1. Fandoms are a powerful economic force. These activated communities can have a huge impact on sales and businesses. And any business worth their bottom line should understand that the opportunity to leverage a fandom is huge.
2. Anyone who has not yet realized this can see it in action presently with “The Swift Effect,” Taylor Swift’s unbelievable ability to boost sales and engagement… just by showing up. She’s currently dating Kansas City Chiefs tight-end Travis Kelce and there are several players—on and off the field—reaping the benefits.
3. Among the big winners is the NFL, who has tried—often unsuccessfully—to increase their female fanbase. They’ve been panned for “shrink it, pink it,” where they just made male-fitting jerseys smaller…and pink for women, and for trying to woo women with online recipes for “homegating.”
Is there anything/anyone that you are big fan of? Does it or do they influence you in anyway, for instance when purchasing items or doing anything for leisure.?
4. Those efforts may not have paid off, but the fortuitous attendance of Swift at one of Kelce’s games led to 27 million in viewership, the most for a Sunday night game since the last Super Bowl—and much of that spike was due to increased viewership from young women. Her presence also led to a spike in the sales of her beau’s No. 87 jersey—a spike of 400%.
5. Additionally, viewership also hit a new peak, with a 53% increase in female viewers aged 12 to 17, a 34% increase in female viewers above 35, and a 24% increase in female viewers aged 18 to 24, compared to the season-to-date average of Sunday Night Football. Swift’s fans—or Swifties, as they’re called—now seem to be showing up for Kelce as well.
6. This crossover is clearly highly lucrative and with this much scoring happening off the field, it’s worth examining it closely so we can learn how to replicate it. There are three key steps to fanbase cross-pollination: getting the fans, keeping the fans and engaging the fans.
In your opinion, how does anyone famous or manufacturer of anything popular maintain their fanbase?
Find fans “a way in”
7. To lure fans in the first place, we need to give them a way in, something they like and understand. Taylor Swift fans who are new to football didn’t grow up watching football. If they cared about football, they’d already be watching it. What they’ve been needing is a reason to care about football. Pink shirts weren’t going to do that for them, nor were recipes. But Swift’s fans care about Swift and now, Swift cares about football.
8. “[Taylor Swift’s] stature is such that when she does something people follow,” Marcus Collins, professor of marketing at Michigan Ross School of Business, told Yahoo Finance. “She’s influencing a group of people and those people are influencing each other and other people. There’s a network effect that’s at play.”
9. Collins is right about that, and also, his story isn’t the whole story. As Eve Weston, professor of immersive storytelling at Los Angeles Film School puts it, “When men watch football, there are characters—the players—and there is a story—the game. Essentially, it’s a war story.” But Swifties are all about the love story—ever since her hit single by that name. So, when their favorite character shows up on ESPN as the Juliet to Kelce’s Romeo, Swifties are primed to tune in.
