03/12/2025
People don’t buy products. They buy experiences.
It’s one of the most consistent truths in marketing, yet it’s often the first thing brands forget. We talk about features, pricing, specifications and deliverables, but rarely about the emotional contract people enter when they choose a brand. What customers actually look for is belonging. Recognition. A sense that they are part of something larger than the transaction.
Spotify Wrapped is one of the clearest demonstrations of this.
At its core, it’s a data report. A breakdown of listening habits. Spotify Wrapped never markets it as data, it is positioned as identity and self-expression. A cultural event people anticipate, share, compare and turn into a public badge of who they are.
The product is the same: music streaming.
What changes is how Spotify frames the experience. It taps into several powerful psychological drivers:
Belonging
It creates a global conversation where everyone participates at the same time. Millions of people sharing their results makes you feel part of a collective moment.
Recognition
Spotify Wrapped tells users: we see you, we notice what you like. It’s a brand demonstrating that it pays attention.
That alone builds loyalty faster than a discount ever could.
Identity
Wrapped gives people a neat, visually satisfying summary of themselves. Not a playlist, but a personality snapshot. Users share it because it feels true to who they are - or who they want to be seen as.
Social Proof
When millions post their Spotify Wrapped, they indirectly advertise the product itself. Not because Spotify asked, but because the experience is designed to be shared.
Spotify isn’t selling music, they’re selling a feeling of being understood.
They’re selling community - a moment in the year where people come together around the same brand, voluntarily, loudly and proudly.
This is the lesson for every business.
Stop asking, “How do we get people to care about what we sell?”
Start asking, “How do we make people feel something when they engage with us?”
Consumers buy stories, identity, community, status, emotion and belonging.
The product is the entry point - not the value.
When brands understand this, their marketing changes. Their content changes. Their customer relationships change. And, importantly, their growth becomes driven by connection rather than cost-per-click.
Products can be copied. Feelings cannot.
Ready to build connection that goes beyond conversions? Let’s talk.
