Taylor Swift will be one of the most famous artists in 2024. She has come out with several albums and has quite the dating history and collaboration history, but think about this; a loud projection from fans after seeing Taylor come out on stage and screaming her name or even crying tears of happiness. Or think about this: the roar from the crowd when Travis Kelce scores a touchdown in a football game. The relationship between these two is far bigger than a love story, they have become a societal phenomenon. Both are largely visible in today's popular culture, but these two are influential people in the world. The relationship of these two is impactful and by looking at the two as a collaboration you can see how immensely impacted their reach is. It is evident that Taylor has had many collaborations and we will do a deep dive into the significant ones benefiting her album and pop ups we've seen from her this year.
Significance of the Relationship
These numbers should the gratitude of the relationship between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce:
- Taylor Swift has added $331.5 million in brand value for the Chiefs and the NFL (Apex Marketing Group).
- Regular-season games saw a 9% increase in female viewers (Nielsen).
- The Chiefs vs. Bills game, which Swift attended, set a record with 50.393 million viewers (CBS Sports).
- NFL viewership increased by 7% to 17.9 million per game, the highest since 2015 (Nielsen).
- The Chiefs gained 200,000 followers, and Kelce gained 1.3 million followers on social media in just four days (UPI).
- Kelce’s jersey sales went up by 400% (Fanatics).
- Chiefs home games saw a 235% increase in daily sales on StubHub (StubHub).
The numbers outlined above evidently display the engagement from loyal fan bases, additionally, this relationship is not just built a desired income, but it shows the development of social media platforms growing and the sales of jerseys. Therefore, their following bases emphasize the connectivity the fans truly feel.
The Power of Strategic Partnerships
A strategic partnership reveals benefits for both parties, it is within these partnerships that the love and support from fans can grow or can become negatively impacted and dissolve even a little for some fans. Majority of the time the collaboration is impressive and the fan base positively reacts. Thus, we see collaboration often and they typically are promoting something. Essentially a strategic partnership to build brand awareness and build a sense of connectivity within fans or people you want to become fans, building a stronger and larger customer loyalty.
Furthermore, TikTok as a platform has assisted Ms Taylor promote her new album. Although, many artists have had a difficult time with TikTok, Taylor’s music came off the app and then came back. Which does not happen for very many artist as it is a distribution issue. However, with Taylor, there is a licensing dispute that has not been closed with UMG.
Additionally, iHeartRadio dedicated a couple weeks to a contest where Taylor's new music was aired for 13 days and then the winner received two tickets to her concert The Tortured Poets Department and as well someone else won a guitar signed by her. More so, Spoify also celebrated Taylor, they did so by curating a library that had a three day life span that was art themed. They even gave away two floor tickets to the winners of the contest.
She utilizes collaborations to show her personality and make people feel close to her. As well, Taylor’s work with global brands like Apple and Coca-Cola displays her thought process and strong oriented skills. These partnerships helped Apple Music library and streaming features super easy to access, but provided fans with a relatable, memorable and effective attitude towards her music and her. More so, with Coca-Cola they helped her to sell herself authentically, by showing her individualistic confidence and empowering genuinity. This truly shows her ability to leverage herself in the industry and stay strong.
Extensive Usage of Digital Platforms
Taylor’s usage of digital platforms serves her extremely well. She curates albums and teases them online through social media which then develops furthers into more engagement. She easily and kindly engages with fans and utilizes her reach to build suspense and excitement. She is able to maintain the excitement and hype around her by interacting with her fans online and utilizing her platforms to keep fans at a state of anticipation, she does this by dropping hints about upcoming projects. This essentially creates a sense of community for her fans as they come together in order to analyze all the projects and the dropped hints to find the true message.
Additionally, TikTok, Twitter and Instagram are all platforms where she interacts with fans. She is known for her question and answer segments, live streams and providing personal updates. She uplifts herself in this form as it increases levels of love and reliability for her fans. As well, this implies she utilizes her platforms for a digital strategy to market her upcoming album. The usage of the platforms to give away free tickets and early access to tickets grows and maintains her following because people are getting something out of being a part of her following base, or the chance is too good to pass up and not follow her for.
Furthermore, Taylor uses her position and reach to speak out on issues of societal and political aspects. She outlines her support and love for the rights of individuals in the LGBTQ+ community. She never stands by anyone who employs discrimination and gives money to charities that support the same causes as her. Politically speaking, Taylor also uses her reach to encourage people to vote and support the same political mindset as herself. She helped people who supported gender equality and the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals. Additionally, many young people voted this year and it is seen in the documentary she did called Miss Americana that she encouraged people to follow the democratic process in America at that time. She has supported many programs, like COVID-19 pandemic relief, funding public schools in New York City and makes donations often.
Use of Visuals
Taylor is extremely creative and this is seen through her story telling. Whether it is through music videos, short films or even films from her concerts,. This brings her closer to her supporters and fans. She is known very well for her music videos, they are typically detailed, she brings in other celebrities and she often wins awards. For instance, she has earned the Video of the Year award for both "All Too Well: The Short Film" and "Anti-Hero." Additionally, her creative concert film for the Eras Tour profitably helped her make over $200 million. These visual initiatives grow her fan base and showcase more of her personality so fans can feel closer to her. Fans feel more connected and like they understand her, these implications highly affect her and very positively.
Use of Intellectual Property
Taylor made one of the most unique decisions when she decided to re-record the entirety of her albums. This specific move gave her control over her music again and also brought her closer to the Swift community that she worked so hard to create. This one move alone gave her the leverage to not only tell her story again, but to take back her career as her own and developmentally take over her accounts in business mode. Being the true boss woman that she is.
