<\/p>\n
All Taylor Swift had to do was show off some orange, sparkly text on a podcast preview clip, and the brands ran like the wind.<\/p>\n
Swifties far and wide rejoiced when the singer-songwriter herself graced the New Heights<\/em> podcast with her presence, joining hosts and NFL stars Jason and Travis Kelce (the latter of whom Swift is famously dating) to not only make her podcast debut, but to exclusively announce her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl<\/em>. The episode ultimately brought in more than 1.3 million livestream viewers and 13 million views on YouTube in the first 24 hours, per Variety.<\/p>\n The day before the episode officially dropped on August 13, the show posted a short clip showing Swift with a briefcase emblazoned with \u201cT.S.\u201d in orange, glittery font, where she pulled out the new album cover (which was blurred out to keep the suspense high). That\u2019s all it took for brands to get involved on social media, where it suddenly felt like a race to incorporate the new Taylor lore into posts and branding.<\/p>\n Tarte Cosmetics imagined its products front and center on the forthcoming album cover. Dunkin\u2019s already orange logo got the glitter treatment, while McLaren also leaned into its existing orange branding. Wheel of Fortune<\/em> showed off its own showgirl, longtime presenter Vanna White, in various orange outfits from over the years. Petco reminded pet parents that cats can be Swifties, too.<\/p>\n Applebee\u2019s posted a screenshot of a Swift-inspired menu playlist, and Crumbl made a mood board. Instacart took a relatable route, posting as a fan waiting for the podcast drop (and ordering snacks). Reese\u2019s, which is a partner on New Heights, <\/em>turned around a Taylor-coded campaign in 24 hours.<\/p>\n Marketing Brew informs marketing pros of the latest on brand strategy, social media, and ad tech via our weekday newsletter, virtual events, marketing conferences, and digital guides.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Douglas Brundage, CEO and founder of brand studio Kingsland, told us that \u201cbrands are a lot freer with their identities these days,\u201d which can give brand marketers space to react and get in on things like the TS12 hype swiftly.<\/p>\n With that said, just because brands can react quickly to a pop culture moment doesn\u2019t always mean it will have tangible, positive effects.<\/p>\n \u201cFor a while, just the social proof of, \u2018Look, we\u2019re online too, we\u2019ve also reacted to this,\u2019 was all that it took for people to kind of react and [think], \u2018Oh, wow, you\u2019re cool, you get it,\u2019\u201d Brundage said. \u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s really it anymore. I think you should react to social moments or cultural moments when they make sense for your brand.\u201d<\/p>\n Though the barrage of Taylor-related posts may have led to temporary excitement around participating brands, Brundage believes that kind of engagement isn\u2019t really worth much. Instead, he said that when brands take a day or two to think about what they can add to a cultural moment rather than rushing to react, content is more likely to break through the noise.<\/p>\n And even better? Have a tailored game plan for how to interact with big pop culture moments, he advised.<\/p>\n \u201cYou need a playbook about how you handle cultural moments as a brand, and what kind of moments you get involved with, why and how,\u201d Brundage said. \u201cThe \u2018how\u2019 is actually the most important.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nGet marketing news you’ll actually want to read<\/h5>\n