How Spotify got the Philippines talking about 2024 Wrapped
Spotify was already a popular streaming platform, and Wrapped a globally recognized cultural happening. Near helped Spotify achieve its goals of making Wrapped feel new and exciting through a storytelling-led KOL campaign in the Philippines.
*KOL = Key Opinion Leaders aka Influencers / Content Creators
Outperformed Spotify Philippines’ other major KOL campaigns in 2024 by 52%.
Spotify is the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service. It is a platform that gets to know its users and further invites them into a limitless journey of audio discovery.
As a trailblazer in the era of online streaming, Spotify is an eclectic hub that makes space for both listeners and creators to explore, interact, and share their love for audio in all its forms.
Spotify PH wraps up 2024 like never before
Wrapped is already a global phenomenon and one of the Philippines’ most anticipated year-end happenings. As its largest campaign of the year, Spotify Philippines faced the challenge of making something as well-known as Wrapped feel even more new in 2024. Their goal was to make 2024 Wrapped a true cultural moment by highlighting the ways their community made the year as unique and exciting as it was.
Spotify tapped Near Creative as their partner agency in making strategic KOL (key opinion leader) collaborations to get people excited, spark fresh conversations, and maximize the campaign’s visibility across platforms.
Near amplifies 2024 Wrapped through real stories
Near homed in on Spotify’s approach of highlighting the people in their community who made 2024 by making storytelling the heart of the KOL strategy. Each execution integrated Wrapped as a key moment in the year to make it apparent that this was not simply a campaign, but a cultural experience that was a personal and natural part of the content.
Storytelling through Instagram and TikTok
Near deployed the KOL campaign on two main platforms: Instagram and TikTok – the former for lifestyle content and the latter for comedic and localized content.
Instagram proved to be an engaging platform for KOLs to showcase their Wrapped results through carousel posts, as the format allowed users to tell a story about their year through their own photos, plus screenshots of their Wrapped.
Featured KOLs: @annecurtissmith, @maja, @thecongtv
If Instagram was a key platform for lifestyle-focused content, TikTok, on the other hand, lent itself more to comedic skit-style videos and rawer content styles.
Featured KOLs: @jun_salarzon, @charlizeruth
Near also had the chance to partner with the biggest names in local showbiz through the 2024 Wrapped campaign, such as Cong TV, Anne Curtis, and Maja Salvador, who shared their Wrapped stories in their own unique ways.
Taking on a Branded Mission
Near also went on a mission – Spotify’s Branded Mission, to be exact. Simply put, this was a TikTok challenge started by Spotify Philippines, in which users could take a custom CapCut template and from there put their own year-end recap video together.
The Near team assisted Spotify by sourcing the CapCut creator and composer of the template audio mix, in addition to partnering with KOLs to invite users to create and share their own 2024 Wrapped recaps through the Branded Mission template. Near also managed strategic boostings to amplify both KOL postings and user-generated content from the challenge.
By streamlining and refining strategies based on insights from Spotify’s Daylist and Kansi KOL campaigns, Near put together a KOL campaign that outperformed these previous campaigns by 52% while also tapping a more curated set of KOLs.
Featured KOLs: @_andiloo, @brentymanalo
Near’s lessons to amp up KOL campaigns
Get the right content format for the right channel. If it works on one platform, doesn’t mean it will work on another platform. Near saw how gamely people engaged with visually appealing carousels on Instagram, while favoring comedic videos on TikTok. Keep audience preferences per channel in mind when collaborating with KOLs.
Simplify calls to action. If a post leads an audience to take too many steps to feed their curiosity, the most likely action they will take is to scroll past. This is why Instagram Stories are an easier place to encourage sharing than other platforms. Don’t make your audience jump through hurdles to accomplish something.
Let KOLs tell their stories. Trust your KOLs’ judgment on applying their content style on their platforms. If you want them to tell a compelling story that integrates your brand seamlessly, you have to let them take the lead on making their unique style shine in the content.
