Opinion
Don’t Swiftly dismiss excessive fandom
Initiative young gun Kate O’Loughlin - strategy manager at Rufus - uses the launch of Taylor Swift’s new album to offer marketers some good outtakes.
Unless you live under a rock or completely disconnected from any source of entertainment news, you’ve probably seen or heard about the latest Taylor Swift album, Midnights.
If reading that first sentence made you eyeroll, yawn or worse audibly ‘psh’ then you are at risk of undercooking your marketing.
It’s easy to think that pop music is lame. Afterall, the genre has been largely advocated for by teenagers. From NSYNC to One Direction– most fan communities that surround pop sensations start between the ages of 13 and 16. Operative word being start.
Kids grow up. They become powerful. They become influential. Because of this bunch of ‘teens’, Swift’s Midnights became Spotify’s most streamed album in history. EVER.
- Swift now holds 4 of the 5 biggest debuts for a female artist ever
- Midnights got 186M streams in a day, compared to Beyonce’s Renaissance and BLACKPINK’s Born Pink which achieved 174M and 171M streams in a week respectively
- Her song featuring Lana Del Rey is the biggest female collab debut in Spotify history with 15.03M streams, beating out Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande’s Rain On Me which had 6.7M streams.
Choosing to ignore her is at your own detriment.
So, what do you need to know? What did she do so well? Below are three hot takes to keep you out of Trouble (excuse the many Taylorisms).
- Curiosity doesn’t kill the cat, it feeds it
No, this has nothing to do with the fact Swift loves cats, although who wouldn’t with two adorable kittens with iconic namesakes like hers, ily Olivia (Benson) and Meredith (Gray). Rather, it’s Swift’s unpredictable launch strategy for Midnights that showcases the power of curiosity.
A new release format from Swift – one where she gave very little away. No single. No pre-album video. No track names at launch. Her increased mystery and different-than-normal release cadence sent fans into a full FBI-like content-heavy investigation to figure out what the heck the album was about.
Fans uploaded hours of theories as to, once names were released, what tracks could be about…
- “I heard Lavendar Haze is about her queer experience”
- “Bejeweled links to her diamond VMAs outfit which is similar to the Rep era so it must be a song from 2018!”
- “Karma is apparently a song from the album she was meant to put out before she was forced to release the Reputation album in 2017 off the back off her Kimye feud which was shown in a scene in The Man video clip”
…as well as the vibe of the album. Would it be more Lover? Or 1989?
Mystery breeds speculation. Speculation breeds conversation. Conversation breeds anticipation.
Giving fans, in our case consumers, the chance to investigate and problem solve within their community will keep them hooked. At the end of the day, people don’t need to be right, they just want to connect with likeminded people.
- Pop music creates pop culture
I mean it is literally in the name, but far too often we forget it. I’ll be the first to say I spent 2006-2019 as a closeted Swiftie for fear of judgement. However, as marketers, even if pop music isn’t your favourite you cannot ignore the chokehold it has on society.
While you would think the majority of Australian’s would be researching Labour’s first budget post-election, as of 25/10 ‘Taylor Swift’ was outperforming ‘Jim Chalmers’ on Google trends in Australia by 19 to 1. Despite being a country known for their political memes and humour (see: Scotty from Marketing), it’s Swift that holds the conversation.
Afterall, what starts with the fans…
Can, and should, end with brands…
By choosing to dismiss the power of an artist like Swift means you’re depleting the relevance of your brand. It’s literally costing you to ignore her.
- Fandoms are forever
If you thought Swifites could rival the AFP’s detective work pre-launch, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
The critical analysis of her lyrics by her fans is creating everlasting and widespread buzz. In other words, never underestimate the power of a retention strategy.
Swift is literally breaking the typical marketing theory by creating a fan-centric album that as a result has generated disproportionate share of attention. She knew and trusted the Swifties to create enough hype so that people outside of the ‘category’ would be drawn in.
She not only does this through cryptic lyrics, but also through purposefully making music videos nonsensical. Through absurdity she starts a conversation.
As a result, fans will continue to discuss Midnights beyond the album’s launch. Iterating ways to keep fans coming back through creative intrigue will pay off in the long term, as she has proven.
And just one final comment, showing up in these moments is better than missing out. It doesn’t require an overcommitment of spend, resource or a nerd-like love for the artist. There are more tactical opportunities than there were Swift fan theories. From releasing a lavender scented product (or just a PR stunt around one) to launching an NPD at midnight with a TS-like countdown, there are easy tactical opportunities that brands of any size can embrace.
In summary, you need to give a sh*t about Taylor Swift. As an artist who previously refused to allow her music to be uploaded to Spotify for ethical reasons, she has now literally dominated its charts.
So – go listen to Midnights. Go stalk the Twitter threads. Go read the sub-Reddits. But most importantly, don’t ever dismiss the power of a grown-up teenage fandom. Trust me, you’ll never Shake It Off.
Kate O’Loughlin, strategy manager, Rufus
