Welcome to The Growth Spurt, a fortnightly newsletter with curated insights that will challenge your thinking as an aspiring creator, marketer or tech-enthusiast.

Read time: 6-7 mins

Today at a Glance:

• Storytime: Last Monday, I felt a rush of excitment when a notification popped up ‘Your Spotify 2023 Wrapped is here!!!’ I felt special. I felt heard. I felt like the goddamn ‘Main character energy’ straight outta movie. ⚠️WARNING⚠️:Stop reading this newsletter if you don’t want to be viral like Spotify…

• 3 Virality Lessons You Can Learn From 'Spotify Wrapped' 2023(1) We all are self-obsessed to an extent. Great marketers embrace that. (2) To go viral, it needs to be shareable. (3) To go hyper-viral with the most ROI, it needs to obsessed and raved about, without $$$ to buy attention.

• A Tribute to Charlie Munger: #RIP💛Subscribe now

StoryTime ⭐

Last Monday, I felt a rush of excitment when the notification popped up ‘Your Spotify 2023 Wrapped is here’. 

I tapped my phone furiously - ‘‘If 2023 was a movie, you were the main character…’’

‘‘Omg!!! Yasss..’’ I was screaming inside while tapping my phone furiously.

I felt special. I felt heard. And I knew I am not the only one…

‘‘Sorry I live under the rock… What is Spotify Unwrapped 2023?’’ 🤯

As the world's biggest music streaming platform, Spotify knows how to HYPE their listeners- both fans and artists.

They do this with their most popular marketing campaign called “Spotify Wrapped’’- where users of the platform can discover a summary of their listening data over the past year.

3 Virality Lessons You Can Learn From 'Spotify Wrapped' 2023

1. We all are self-obsessed to an extent. Great marketers embrace that 😉

We humans enjoy talking about ourselves.

It's not because we're selfish, but because it feels good to share what makes us unique.

‘‘Dr. Dana Dorfman, PhD Psychotherapist says, personality tests give us a lens through which to understand ourselves. They help us achieve a sense of belonging.’’

#1 Spotify taps into the human desire for individuality 🧑

According to Self determination theory, individual autonomy is a core psychological need. And this is manifest as a 4 step fashion:(1) Self-Expression—> (2) Identity Formation —> (3) Personalised Experience —> (4) Belonging

• Spotify Wrapped embraces our unique self and identity- via ‘‘listener personalities’’ and ‘‘audio auras’’

  • Maybe you are diehard BLACKPINK fangirl who loves bubblegum pop and nothing else (‘‘The Specialist’’)

  • Or maybe you are ‘‘The Adventurer’’ who loves the dark cinematic pop tunes of The Weeknd while also dabbling in avant-gade RBN artists like FKA Twigs or Frank Ocean. 

Either way, Spotify Wrapped doesn’t shame our musical tastes.

It celebrates our musical experience whether you are ‘‘The Specialist’’, ‘‘The Adventurer’’, ‘‘The Fanclubber’’, ‘‘The Replayer’’ etc

QUESTION: What was your listener personality 2023? 💥

#2 By tapping into individual autonomy, Spotify also allow us to embrace a sense of belonging 🫂💛

Case Example:

‘‘Did you just had a breakup and currently in your ‘sad boi/girl era'?’ Spotify gotchu!’’

Spotify doesn’t discriminate. It makes you feel understood that break ups are normal and Sad Indie is cool.

While appreciating your unique individual experiences of breakup, it also gives you an opportunity to connect to others (via curated playlists) who have also been through this rough time.

This allows you to reach Stage 4 - a sense of belonging 🫂

‘‘OK cool… I get it… but what does it mean for me as a founder?’’ 👀

We all know personalisation is important in marketing (Duhh…)

Still, many brands struggle to put this into action beyond “Hi ” at the beginning of an email.

QUESTION : How can you build a deeper connection with your customers- where they feel seen, heard and special? (Beyond just addressing their first name?)

2. To go viral, it needs to be shareable 🌟

Spotify Wrapped is designed to be shared easily- whether that is on Instagram, Meta, X etc.

Users are sharing their Wrapped reports and personalities on social media - flaunt, joke and connect with each other.

But why are users sharing (without any incentive?)

#1 Spotify taps into the human desire for social validation and reciprocity 🔀 

Are you stoked that you are TOP 1% fan of Charli XCX? 🤯

Well I guess, it is time to spill the tea and shout to the world!

You may want to connect with your peeps who share the same fandom as you!

Maybe Charli will take notice ;)

Desire for social validation+ FOMO = Increased Virality

3.To go hyper-viral with the most ROI, it needs to obsessed and raved about, without $$$ to buy attention 📈

‘‘Nah, I don’t care about this Spotify Wrapped jazz! It is LAMEE…’’

Are you sure? Well, all your friends are sharing memes… Do you really wanna miss out?

The limited time availability of Wrapped along with the psychological principle of #reciprocity and #influence - further boost organic social sharing.

FOMO expounds on this organic sharing - boosting Spotify ‘s marketing efforts to the roof!

And what is the ROI impact of all this sharing? 📈

Since running this campaigns since 2015, Spotify organically doubled its user acquistion and retention (without heavy $$$ investment)

In 2020, Spotify Wrapped increased app downloads (user acquisition) by 21% .

In 2020, Spotify Wrapped increased user activity and retention exponentially through presenting the Wrapped data on mobile, in-app quizes, personalised playlists and social sharing.

Cool.. what does this mean to me as a founder or marketer? 👀

Don’t chase virality.

Understand what sparks conversations that are full of passion, obsession and curiosity.

We are after all, social creatures who loves sharing without needing paid ads as an incentive -to perform an action. 

A Tribute to Charlie Munger #RIP ✨

I personally love Charlie Munger as he is such an optimistic soul. And I was very upset at his passing last week 28th November 2023.

As a Father of the Inversion theory, Charlie Munger is a bloody legend!

Thank you for your wisdom, Charlie. You will forever be missed 💔

TLDR: TOP 3 Marketing Wins from Spotify Wrapped 🔥

1. To build trust with consumers, embrace their individuality and understand what makes them tick. That is how SPOTIFY nailed its moat.

2. For VIRALITY —> it needs to be user-generated content that is shareable.

3. For HYPER-VIRALITY —> it needs to be a cultural movement- where $$$ is not an incentive anymore.

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