The ask given to us was to create an in-app follow-up to Wrapped, something that would kick off the year and put a unique Spotify spin on the New Year's tradition of reflection and predictions. We were also tasked with activating Gen Z users, who, we've noticed, are eager to participate in memes and filters that provide them with a shareable and comparable framework in which to describe themselves. Inspired by the creative potential of what an inverse Wrapped could be and Gen Z’s interest in self-documentation, we created Playlist in a Bottle, a musical time capsule which focuses on the future and allows users to tell us — and the world — about themselves, all through music.

Playlist in a Bottle is a musical time capsule that invites users to create a self-reflective playlist at the very start of the new year. Unlike with normal playlist creation on platform, this special one gets "locked away," completely undetectable and unplayable, until Spotify resurfaces it exactly 12 months later.

With guided prompts as specific and personal as adding a song that reminds you of your favorite person, a song you want to hear live, or one that you hope to kiss someone to, the experience enables users to record not only their current music taste but also their current inner lives: the thoughts, desires, and hopes that so often can only express themselves through song.

When the playlist is finally returned to the user at the same time the following year, it's so much more than a playlist; it's a curated and nostalgic snapshot of who the user was.

While the experience was open to all users, we were tasked with activating Gen Z users specifically. As seen across social media, Gen Z has a heightened interest in filter and questionnaires that allow them to share more about themselves as well as provides them with a framework in which to analyze, define, and process their own ever-shifting identities.

As Gen Z gets older and wrestles with the ephemerality of time, they're searching for ways to tangibly record and document their lives, demonstrated by an increased proliferation of journaling videos and an interest in older technologies like digital cameras and camcorders.

We paired this truth about the way young people share about themselves online with a key insight about our Gen Z listeners on Spotify: when surveyed, Gen Z preferred to listen to their own playlists over our curated Editorial Playlists. Their listening data backs this up.

While Playlist in a Bottle has a global reach (available in 40 countries and 28 different languages), it is only accessible within the Spotify app for a limited-time each January. This means that a user has to wait a full calendar year to listen to the playlist they created and make a new capsule for the following year. By opening up new bottle-playlist creation at the very same time the previous year's bottle is returned, Playlist in a Bottle creates a new cyclical New Year's tradition outside the pressure of "resolutions" and allows for simultaneous reflection and projection, like a journal or scrapbook that you can never lose. With Playlist in a Bottle, time is measured by how long a song has stuck around, growth is expressed in the shifting of genres and the appearance of new artist names, and memories are always just a play away.

As part of the Playlist in a Bottle campaign, over 20 million capsules were created by Spotify listeners. It generated 3 billion media impressions, and 34+ mentions on social media. The campaign had a global reach, extending across 40 different countries in 28 different languages. We successfully boosted brand sentiment and perception of Spotify as a brand that is dedicated to surprising, delighting, and understanding its users.