Taylor Swift is everywhere. Whether it’s discussion about her upcoming album The Tortured Poets Department (we even joined in), coverage of her relationship with NFL star Travis Kelce, or tweets about missing out on tickets to the Eras tour, it’s hard to go five minutes without hearing about her, rivalling even the most iconic brands.
In an era where we have more music than ever before at our fingertips, she’s one of those artists who is a bona fide global icon in the same way the likes of Madonna, Michael Jackson, and Britney Spears have been before her.
While Swift is undoubtedly talented, however, one of the biggest reasons for her prolonged success is that she’s expertly built a brand around herself, and one of the most powerful brands in the world at that. She’s great when it comes to branding, from the way she hides ‘Easter eggs’ to her merchandising strategies – here’s what makes her branding so good.
Changing her image from album to album
Swift has had a number of reinventions over the years, changing her image from teen country star to pop princess to cottagecore queen, with plenty in between. While she might lose a few fans along the way from one era to the next, the number of fans she gains far outweighs them – she’s an expert case study in not letting things go stale.
Changing up her image allows her fanbase to remain interested in her, while also broadening her potential fanbase, and post-pandemic she’s been able to surpass even the popularity and cultural ubiquity she boasted in the mid-2010s.
After a difficult couple of years, including being labelled a ‘snake’, she released 2017’s darker and edgier Reputation, and reclaimed the snake as a recurring motif, turning a negative into a positive.
After Reputation, she switched it up again with a light-hearted album about love, 2019’s Lover. Each album she releases will differ from the last in style and aesthetic, but will still be an important part of her overarching brand. She gains fans with each new album, but she has a high degree of brand loyalty, too.
Adding ‘Easter eggs’ into her work
Swift’s brand power has been compared to even the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as has her use of ‘easter eggs’ – hidden messages that fans find and discuss. Even innocuous-looking social media posts can contain hidden messages that could indicate future song titles or tour information, for example.
She told the Washington Post in October 2022, “When I was 15 and putting together my first album, [...] I decided to encode the lyrics with hidden messages using capital letters. That's how it started, and my fans and I have since descended into colour coding, numerology, word searches, elaborate hints, and Easter eggs."
Similarly, the way she announces and promotes new music and tours, and markets her merchandise, goes beyond her rivals, and it’s genius. When she announces a new album, or shares the titles of upcoming songs, on social media, she amasses millions of views and likes. She shares just enough to hook people in, but keeps enough under wraps to prompt fervent speculation and excitement.
Surprising or unconventional brand collaborations
She’s also collaborated with numerous other brands, including those you might not associate with pop stars. From the United Postal Service to Papa John’s (which you can see above) she’s partnered up with some seemingly random brands, but she makes it work.
Other brands she’s worked with include Diet Coke, Apple, and Keds. Not only do these collabs bring her financial benefits in themselves, but they also open her up to a broader potential audience. In 2014, she even became New York City’s global welcome ambassador for tourism – you can’t get much bigger than that.
They might not always be the sorts of brands you'd expect, but for someone like Swift, who wants to appeal to multiple markets from pre-teen pop fans to middle-aged adult contemporary listeners, it's wise for her to broaden out.
Accessibility and intimacy
Being a ‘Swiftie’ forms a key part of many fans’ identities. In much the same way as someone might fiercely sit on one side of the Apple vs Android debate, or be known among friends and relatives for their love for a particular food or drink brand, for many of her fans, being a Swiftie is something that’s a key part of them.
A large part of this is Swift’s accessibility and intimacy. She might be a billionaire and one of the most famous women on the planet, but she also interacts with fans online and in person more than most of her contemporaries, and has even donated money to fans in need.
As a result, her fans can feel close to her in a way we've never felt connected to global megastars. Though her career has exploded over the past decade, she's never lost that girl-next-door vibe.
Going one step further with her merchandise
While it’s common for artists to sell T-shirts and posters alongside their music, Swift goes one step beyond. She released five editions of her 2022 album Midnights on vinyl, with them all forming a clock when you put them together. Then there are matches, dish towels, incense holders, earrings – she’s offered them all as merchandise.
Forbes reported that she made a huge $200 million in merchandise sales from 60 shows in 2023 – she made more money from merch alone than the artist who had the tenth-highest-grossing tour of the year did in actual ticket sales. People want to show their fandom in the clothes they wear and the possessions they own, and Swift knows this all too well (pardon the pun). In the streaming age, artists have a real reliance on merchandise revenue, and Swift is certainly making plenty.
Swift’s personal brand has grown to the point where she’s a billionaire, becoming the first musician to reach the status purely from her music career, rather than other business ventures or investments.
Like all of the biggest artists spanning the history of pop music, has scores of dedicated, die-hard fans. She has lots of casual fans, too, the sort who might pick up a CD or buy a T-shirt. But she also has unrivalled business acumen – and it’s a winning combination.
For how long will Swift’s brand continue to grow? Of course, nothing’s ever certain, but there are no indications that her cultural domination will come to an end any time soon. Not only a talented singer, musician, and performer, she’s a skilled businesswoman with plenty of entrepreneurial nous, and she has to be applauded for the way she’s built up her brand.
We can't all be Taylor Swift, but for more information on branding, here's why branding should be at the centre of your marketing strategy in 2024, and here are the best branding books for more inspiration.
