What your business can learn from Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce

​​Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are the hot item of conversation across America, across pop culture and social media, and across sports fandom. But are they really an item? We’ve only seen her cheering on Travis and the Chiefs from a luxury box in two games. The only time we’ve actually seen them together is when the two were leaving Arrowhead Stadium in Travis’ convertible following the Chiefs 41-10 drubbing of the Chicago Bears. The conversation since then has raged around the question: “Are they or aren’t they dating?”

This past Sunday night my family had our monthly family supper with our daughters and their significant others. As we waited for kickoff of the Chiefs-Jets game on NBC’s Sunday Night Football, my Taylor Swift superfan youngest daughter weighed in.

“I don’t think they’re dating,” she bluntly asserted. “It’s just a big publicity stunt.”

To which I replied, “So what if it is just business? What’s wrong with that?”

Let’s take a TMZ timeout for a moment and take a look at this from a different perspective. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are not just performers in their respective career endeavors…they are two very powerful brands. What if their “publicity stunt”  is a cross-partnership to expose each other to different fan bases to further elevate their individual brands? What’s wrong with that?

Absolutely nothing.
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​National consumer brands partner all the time. Apple has partnered with Mastercard  (Apple Pay) and with Nike (activity trackers) provide value for both consumer bases as well as for the brands themselves. And we don’t ask: Is Apple acquiring Mastercard? Is Apple acquiring Nike? Is this just a big publicity stunt? Nope. Or, maybe we are attracted to doing business with one because we already due business with the other. Or, we just shrug and go on about our lives. Consider the impact of the Taylor-Travis partnership according to Forbes:

• Fanatics reported a 400% increase in Kelce’s jersey sales which put him in the top 5 players in the NFL.
• Kelce’s podcast with his brother Jason (another NFL player), called New Heights, ranked first on Apple’s charts.
• Kelce added 383,000 new followers on his Instagram account.
• Stubhub reported a threefold increase in Chiefs ticket searches.
• The Chiefs sold more tickets in a single season since the start of 2023 season.
• According to Taboola, Swift and Kelce have been dominating the most-read-about entertainment topics: Taylor Swift is the #1 entertainment story and Travis Kelce is #2.

Of note, the first game Swift attended was also the most watched program with females including Woman 18-49 in which Roku TV reported ratings growth of 63%. Females are another group the NFL has been reaching out to. According to a survey conducted last April and reported by Statistica, 24% of the females called themselves avid fans of the NFL, with 42% responding they were not fans at all. By comparison, 51% of males considered themselves avid fans of the NFL with 19% calling themselves not a fan at all.

The partnership has already paid dividends for Travis Kelce and for the NFL. However, Taylor Swift is benefiting too.
The Taylor Swift: The Era Tour concert film will be released in 100+ countries on October 13. Industry analysts project the opening weekend will generate over $100 million in box office. During its Sunday Night Football several promos for the movie aired. Swift’s global concert tour resumes on November 9 in Argentina. Next year, the Eras Tour continues with tour dates in Europe, Asia and Australia, before returning to North America in the fall. During Taylor’s hiatus between tours, she has lost none of her momentum – and could be gaining even more momentum – by virtue of her headline-making partnership with Travis.

Oh, and Capitol One – who Taylor is a spokesperson for – ran ads during the Chiefs-Jets game – which was seen by potentially 29 million people.

If this is a business partnership, it’s a damn good one and smart.

What, then, can your business learn from “Traylor”? Is there a complementary business (or brand) that you can partner with that – in combining forces – elevates both brands and the value you create for each other’s client/consumer base? Can you in an image show the consumer increase their level of curiosity/interest in checking out your product or service from the other “fan base”.

Brand loyalty is still a thing (just as NASCAR has proven) and people will follow a beloved brand…even if it’s something they’ve never tried or had an interest in before due to this simple fact: their beloved brand would never do anything to steer them wrong. This dynamic does not guarantee you new business but it does provide a new opportunity to expand your customer base.
 
If you’re looking for ideas, strategies, and execution on how to do this, I can help. Reach out to me today through my contact tab to schedule a strategy session.