In our merchandise era: what can marketers learn from Taylor Swift?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, you’ve probably heard a lot about Taylor Swift.

Currently amid her record-breaking Eras Tour, Swift is making headlines wherever she goes - and for all the right reasons. Her epic 3-hour-long show includes 16 costume changes, 10 acts (‘eras’), and a mid-show standing ovation that’s up to 8-minutes long, making it no surprise that she’s captured the attention of so many. 

And, whilst Cornwall didn’t make the cut as one of the four UK locations Swift visited, she’s certainly still been the topic of conversation around our head office…

…mostly thanks to me.

I take my role as the certified office Swiftie incredibly seriously, making it my personal mission to get the Eras Tour setlist played on the office speaker on repeat. Granted, so far my efforts have been pretty unsuccessful, but it has sparked many conversations amongst the marketing team about precisely what it is about Taylor Swift that gets us all talking. 

Unsurprisingly, a lot of our conversations have centred on branding and merchandise. As proven by my VIP merchandise box and trip to the Eras Tour Wembley last month, meaningful merchandise can help shape fan experiences. If you’re hosting an event and want that same buzz, check out our Festivals and Events brochure for more inspiration. 

What can marketers learn from Taylor Swift?

The importance of getting your branding on point 

To many, the task of incorporating 11 albums across multiple genres of music may seem impossible, but Taylor Swift’s Eras navigated this challenge perfectly thanks to a simple branding technique. The central graphic of the Eras Tour pays homage to each individual album - positioning Swift’s central portrait against a grid of colour-coordinated images of her throughout her career. 

What is remarkable about Swift’s branding is that each Era has its own associated colour, creating her own colour theory. For example, fans know that the colour green refers to her self-titled debut album, whilst white refers to her most recent, The Tortured Poets Department. Swift uses this to her advantage throughout her show, coordinating each musical act with its corresponding colour on an LED light-up bracelet. And, whilst Swift’s use of these colourful bracelets is incredibly clever, it isn’t entirely unique. Other artists, such as Coldplay, have also leveraged light-up bracelets as a simple and effective giveaway to fans that immerse them in the experience and include them as part of the performance.

What’s more, whilst they may be a freebie to concert-goers, the return on investment for these bracelets is second to none. Many fans have been repurposing them as part of keepsake craft projects, or, our personal favourite, going viral for using them as an accessory for their pets.

If you’re considering using LED wristbands for your next event, speak to our global sourcing team.

You can’t skip on forging meaningful connections

Another thing Taylor Swift can teach us is the importance of forming meaningful connections. 
Swift’s personability is one of the many things that makes her stand out as an artist, and she truly makes those who attend her concerts feel valued - whether that’s through gifting the hat she wears on stage to a fan in the audience, or her father walking around the stadium and passing out branded guitar picks to the fans he interacts with.

But, it’s not just the connections between Swift and her fans that make her so special - it’s also the connections she encourages her fans to form with each other. Swift champions the importance of community amongst her fans, both at in-person events and in the digital sphere. 

In terms of fostering a digital community, Swift puts her self-proclaimed Mastermind skill set to good use every time she is set to release a new album or song. She is famed for leaving her fans a trail of hints and clues that they must work together to decode before the new release. One stellar example of this Swiftie teamwork is the 1989 Vault Puzzle - where 33 million puzzles had to be solved in order to release the new song titles for the album. And, in a true testament to the community she’s created, Swift’s fans were able to crack the code in less than 24 hours.

And, when it comes to forging connections between fans at in-person events, Swift is a pro. Friendship bracelets have become a must-have at the Eras Tour, thanks to her 2022 song You’re On Your Own Kid. Thousands of friendship bracelets are traded at her shows every single night, encouraging fans who would usually pass each other by, to stop and chat. This gives her concerts a vibrant, friendly atmosphere that makes people come back time and time again.

“...So make the friendship bracelets, 
Take the moment and taste it
You’ve got no reason to be afraid” 

- Taylor Swift, You’re On Your Own Kid

On top of that, it would be impossible to talk about Swift’s sense of community without talking about what occurs beyond the stadium walls. In every city she’s stopped at along the tour, Swift has been making sizable donations to local food banks, helping them give vital support to the groups who need it most. Whilst the charities have agreed to keep the monetary value of the donations private, officials at St Andrew’s Community Network in Liverpool said the donation is large enough to sustain their efforts for a whole year.

Personalised experiences are unbeatable

The final lesson Taylor Swift has been teaching us throughout the Eras Tour is that nothing beats personalised experiences. Starting from the weeks before the concert, right up to the last half of the show, Swift provides her fans with experiences specifically tailored to them, helping to contribute to their growing excitement around her and her brand.

Swift’s VIP merchandise boxes play a huge role in this- especially in the lead-up to the concert. The boxes, which are fully branded with her classic Eras Tour grid, offer premium fans a selection of limited-edition merchandise that isn’t available anywhere else. They include a mix of meaningful keepsakes such as a decorative ticket, a bespoke enamel pin and a selection of postcards and posters, as well as practical gifts such as a VIP lanyard and a handy tote bag. Boxes were delivered to fan’s homes around two weeks before their show, contributing to their growing excitement about the big day.

Once fans arrive at the show, the personalised experiences continue. Swift ensures that no two Eras experiences are the same, as she makes a conscious effort to incorporate the city she is in into her performance. For example, she opened her Cardiff show by saying “Croeso i daith Eras”, a Welsh greeting that translates to “Welcome to the Eras Tour”, and coordinated her outfit for the 1989 era to match Sweden’s flag during her first performance there.

The rest of her cast join in on this too, with one of her dancers, Kameron Saunders, becoming a fan favourite for ad-libbing local mannerisms into the set. During the spoken part of We Are Never Getting Back Together, he told the audience to “Jog on, lad” and “Eeee, get on your bike” in each of the Liverpool shows respectively, much to the delight of fans.

In the final portion of the show, Swift goes above and beyond to provide her fans with a personalised concert experience. Before her final era, Midnights, Swift performs two songs - one on guitar, one on piano - that are different every single night. She creates unique combinations for each instrument, often mashing up multiple verses from different eras into a single song, played for the first time there and likely never to be played again. For example, for her first performance in Wembley, she sang a mash-up of songs about the city on piano: The Black Dog (from The Tortured Poets Department, rumoured to be about a London pub), Come Back… Be Here (from RED, mentioning the city), and Maroon (from Midnights). Fans wait every night to hear what’s been played that night, making predictions and further strengthening the emotional resonance and sense of community that Swift is so famous for.

Make sure your brand never goes out of style

Ultimately, one of the main things we can learn from Taylor Swift is that when it comes to marketing, you reap what you sow.

Swift makes a conscious effort to give back to her fans, rewarding them for their unwavering support. She engages VIP fans with exclusive merchandise packages and reaches out to those who simply want to soak up the atmosphere of her concert with free giveaways. By constantly tailoring to a variety of different fan profiles, Swift truly creates concert experiences like no other. And, she reaps the rewards from that: in return for the effort she puts in, fans proudly show off their Eras merch, talk about her online, and keep coming back album after album, time and time again. 

If you want to give your event-goers an experience they’ll never forget, get in touch with a member of our team today. Alternatively, you can download our festivals and events brochure for more inspiration.