Spotify’s Annual ‘Wrapped’ Campaign Reminding Us How We Survived 2020

As 2020 quickly winds to a well-deserved end, Spotify allows its users to take a look back on what they spent their year listening to. While this is a standing annual tradition from the streaming platform, this year hits a little different. Gratitude and resilience are themes that Spotify aims to highlight, recognizing the hardships that so many worldwide have endured this year.

This campaign has been created entirely in-house and looks inward at users listening patterns to determine what artists and podcasters had the most impact on their fans and the entertainment industry.

The ads draw attention through their intentional design, including bright colors and photographs of the featured artists arranged in a kaleidoscope array. This imagery is focused on reflecting the ‘Wrapped’ campaign’s intent of “finding beauty within the chaos.”

As shown above, this outdoor billboard taps into some good natured humor over Cardi B’s hit song WAP (featuring Megan Thee Stallion). With an outstanding amount of streams – 439,266,295 and counting – WAP is a sensation loved by some and talked about by many. No matter one’s opinion on the song, Cardi’s “invaluable Wisdom and Philosophy” should be respected, and therefore thanked by Spotify, reminding us that women are more powerful than ever in 2020.

The in-house advertising team made this an integrated campaign, with video, digital, and social advertisements to accompany the bright and bold print ads. In involvement with the National Independent Venue Association, Spotify has linked #2020Wrapped with the “Save Our Stages” movement, created to support small music venues across the country. Again, Spotify is relating their advertising to encourage all those who are in the musical community. You can see the Aladdin Theater's boarded-up doors in Portland, Oregon displaying their “Save Our Stages” message.

I think Spotify was brilliant for launching this campaign. Each year the personalized “Your Year in Music” playlist generated for each user is shared across social media platforms, spamming Instagram stories for a solid week. This feature allows users to show off their superior taste in Indie music, prove their fandom by the 40,000 times they listened to the same Drake song, or in my case, remind me that I have been listening to the same songs since 8th grade.

While this may be my biased opinion as a longtime Spotify user myself, it is undeniable that the ‘Wrapped’ campaign differentiates them from competing streaming platforms. It both affirms the creators who have their work streamed on Spotify, as well as the fan bases that exist through Spotify. It shows that while we have been separated from one another throughout this year, we can find connection as a community who have endured this year by finding comfort within what we chose to listen to.

2020 will undoubtedly be spoken about throughout history, and as a brand, Spotify is taking full advantage of the opportunity to regain their focus back on their creators and customers. The ‘Wrapped’ campaign appeals to every sort of listener, whether that be R&B, true crime podcasts, Classic Rock, or the millions of niches that Spotify supports.