For many, the new year is an opportunity to look back at memories made — the good times, the big wins, maybe some lessons learned. It’s a period of reflection and celebration, and tapping into this sentiment is a great way to create deeper connections with your audience.
With the massive amounts of data brands now have access to, the potential for creating highly personalized and impactful content has never been greater. Video can be a great way for brands to get in on the action. Personalized year-in-review videos help you engage customers with relevant, data-driven content they’ll want to watch and share with friends.
Don’t know where to start? We’ve compiled a list of our top tips for smart personalization when it comes to this popular trend. Whether you’re looking to boost customer engagement or improve customer loyalty, these tips will help you craft year-in-review videos that aren’t just memorable but lead to real results.
What Is a Personalized Year-in-Review Video?
In today’s digital landscape, where so much content is readily available but quickly forgettable, personalized year-in-review videos immediately capture attention. Imagine a video scrapbook that not only summarizes your year but also highlights your favorite moments and achievements. That’s the beauty of a year in review.
Why video? Because it’s fun, immersive and the most popular form of media on the internet today, as seen in the domination of short-form video on social media and even the rise of video podcasts. Now take that dynamic media and add everyone’s favorite topic (themselves) and you’ve got a winning combination.
Personalized recap videos are shareable and engaging. Just take a look at Spotify’s “Wrapped” campaign, which continues to gain traction year after year. (No surprise, given how music influences emotions.)
Launched in 2015 as the “Year in Music” playlist, the inaugural campaign attracted 5 million site visitors. Rebranded as Spotify Wrapped in 2016, the campaign’s popularity quickly soared. By 2022, the campaign grew by 30x with more than 150 million users across 11 markets engaging with it.
Better yet, listeners eagerly share their recaps via Instagram, Facebook and other platforms on a global scale. The hashtag #SpotifyWrapped trends annually on Twitter (X) and has been used in a whopping 13.2 million posts on TikTok. This all effectively serves as organic promotion, significantly amplifying Spotify’s reach and brand presence worldwide.
What makes Spotify Wrapped so engaging? Combined with dynamic data and compelling visuals, viewers are able to relive their memories as they tap through. Happiness, nostalgia, surprise — all of these emotions surrounding a piece of content can quickly make it a hot topic, with users eager to show off and discuss their unique results.
So what if you’re not Spotify?
With today’s innovative technology, it’s quick and easy to produce recap videos like these at scale. Check out the video below from WW (formerly Weight Watchers), who used our Next Generation Video Platform to create their #WWYearinReview.
This dynamic video reminds customers of the journey they’ve taken with the brand. Customers saw the wins they’d earned and could redeem, their top-tracked foods and more. In doing so, it drove retention, social shares and brand advocacy.
While this article focuses on the idea of a year in review, it could just as easily be a season in review, a quarter in review or even 5 years in review.
For instance, a quarterly recap could highlight recent achievements and trends, keeping the audience engaged with more frequent updates. On the other hand, a 5-year review might celebrate significant milestones and transformations, showcasing long-term growth and evolution. Each approach has its purpose, offering a unique insight into your customer’s journey.
Any way you look at it, recap videos wow audiences and support your bottom line — and with the right strategy in place, you can easily create your own. Here’s how you can create a personalized year-in-review video.
Best Practices for a Personalized Recap Video
Creating top-notch content requires a solid strategy, and a year-in-review video is no different. Here are our 7 top tips for creating a memorable video, gathered from years of experience creating personalized recap campaigns for brands around the world.
1. Be Smart About the Data You Use
As with all personalization, it’s important to choose the right data. You can’t throw random data into your video and hope it turns out well. Think about what the customer would want to see and how you can surface that in a way they’ll enjoy.
Start by identifying the key metrics and behaviors that reflect your customers’ interactions with your brand. Aim to highlight the most compelling and positive aspects of their journey. The goal here is to not only enhance the viewing experience but also reinforce the customer’s connection with your brand.
The Financial Times created an insightful look back on the year for their readers. Watch how they interject different personalized data points throughout their 2021 year in review.
Not only is this video fun to watch and incredibly shareable, it subtly reminds the customer why they came to the Financial Times in the first place.
Not every piece of data you have on your customer is one you need to share. Think about what adds value to them. How much money did you spend on your subscription this year? That’s a data point that won’t wow the customer or help them learn something about themselves.
Instead, the Financial Times focuses on stats that offer insight. How often did you visit? What was your favorite topic? These all serve to show the reader the brand cares about their customer experience — so much so they created a video full of relevant data for the customer to enjoy, strengthening the brand-customer relationship well into the new year.
By curating the data thoughtfully, you simultaneously make the content more engaging and demonstrate a commitment to your audience’s interests and preferences. It’s this level of personalization that can turn casual viewers into loyal customers, as you make them feel seen and valued by your brand.
2. Make It Shareable
Thanks to smartphones, for most of us, creating content, whether photos or videos, is second nature. What’s more, we love to share that content with others.
According to a study by the New York Times, one of the core motivations for sharing online is “to define ourselves to others” — and year in reviews perfectly cater to this motivation by allowing people to showcase their personal milestones and interests.
So how should you encourage your customers to share their year in review? Ask them! You can include a clickable share button at the end of your video. Give them a hashtag they can add to their post, as Delta did for their year in review above: #DeltaMedallionLife. (As you might expect, loyalty programs are a perfect fit for year-in-review campaigns.)
Hashtags are also an easy way to track how often your video is shared and let people follow along with related posts. Ubisoft created the hashtag #MyR6Stats for their recent recap video, and shares on social media skyrocketed.
It even let them brag a little, part of the fun of a good recap.
This is really cool, thank you @Rainbow6Game – it almost makes me look good!#MyR6Stats pic.twitter.com/UrxkbewAxx
— 8ounty (@8ounty_Gaming) March 31, 2021
Don’t forget to make sure your video is supported on different platforms as well. The average consumer views content on a multitude of platforms, and your year in review should reflect that for the most optimal sharing experience.
Consider details like orientation (portrait vs. landscape), file type compatibility and resolution. This ensures your content looks great and is easy to consume, regardless of where it’s viewed. For instance, if social media is a likely share channel, offer a vertical video option, which is ideal for smartphones and standard on many social platforms.
By letting viewers share your content, you turn your viewers into brand advocates who can increase brand awareness and send new customers your way.
3. Focus on the Numbers
Numbers are easy to see at a glance — and they pack a punch in your message, meaning they’re perfect for year-in-review videos.
Think about what numbers might be interesting to your customers. Here are some examples we’ve seen from different industries:
- Reward points earned
- Number of classes attended
- Date they became a customer
- Their top score or savings
- Hours spent in an app
Numbers are everywhere in Orangetheory Fitness’s video. The brand kept the spotlight on unique metrics like “splat points” and calories burned, ensuring the Personalized Video was short and sweet as it quantified the viewer’s achievements.
Numbers even influenced the audio choice. With the help of DJ Gazzo, Orangetheory Fitness created a personalized soundtrack to the customer’s workout BPM. It was a creative spin on personalization that made the video even more unique.
Creating hundreds of thousands of unique videos for their members paid off in a big way. During the campaign’s launch week alone, over 45,000 additional classes were booked and the brand achieved a record-high 97% attendance rate. This personalized approach also led to their lowest attrition rate in 5 years and their highest email open rate at the time.
For fitness lovers, a quick video that provided a snapshot of their accomplishments was a perfect gift, letting them look back at the progress they made to motivate themselves for the future. And because the video was essentially a celebration of their achievements, each member felt valued and inspired to kick off the new year with Orangetheory Fitness once again.
4. Feature Dynamic Visuals
Dynamic video technology allows any aspect of a video to be customized. This extends way beyond simple text updates to include the addition of visuals — images, footage — that are specifically tailored to each viewer.
This approach allows you to create a truly one-in-a-million experience where not only the message but also the imagery resonates with a single person. The more unique the video is, the more memorable — and relevant — it will be.
Watch how Epic Games created a visually stunning year in review for every gamer, with each recap catered directly to the viewer’s preferences and gameplay experiences.
They hit the nail on the head — gamers play Fortnite because it’s social and interactive, and this Personalized Video plays to both of those aspects. Gen Z, which comprises 87% of gamers, needs more than just text to pique their interest. The combination of personalized content with stunning visuals was a recipe for success.
Based on the player’s favorite game, the video changed to show scenes from that game. The results? Players loved their recap videos. They shared them across social media platforms with friends across the globe, demonstrating how combining personalized details with equally tailored visuals can drive significant engagement and brand advocacy.
And this wasn’t the first of Fortnite’s successful personalized campaigns, either. For Season 8, Fortnite created millions of season recap videos in 13 languages — in just 2 weeks. It’s what’s possible when you work with a platform that combines quality at scale with ease of use.
5. Include a CTA
Now that you’ve captured your audience’s attention, it’s time to think about what you want them to do next. Depending on what outcome you’re aiming for, including a CTA can be the natural next step in your customer’s journey. Here are some examples:
- Claim Your Offer
- Add to Cart
- Schedule a Call
- Share This Video
When Unibet wanted to create a data-driven campaign focused on player reactivation, they decided to recap all of their player’s stats throughout their membership. They guided their customer in the desired direction with a clear CTA.
The CTA itself, “Claim Your Gift,” gave viewers an incentive to click, driving up conversions for this retention campaign.
Including a compelling CTA is crucial for guiding viewer engagement beyond just watching the video. It directs them towards a specific action that aligns with your business goals, whether that’s making a purchase, booking a consultation or sharing content with their network.
When crafting your CTA, make sure it’s clear, relevant and seamlessly integrated into the viewing experience to maximize the chance of engagement. Also, consider testing different CTAs. Analyzing metrics such as click-through and conversion rates can provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of your CTAs and help optimize future campaigns.
Ultimately, a well-designed and strategically placed CTA can significantly impact the success of your year-in-review video by guiding viewers toward taking the desired action, helping you achieve your targeted results.
Tip: Make your CTA clickable in the video. This way, there’s no middle step to slow users down where they might drop off and not convert.
6. Consider the Timing
Remember how we said a personalized recap video doesn’t necessarily have to summarize the past year? It also doesn’t have to happen at the end of the year.
Personalized year-in-review or recap videos can be adjusted to suit the schedule that makes sense for your industry. Focus on the value the video will bring your customer and when it makes sense to reach out.
For example, recapping a customer’s electricity use over the summer is a great idea if you’re a utilities provider. That’s exactly what National Grid did. With temperatures (and AC bills) on the rise, they took the opportunity to educate customers about their energy consumption last summer.
After showing how many hours of energy customers used and how that compared to neighboring houses, they point out a way for the viewer to save even more electricity with National Grid’s energy efficiency program. This helps customers work toward a lower bill next summer and a more sustainable future.
Other industries can get in on this approach too.
For instance, healthcare providers can send personalized health progress reports according to treatment cycles, highlighting improvements and offering health tips for continued well-being. Meanwhile, educational institutions could send personalized messages based on semester periods, updating students on their academic progress and upcoming opportunities.
By tailoring the timing of your recap videos to align with key moments or milestones relevant to your audience, you not only enhance engagement but also demonstrate proactive customer care and personalized service, strengthening customer loyalty throughout the year.
7. Personalize With UGC
Take your personalization a step further by leveraging user-generated content. A year in review is centered around your customer, so why not allow them to tell their own story?
Let’s go back to the gaming industry. When CCP Games wanted to create a personalized year in review for players, they took their personalization to the next level by letting their audience choose what stats they wanted to showcase.
The 14x amplification on social media and 66% uplift in visits to the EVE Online recruitment page are a testament to the power of user-generated content.
It’s easy to do with the right technology, too. With Interactive Video, customization can be seamlessly integrated within the video player itself. This allows viewers to interact with the content in real time. From selecting the data points they care about to adding details they want included, the power is in their hands.
This level of interactivity not only boosts engagement but also instills a sense of ownership in the content, fueling their enthusiasm to share and deepening their connection with the brand.
Make Your Year in Review Memorable
A year in review is a collage of memories and a memory in and of itself, if done right. A personalized year in review can foster strong, 1:1 relationships between brands and their customers. And with these helpful tips in your back pocket, your video is sure to encompass the year, season — whatever you need — in a fun and effective way.
We’re no stranger to helping brands create year-in-review videos that get results. Our Next Generation Video Platform is easy to use, secure and scalable — and we’ve used it to create dozens of year-in-review campaigns featuring millions of videos. Safe to say, we know a thing or two when it comes to making video magic. Just check out some of our clients’ results:
- 17x user reactivation
- 5x increase in social sharing
- 68% increase in sales
Ready to create a year-in-review video for a campaign that wows your customers? Schedule a demo with one of our experts.
