Taylor Swift's engagement triggers widespread brand social media responses. Brands previously adopted album-inspired color palettes to show cultural awareness, with successful examples and many lazy executions. Brands with high cultural relevance grow six times faster than those with low relevance according to Kantar data. Mass bandwagoning does not guarantee impact; trending responses must align with brand strategy to be effective. Quick tactical content is easy to produce but risks appearing inauthentic if it clashes with brand personality or customer experience. Wit requires truth and relevance; cleverness without fit will not drive long-term growth.
We saw it even a few weeks ago new album with The Life of a Showgirl, orange-ification trend. Brands were chasing the bandwagon with alacrity to align themselves with the popular chanteuse through liberal use of the album artwork's color palette. To be fair, among Swift's distinctive brand assets, color is an easy hook; a simple switch of shade can show you're on the ball as a brand.
The good news is that brands with high cultural relevance grow six times faster than brands with low cultural relevance, according to our data at Kantar. But if everyone's doing the same thing, can it really be moving the needle for every brand? No, to be effective, if you are going to jump feet first on to a bandwagon, it has to connect with your brand strategy.
It reminds me of one of my favorite Dorothy Parker quotes: "There's a hell of a distance between wise-cracking and wit. Wit has truth in it; wise-cracking is simply calisthenics with words." You might have the best wisecracker or nimblest social media manager going, but if what you're doing doesn't fit with your brand personality or customer experience, it will be an unconvincing play and won't drive long-term growth.
Collection
[
|
...
]