It’s been an eventful week for Spotify. As reported by our sister e-newsletter The Hustle, the corporate introduced a spherical of layoffs simply days after the launch of its annual marketing campaign Spotify Wrapped.
Whereas The Hustle talked concerning the enterprise and worker implications of Spotify’s current layoffs instantly following Wrapped, I’d like to check out this sequence of occasions from a advertising perspective.
The Advertising and marketing Energy of Spotify Wrapped
Wrapped is to Spotify what “All I Need for Christmas Is You” is to Mariah Carey — a certain wager for engagement on the finish of every 12 months.
Because it started in 2016, Spotify Wrapped has given customers an in depth evaluation of their listening habits every year. Whereas Wrapped was initially distributed in e mail format, its reputation exploded when social media sharing was added to the combination.
The thought to show Wrapped outcomes into sharable social media tales was pitched by former Spotify intern Jewel Ham in 2019. Since then, Spotify customers can see their year-end information throughout the platform’s app and simply share listening stats on to their Instagram tales.
In response to Time, 156 million customers engaged with Wrapped in 2022, and it’s estimated that half of Spotify Wrapped customers share their outcomes to their Instagram tales. That’s numerous constructive engagement Spotify can rely on every year.
Not solely has the marketing campaign offered content material alternatives for Spotify customers, however a number of manufacturers have hopped on board creating their variations of Wrapped and meme posts parodying Spotify’s branding.
Spotify launched the 2023 Wrapped outcomes on Wednesday, November 29. Per common, social media feeds have been flooded with Wrapped graphics and parody memes. Nevertheless, only a few days later, the corporate made main bulletins that forged a shadow over the constructive buzz generated by Wrapped.
Then Got here the Layoffs
On December 4, Spotify introduced it was shedding 17% of its workforce, round 1.5k individuals.
This was the platform’s third spherical of layoffs in 2023, following reductions in January and June. After the layoffs have been introduced, mentions of Spotify on social media had a typically detrimental sentiment.
Whereas the tech trade has seen a wave of job cuts this 12 months, the timing of this spherical of layoffs didn’t forged Spotify in a constructive mild for the next causes:
- In Q3, the corporate reported revenue for the primary time in a 12 months, with €32M in working earnings (about $34.6M)
- Staff have been let go instantly after they accomplished work on a significant marketing campaign that had a constructive influence on the corporate
- Staff have been laid off through the vacation season when individuals are likely to have extra monetary obligations
Whereas we all know that Spotify, like every enterprise, is seeking to reduce prices and increase profitability, this sequence of occasions wasn’t a superb look within the court docket of public opinion the place most individuals empathize extra with the wants of workers than corporations.
If Spotify have been to provide its personal Wrapped chronicling firm occasions in 2023, it could yield fascinating outcomes.
