{"id":35641,"date":"2023-11-25T23:09:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-25T23:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=35641"},"modified":"2023-12-17T14:36:10","modified_gmt":"2023-12-17T14:36:10","slug":"5-marketing-lessons-from-the-taylor-swift-and-travis-kelce-romance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/5-marketing-lessons-from-the-taylor-swift-and-travis-kelce-romance\/","title":{"rendered":"5 marketing lessons from the Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce\u00a0romance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Angeline Close Scheinbaum<\/a>, Clemson University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens when you unite the biggest pop star in the world and a two-time Super Bowl champion? A whole lot of excitement, as the romance of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce has shown. But amid all the cheering<\/a>, canoodling and Instagram flirting<\/a>, the situation lends some useful insights into marketing \u2013 and as an expert in sports marketing<\/a>, I know that this is a topic worth focusing on. Here are five lessons the NFL and other experiential marketers can consider to enhance their brands and reputation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) \u201cBlank Space<\/a>\u201d: Embrace audience expansion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCause you know I love the players \u2026 And you love the game!\u201d \u2013 \u201cBlank Space,\u201d 2014<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Great entertainment marketers know how to fill a blank space. And Swift has given the NFL a unique opportunity to expand its appeal to a demographic \u2013 young women \u2013 that may not have been interested in football before. Swifties, as Swift\u2019s fans are known, are eager to see the pop icon embrace being in love. So whenever she visits a stadium to cheer on her new lover, Kansas City Chiefs star tight end Kelce \u2013 which she has done four times in the past two months and may well do again soon<\/a> \u2013 a media frenzy follows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While serious football fans want the focus to stay on football, the NFL is smart to capitalize on this opportunity. After all, Swift is a mega-popular star: She has more charted songs (212), top-10 hits (42) and No. 1 song debuts (five) on the Billboard Top 100<\/a> than any other female musician in history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chiefs remain known for their winning ways and star power, and they\u2019re still drawing \u2013 and satisfying \u2013 their traditional fans. Yet Swift\u2019s presence has brought a more playful tone to the games. The ordinarily serious Chiefs coach Andy Reid has taken to joking<\/a> about the pair (\u201cI set them up\u201d), while memes about Swift having to leave the stadium in a popcorn machine<\/a> are a next-level combination of participatory pop culture, celebrity and sports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Audience expansion is an effective tactic for businesses, as long as marketers don\u2019t alienate old fans by opening up to new ones. And so far, this is paying off for the NFL: Ratings soar<\/a> when Swift attends a game, and Kelce jersey sales<\/a> have also skyrocketed. This new interest in the sport is welcome, especially since NFL television ratings among 18- to 35-year-olds<\/a> had previously shown some declines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Taylor
Taylor Swift cheers from a suite with Travis Kelce\u2019s mother, Donna Kelce, as the Kansas City Chiefs play the Chicago Bears on Sept. 24, 2023. Cooper Neill\/Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

2) \u201cWildest Dreams<\/a>\u201d: Capitalize on the many motivations for fandom<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSay you\u2019ll see me again\/Even if it\u2019s just in your wildest dreams.\u201d \u2013 \u201cWildest Dreams,\u201d 2014<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

An entertainment or sports marketer\u2019s wildest dream is to be able to bring in all sorts of fans and deliver on their personal reasons for being there. That\u2019s why marketers are wise to think about \u201cpsychographics\u201d in addition to demographic appeals. This means that instead of just segmenting audiences by demographic \u2013 such as younger women or college students \u2013 marketers tailor their appeals to lifestyles, interests, activities and the way consumers think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My co-authored research shows that engaged sports fans<\/a> are motivated by psychological desires such as escape and building self-esteem \u2013 everyone wants to be associated with a winner \u2013 as well as social motives such as wanting to strengthen in-group bonds and participate in traditions and rituals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Football is known for intense strategies, masculine bravado and violent hits. So the Swift crossover gives NFL sport marketers an opportunity to attract new fans with different motivations. A good example is when the NFL changed its X (formerly Twitter) bio to \u201cNFL (Taylor\u2019s version)\u201d<\/a> \u2013 a nod to Swiftie in-group identity and humor. New fans who are drawn in by such appeals may become more serious about the sport later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3) \u201cYou Belong With Me<\/a>\u201d: Let consumers feel like they belong<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you could see that I\u2019m the one who understands you, been here all along so, why can\u2019t you see? You belong with me.\u201d \u2013 \u201cYou Belong With Me,\u201d 2008<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to sports, and especially football, some people think that the game isn\u2019t for them. The NFL and the Chiefs now have a unique opportunity to leverage sudden interest from a group of people not known for being football superfans. But to convert them into regular viewers, they\u2019ll need to make sure the newcomers feel a sense of belonging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A subtle example of this sort of outreach happened when the Chiefs used social media to welcome Swift<\/a> \u2013 and by extension, her loyal fans \u2013 to \u201cChiefs Kingdom.\u201d Similarly, the league has made it abundantly clear that Swifties are welcome in the stands<\/a>, even if a small yet loud cohort of NFL fans would rather they stay away<\/a>. This open-mindedness is good for business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4) \u201cLove Story<\/a>\u201d: Leverage human co\u2013branding and appeals to fun and fantasy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll be the prince, and I\u2019ll be the princess\/It\u2019s a love story, baby, just say yes.\u201d \u2013 \u201cLove Story,\u201d 2008<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I study human brands<\/a> \u2013 the people, well known or emerging, who are the subject of marketing, interpersonal or interorganizational communications. In this age of social media, human branding has never been more important. Having a strong personal brand is associated with more endorsements, Google searches, merchandise sales and ticket sales. So Swift and Kelce are reaping the benefits of human co-branding<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What makes these particular human brands so compelling? Many Swifties are invested in Taylor\u2019s romantic life and are cheering for her to find love and one day pick out a white dress. This interest and fantasy takes the form of a parasocial \u2013 or one-sided \u2013 relationship, where one party invests emotional energy and time, while the other person is unaware of the first person\u2019s existence. While these can potentially become harmful, in most cases parasocial interactions<\/a> are a source of escape, fun and fantasy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an era of negative news and doomscrolling, a story that\u2019s fun and entertaining can be powerful. And research in our advertising and branding book shows that sport marketers are eager to capitalize on positive appeals<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a>
A Taylor Swift fan holds a sign in the stands of the Chiefs-Minnesota Vikings game on Oct. 8, 2023. The game was held in Minneapolis, more than a thousand miles from Boston. Stephen Maturen\/Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

5) \u201cExile<\/a>\u201d: Don\u2019t just think locally<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not my homeland anymore\/So what am I defending now?\u201d \u2013 \u201cExile,\u201d 2020<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

A final insight for brands and marketers is to not be constrained by geography. With digital commerce and social media, researchers have become increasingly interested in \u201cfaraway fans\u201d who travel long distances to events. In a recent study about professional cycling fanship in sporting-event sponsorship, my colleagues and I found that sport event attendees that traveled from farther away were more invested<\/a> in the event and more willing to buy merchandise. This has big implications for new fans who may travel to Kansas City to catch a glimpse of Taylor Swift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Swift\/Kelce relationship and the NFL\u2019s highlighting of it is one example of why it is important not to be hemmed in by geography. As one cardboard sign at a recent Chiefs game in Kansas City proclaimed, \u201cI traveled here to see Taylor Swift!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Angeline Close Scheinbaum<\/a>, Dan Duncan Endowed Professor of Sports Marketing.Associate Professor of Marketing, Clemson University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Angeline Close Scheinbaum, Clemson University What happens when you unite the biggest pop star in the world and a two-time Super Bowl champion? A whole lot of excitement, as the romance of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce has shown. But amid all the cheering, canoodling and Instagram flirting, the situation lends some useful insights into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":35642,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[279,277,7],"tags":[310,3337,3688,224,184,305,14881,203,14361,12946],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35641"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35641"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35715,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35641\/revisions\/35715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}