While Charli XCX’s ‘brat girl summer’ may be having a moment, it’s Taylor Swift who continues to dominate both cultural conversations and the music industry. With three albums released over the last 13 months, being named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year 2023 and a 152-show global tour worth more than $1 billion, you’d be forgiven for thinking Swift’s image and reputation were consistently on top.
But it wasn’t always like this. In 2016, Swift’s career was at a turning point; the hashtag #TaylorSwiftIsOverParty was trending, and the singer retreated out of the public eye as the press tore into her image, relationships and feuds. An escalating dispute with Kim and Kanye West, a looming plagiarism lawsuit, and multiple public breakups, allowed the media to ‘cancel’ Swift as popular opinion began to shift. On her aptly named 2017 album, Reputation, Swift herself proclaimed: “my reputation’s never been worse”. However, following her battle to reclaim ownership of her music, the Miss Americana documentary, and the sell-out success that is the Eras Tour, her reputation now lies in a realm that many businesses and brands could only dream of. Indeed, with the advent of ‘Swiftonomics’ she joins the pantheon of those whose brand has been used to show their economic and social impact – think Big Mac Index but for music. It’s no wonder brand and reputation specialists alike are asking: how can we replicate the success of Taylor’s image?
To emulate her rise, I think businesses should consider four key elements of her publicity blueprint: authenticity, consistency, engagement, and persistence.
Authenticity
On paper the world-famous singer, who has 14 Grammy’s, eight homes, and a net-worth of $1.3 billion, should be utterly unrelatable to her audience. But Swift has always aimed to create a ‘girl next door’ persona – never dressing overly flashily and writing lyrics that her loyal following of Swifties could relate to. This strategy was taken to new heights after her Reputation era.
The 2020 Miss Americana documentary, conceptualised by Swift, who pitched it to Netflix and appointed the production team, was a compilation of carefully curated moments that sought to further humanise the singer. Showing her struggle with an eating disorder, real-time reactions to failures, unfiltered political views and struggles with negative media coverage, the footage gives a real and raw insight into Swift’s hopes, fears, and life off-stage. While the documentary didn’t try to cover up the privilege of the private jets, chauffeured vehicles, and million-dollar homes, the version of Swift that’s presented was something that audiences could connect to and empathise with.
The learning for brands? Keep it real, be honest, and don’t airbrush out your wealth or privilege – just find the right message for the appropriate audience.
Consistency
Despite some controversy and negative media coverage, Swift has been consistent with producing and releasing material. Since 2017, 10 new albums or re-recorded works, including the album, Reputation, have borne her name. This is in stark contrast to fellow artists, who have produced comparatively little material in the same period. Swift’s proactive pipeline, to use the comms terminology, ensured she was keeping fans and media engaged with album drops – the anticipation that precedes them and the hype that follows – guaranteeing her continued relevance.
Additionally, Swift’s latest albums covered a range of genres including synth-pop, electropop, alternative rock, and indie folk, which appealed to a more diverse audience while appeasing her loyal fans. This allowed her to reach a wider group of listeners, growing her base of Swifties.
Her consistency in producing new material and publishing re-recorded works and ‘vault tracks’ allowed her to both grow her audience and maintain her relevance, as social media and journalists followed the highly anticipated releases.
While businesses may not have fans as loyal as the Swifties, there is no substitute for a healthy, regular pipeline of proactive storytelling and campaigning to reach all your audiences.
Engagement
Since returning to the public eye in 2017, Swift has favoured owned channels to manage her narrative. Whether it’s the Era’s Tour itself or her social media channels, which have a combined following of 414 million, the singer has ensured she has ownership of the image she’s presenting and control over her interaction with fans.
For example, in the lead up to the release of The Tortured Poets Department, Swift released behind the scenes teasers, virtual clues for fans, and set up interactive installations for the album across major cities, which all sparked social and media conversation in the lead up to the album’s launch.
Interviews have been given sparingly, with access reserved for trusted glossies and trade titles, like Vogue, Time Magazine, Rolling Stone, and Music Week – always aligning with an album release or career highlight. Notably, the singer hasn’t given a sit-down exclusive interview with a US national since before the release of Reputation.
So, while our KPI’s often focus on the amount of coverage, we could all learn from Swift’s focus on richness of messaging and sentiment. There is a lot to be said for quality over quantity.
Persistence
Finally, Swift didn’t create her water-tight reputation overnight; it took her 7 years of consistent planning and work to change the media narrative.
This same logic goes for businesses. Simply put, if a globally renowned, successful popstar can’t change the views and opinions displayed by the press overnight, brands shouldn’t be expecting a miracle. If a reputational revival is in order, patience and persistence are key – just ask Taylor Swift.
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