Dissecting The Marketing Success Of Taylor Swift

The biggest ticket of the summer: Taylor Swift's sixth concert tour, The Era Tour. The event, which will consist of 52 shows in 20 US cities, will be Swift's second stadium tour and first since 2018 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The tour features a unique approach where Swift not only promotes her latest album, Midnights, but also delves into her nearly 20-year career, performing 44 songs by 10 bands that are conceptually aligned with each of her studio albums. , or "the era".

Stephen Chen, a marketing professor at California State University, sees Swift's latest move differently.

"In marketing, we think of Taylor as a product or a brand because it's in that 'mature' part of the product's life cycle, meaning it's been around for a while," Chen said.

Chen describes product life cycle theory as a theoretical framework used by marketing scientists to explain how a company can successfully manage a product or brand over time.

“The amazing thing about seeing the Eras tour, to me, is that it's an indication that Taylor is really into this product lifecycle, which is a musical arrangement that spans her entire catalog of the Eras tour. Far,” said Chen.

Based on history, it's unusual for a music artist to focus on nostalgia in their day, Chen says, because "greatest hits" tours are typically done by artists at a time in their career when they're reflecting on their past.

"He started as a child star because he had that luxury," Chen said. "He's still relatively young, but he's been in the game for a long time. I think Taylor still has a lot to do."

With a research background in product and service design, Chen teaches a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses in CSUF's College of Business and Economics, including courses in consumer behavior, visual marketing, product design, and services marketing and management. She has

Whether she's teaching millennial MBAs or ZZ students, Swift's recent visit is a great example for Chen to teach her students this semester and teach them product life cycle theory.

"Something like the product life cycle can be dry...so you need those 'sticky' examples that resonate with students," says Chen. You say their name and you see the interest increase a little. They left the relationship between Taylor and the life cycle of the product, and we see it in their eyes. "

Another key to this strategy, Chen says, is that a company must diversify its products or brand over time to reach different customer segments. As an example of a mature brand, Swift has her own variations that appeal to different segments of the market and is tapping all of her releases on her current tour.

The way I see Taylor Swift, it doesn't matter what kind of Taylor Swift fan you are, whether you love the country version of her as a teenager or the more rebellious version of her when she wears red. There's something for you," says Chen. About age and alignment.

Although Chen doesn't plan on seeing Swift's tour this summer at Sophie Stadium, she says she's impressed with her current status and wants to visit to see the experience through an academic lens.

"She has many fans around the world and each of the different consumer segments cut Taylor in their own way," Chen said. "The launch with them was very different. In other words, to me, it's doing exactly what it's supposed to do, whether it's a product or a company."

Analyze to rate all Taylor Swift albums