Marketing Wrapped 2024 & Top Strategies for the New Year, According to Spotify's Global Head of Business Marketing

By mid-December, my Instagram provender is overflowing pinch my friends' Spotify Wrapped playlists.

So I started my festive, timely speech pinch Spotify's Head of Global Business Marketing, Grace Kao, pinch an easy one: What's connected her Spotify Wrapped? 

"I decidedly transmission my 12-year-old girl correct now," she told me. "So female powerfulness singers: Chappell Roan, Olivia Rodrigo… Beyoncé, obviously." 

In nan tone of reflection, I springiness you "Marketing Wrapped": Kao's apical trading strategies of 2024, and what to bring into 2025.

Lesson One: Personalization creates connection. 

If Kao had to take a cornerstone of 2024's Marketing Wrapped, she'd take "Connection." 

Which is why Wrapped is specified a beardown trading tactic. It's not astir conscionable personalization — it besides fosters connection.

As Kao told me, "Spotify Wrapped does truthful good because it's personal, but it's besides astir community. All we want to do is stock our Wrapped pinch others. I want to perceive astir your Wrapped because it's a relationship we some share."

While I'll admit my ain Wrapped is somewhat embarrassing (I don't perceive to thing post-2020, truthful my Wrapped is stuck successful a time-loop of Taylor Swift's Folklore… As an aside, I'm bad pinch change), there's thing profoundly gratifying astir seeing each my societal media connections connected nan aforesaid page for once.

While discussing really personalization creates connection, different run sprung to Kao's mind: The caller Coke and Oreo "Bestie Mode" collab, successful which users could person curated Spotify playlists that mixed their fav hits pinch their champion friends’ apical songs. 

"In 2024, we saw group wanting much euphony and much connection, truthful this was a awesome opportunity to bring 2 iconic brands together and do thing nosy that brought worth to our customers." 

Lesson Two: Don't slumber connected podcasts arsenic a lead gen opportunity. 

Gen Zers don't conscionable for illustration listening to podcasts — they for illustration buying from them, too. 

According to one report released successful October of this year, 82% of Gen Z listeners person taken action connected a marque aft proceeding a podcast ad.

This doesn't astonishment Kao. As she puts it, "Gen Z trusts podcasts much than they spot influencers connected societal media correct now." 

This makes consciousness to me. I precocious purchased a Ninja blender because I heard a podcaster successful nan wellness abstraction rave astir it. (I'm besides a notorious shopaholic, though, truthful return note: I require minimal convincing.) 

Kao boils nan reasoning down to authenticity: "I deliberation it's because podcasts are unscripted successful a definite sense. It's for illustration listening to an integrated conversation." 

If you deliberation this trading instruction applies only to B2C, deliberation again: Spotify's 2024 Culture Next study recovered that 1 of nan apical podcast genres for Gen Z is business and technology. 

So successful 2025, Kao's proposal is to thin into podcasts arsenic a lead gen opportunity, particularly if your target assemblage includes Gen Z. 

Lesson Three: Be nan first. 

"Spotify is simply a regular companion passim your life. We're location for your first creation astatine your wedding, your first kiss, your first occupation interview, aliases nan first opus you play successful your caller car," Kao quips. 

"And that first acquisition is what drives marque loyalty." 

She's not wrong. I'm still loyal to Lululemon years aft Alo Yoga, Vuori, and Outdoor Voices deed nan segment arsenic replacement diversion apparel companies. For nary logic different than nan simplest one: I shopped location first. 

"A batch of marque loyalty comes from being first to market. And truthful erstwhile brands deliberation astir 2025, it's important to consider: How tin you beryllium first, aliases astatine slightest portion of a user's first experience?" 

Whether you waste software, collaboration tools, aliases car tires, nan constituent holds: You mightiness not beryllium top-of-mind during someone's first dance, but you can beryllium nan marque they recovered first, and nan 1 they take to instrumentality pinch because of nan small, measurable effect you've had connected their first moments — beryllium it a first trading job, first squad project, aliases first large trading campaign. 

And that's thing to celebrate.