The media buzz around Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce’s budding relationship is an example of how brands should take advantage of influential relationships.
How it Started
All it took was a concert, a friendship bracelet, and attending a Chief’s football game to make the nation go crazy for the relationship between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. This is an amazing example of the power of an influential couple.
On September 24th when Taylor Swift was captured at a Kansas City Chiefs game cheering on the team’s tight-end, it drew in a whole new target audience to the NFL and Sunday Night Football. Her attendance at the game completely changed the conversation instead of it being about the score, and player statistics, it became about Swift and Kelce’s relationship.
A week later she attended another game, this time with a group of her closest celebrity friends, which her fans made sure they didn’t miss. Female viewership spiked around 35% for that nights game. The NFL has begun to take advantage of that increase in viewership, leveraging the new conversation on Tik Tok and other social media platforms where this new audience typically interacts.
But it wasn’t just the NFL who gained publicity. At the game Swift could be seen wearing New Balance 550’s, and eating Heinz Seemingly Ranch, which caused sales for those items and the conversation around them spike to new heights. Brands such as:
- Heinz
- Dunkin Donuts
- New Balance
- Kid Super
Took advantage of the accidental publicity this new relationship brought, and made their stance known, they were “Traylor” fans. Heinz took a strong advantage to Taylor’s usage of their Seemingly Ranch Sauce and created a social media campaign around it in real-time. Other brands then responded with their own version of “Seemingly Ranch” showing images of their red and white products together to represent the ketchup and ranch that makes up the sauce.
The Influence of the “Power Couple”
We’ve seen the impact of “power couples” before: Brad and Angelina, Kim and Kanye, and even Selena and Justin, but we haven’t seen brands be impacted to this capacity. This type of relationship is a perfect depiction of how social media impacts the digital landscape, trends, moments and conversations.
The key word for marketers is “influence”, and with the rise of “influencers”, the industry has become congested, competitive, and hard to differentiate. Its hard to break through the mayhem of all of the media data that is out there, so for brands, this relationship between Swift and Kelce is a shiny new opportunity to stand out.
Getting Ahead of the Curve
Trend forecasting, and being ahead of the conversational curve is prudent for companies to be able to stay on top of moments. Knowing how to position the branding and messages in real-time can be difficult with how fast trends come and go. Its important for brands to target the moments they want to be a part of, and block the ones they don’t ; detecting trends or moments that resonate with the brand and its image, so that they can get ahead of the conversation and be an early adopter
The Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce relationship is a great example of a media conversation that brands can benefit from. Knowing how to leverage that conversation and knowing where a brand fits is where Brand Mentality comes in.
Learn more about Brand Mentality at https://brandmentality.ai/ and how it can get you ahead of real-time moments.
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