tales about fascinating experiences you’ve had prior to now yr.
In distinction, you might really feel comparatively remoted once you transfer to a brand new city and really feel a stronger want for connection. It’s possible you’ll put on the kinds and types you see your neighbors and associates carrying, pop into fashionable cafes and eating places, or invite folks over to your property in an effort to make new buddies.
Have it your method
When folks purchase issues, they usually make selections as a solution to fulfill their wants for connection and individuality.
Manufacturers acknowledge this and often attempt to entice shoppers with not less than one among these two parts. It’s partly why Coca-Cola began releasing bottles that includes fashionable names on the labels as a part of its “Share a Coke” marketing campaign. The tender drink stays the identical, however grabbing a Coke along with your title on it could possibly domesticate a way of reference to everybody else who has it. And it’s why Apple gives customized, customized engravings for merchandise similar to its AirPods and iPads.
Coca-Cola’s ‘Share a Coke’ marketing campaign faucets into optimum distinctiveness principle. AP Picture/Enterprise Wire
Spotify Wrapped works as a result of it nails the steadiness between competing wants: the will to belong and the will to face out. Seeing the overlap between your lists and people of your folks fosters a way of connection, and seeing the variations is a sign of your (or your children’!) distinctive musical style. It offers me a solution to say, “Sure, I’ve been listening to ‘Soda Pop’ nonstop like everyone else. But I’m probably the only one playing ‘Rusty Chevrolet’ on repeat.”
The Wrapped marketing campaign can be sensible advertising. Spotify turns listeners’ distinctive, private listening knowledge into putting visuals which might be tailored for posting to social media accounts. It’s no surprise, then, that the Wrapped function has led to spectacular engagement: On TikTok, the hashtag #SpotifyWrapped garnered 73.7 billion views in 2023. The annual marketing campaign has earned quite a few honors, together with a Cannes Lion and several other Webby Awards, in any other case generally known as the “Oscars of the Internet.”
It’s been so profitable that it’s impressed a wave of copycats: Apple Music, Reddit, Uber and Duolingo now launch equally customized “year-in-reviews.”
None, nonetheless, has managed to realize the identical degree of cultural affect as Spotify Wrapped. So what’s in your record? And can you brag, conceal or giggle at what it says about you?
Ishani Banerji, Medical Assistant Professor of Advertising, Clemson College
This text is republished from The Dialog underneath a Artistic Commons license. Learn the unique article.
