The Marketing Bestie Podcast with zoeunlimited - the predictable DOWNFALL(??!) of taylor swift

Episode Date: November 6, 2025

Having a digital personal brand is a cheat code to life 💡so I made a FREE 7-day branding course + (🎁)challenge for you. LIMITED SPOTS: https://tapx.it/unlimitedyou-challenge✍🏻FREE EMAIL LI...ST https://tapx.it/stanzoeunlimitedHow is a *small mistake in branding, going to cost Taylor Swift’s $1.6 billion brand?* A case study on digital marketing, branding, and business growth from a Gen Z perspective👉🏻Install Pie for free https://pie.org/zoeunlimitedBlock ads and earn rewards with Pie today.✍🏻EXTENDED episodes & marketing insights https://tapx.it/zoeunlimitedsubstack👉🏻CHOOSE future topics https://tapthe.link/WDLnjLJy1 Join me as an editor of the unlimited squad!! 💜https://forms.gle/dzGQxnW6y4ws7dfX6Subscribe to learn how to build a brand.Learn & Grow with me.💖 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoeunlimited/💜 TikTok: http://www.tiktok.com/@zoeunlimited🖤 Listen on Apple & Spotify: http://apple.co/zoeunlimited https://open.spotify.com/show/0ZReedpR6Bf1kvHeKBuWY1🪭 All my outfits https://www.shopltk.com/explore/zoeunlimited👩🏻‍💻 LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/zoeunlimited🛒 Essentials https://www.amazon.com/shop/zoeunlimited📧 Business inquiries: zoeunlimited.official@gmail.com👉use code ZOEUNLIMITED for 10% off ALL travels on Klook https://t.ly/aA76T//🕙Timestamps: 0:00 Intro6:11 Era 1 10:37 Era 213:41 Era 317:36 Era 422:23 warning 125:46 warning 228:44 warning 331:35 Branding SOS

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Starting point is 00:00:32 The Devil Wears Prada 2. He's the movie event 20 years in the making. Honestly, can't with the secrets anymore, so I think we just should tell her. Will you two please spit it out already? This Friday, be the first to experience it only in theaters. In light of the recent scandal, I'm here to restore your credibility. Oh, because we're a team now? That's a nice story.
Starting point is 00:00:54 The Devil Wears Prada 2 in Theaters Friday. Money can buy you pretty. can buy you fame, but money can't buy you brand. How is a small mistake in branding going to cost Taylor Swift's $1.6 billion brand? Taylor Swift is a pick-me and doesn't actually care about anyone other than herself is overrated. She is using them for greed. A cash grab is a capitalist queen putting her fans into debt. I think they're great. I became the person Everyone wanted me to be. If there was one person who saved the universe in a past life, it must be Taylor Swift.
Starting point is 00:02:08 Even if you lived under a volcano, you know her. Casually generates $10 billion economic impact through one Eros tour. This is everything I bought for the Eres tour. It is said that if Taylor Swift cancels a show, it would literally damage the economy of a city. The world's richest female artists surpassing Madonna, Rihanna, Beyonce, 14 Grammys, 40 American Music Awards, 39 Billboard Music Awards, 30 MTV Awards, I could go on. Just 95 billion streams, no big deal.
Starting point is 00:02:36 283 million Instagram followers, also no big deal. Data all the hot male celebrities you know has a private jet, lives in not just one, but 8 mega million homes. Dominated music for 17 years. And looks like a Victoria's Secret model with just her legs worth $40 million. Look up, look up! Look up! But somehow, Taylor, look up!
Starting point is 00:02:59 But somehow, even the most perfect image backed by billions of dollars can crumble if the magic of marketing principles don't just get used, but abused. Who do you think is the most overrated music artist? This is going to be a bit controversial. Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift is a fascist. I agree with you. Good. As your marketing best, e, who graduated top 1% UCLA business economics with a background in marketing. We're going to explore how a $1.6 billion brand can still
Starting point is 00:03:29 fail you even if you have hot girl privilege lucky girl syndrome and massive talent when a brand faces the danger of being outdated thus no longer authentic Taylor Swift is not the innocent superstar darling you think she is now why is this even relevant to you other than the fact that you contributed to the 10 billion dollar economy of the era store here is part of my hall though for 120 bucks all of my Taylor Swift holiday collection items came in or personally got served a cookie by Ms. Taylor Swift herself. Well, you may see yourself one way, but how does your dream college, dream job, dream boyfriend see you? That's the importance of brand and yes, you have one.
Starting point is 00:04:22 And I'm creating this series to analyze pop culture girl icons from a marketing perspective because of the power of influence they have over a generation of young girls. And I think it's so important to be be aware and reflective of the people who are shaping our culture. The knowledge in this episode will help you down your career, no matter if you want to be in music or not. So be sure to take notes on the four key successful marketing factors as well as the three branding missteps.
Starting point is 00:05:00 This is it! Now don't get me wrong, Taylor Swift is a true icon, who is not only a highly resilient, disciplined, and talented artists, but also a genius marketing. But even the Titanic took 2 hours and 40 minutes to sink. Every small branding misstep will lead to cracks that make this mega successful culture shifting brand plateau and eventually sink. If adjustments are made ASAP. So stay tuned for the branding SOS in the end. But guess how you can help yourself today?
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Starting point is 00:06:41 Thus, before we even touch on the three branding missteps, we need to first understand how the F does someone build a brand, let alone a billion dollar brand from scratch. We're like, sorry, was I loud in my own house that I bought with the songs that I wrote about my own life? Well, let's take a tour in four eras and break down the four main success marketing factors of the one and only Taylor Swift, starting with the first era. Country Sweetheart. Taylor Allison Swift had a dream of becoming a country music artist in Nashville since an early age. At just 11, she traveled to Nashville with her mother to submit demo tapes to record labels of her Dolly Parton and Dixie Checks karaoke covers and was rejected by all the labels. They were sweet to her and they took her demo and nothing happened.
Starting point is 00:07:33 But no worries, sometimes success too early is actually a curse. This gave her the time to focus on songwriting. I would write every single day after school. It was a job. And her original song in a Mabelene compilation CD for when she was modeling, knocked on the first right door. 13-year-old Taylor soon became the youngest artist signed by Sony and ATV Tree Music Publishing. But the future did not seem promising.
Starting point is 00:08:01 Country music at the time was branded with old white men. And here's the teenage girl trying to break the market. But as if she suddenly stepped to Lady Luck's good. her debut album Taylor Swift peaked number five on Billboard on which is spent 157 weeks, the longest stay on the chart by any release in the US in the 2000s decade. This was genius marketing, although unintentional. Taylor Swift actually tapped into a previously unknown market. Teenage girls who listen to country music. In this unoccupied niche, she has zero competition. With the hard work and Eight years she already put into practicing songwriting at just 19, Taylor Swift was ready to be
Starting point is 00:08:47 fearlessly famous. This was the moment that a non-country music listener, aka elementary school Zoe, discovered the magic of Taylor Swift. Her single love story was the perfect rom-com musical that every little girl could fantasize. No doubt, Fearless was the best-selling album of 2009 in the US, with 11 weeks at Billboard number one. Before we talk about the Konya incident that happened the very same year, let's break down the first success factor that will bite her back, as you'll see in the end. Relatability.
Starting point is 00:09:24 I have double-jointed elbows, so... Oh, man. Yeah, they're weird. She found a snack. It wasn't the one I wanted. Stop, you can't cry. That's not supposed to be what you're doing. Since the very start, Taylor Swift crafted a relatable brand.
Starting point is 00:09:46 What do you do for fun? Um, sometimes I like to spend a lot of time building popsicles to castles by myself sometimes. With songs like, You Belong With Me, showing her as the awkward, nerdy girl who didn't get picked or fit in, capturing the awkwardness almost every girl has felt at some point in their lives. Before all the pick-meat allegations, this was received as genuine and vulnerable. Okay. When I sell my business, I want the best tax and investment advice. I want to help my kids and I want to give back to the community. Ooh, then it's the vacation of a lifetime. I wonder if my out of office has a forever setting. An IG Private Wealth advisor creates the clarity you need with plans that harmonize your business, your family, and your dreams.
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Starting point is 00:11:57 gave Taylor's version of the love story fantasies a sense of relatability that fans can live vicariously through. At the stage, the Taylor Swift brand is very much about adolescent fantasies and innocence. Her personal brand was just a girl with a guitar, so pure with her love for country music that makes people want to support her. All the more, young girls see her as a pretty big sister. But her personal life remained very private, not much revealed about dating, and nothing expressed about her political beliefs. It's my right to vote, but it's not my right to tell other people what to do.
Starting point is 00:12:36 Right there, right there, sister. Come on! Thus, when such a sweet, unproblematic young girl, receives her first VMA award in the most undignified way through Kongy West. Joe Taylor, I'm really happy for you, I'm let you finish. But Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time. Even Obama called Kongy out. He's a jackass.
Starting point is 00:12:57 But this began the transformation of a young and helpless country sweetheart to the next world-dominating a girl. Hence the second era of a pop princess. Starting right to the 1989, There's now been a shift in style from musical to the second marketing factor of visual brand. From the music point of view, the eclectic styles of pop and rock such as Brit Rock, dub step, and dance pop was new and fresh to the brand. The guitar country girl seems to be tuned out by the louder beats of
Starting point is 00:13:29 We're Never Ever Getting Back Together, I knew you were trouble and 22. Again, multiple Billboard number ones, Grammys MTV, and it perfectly timed the demand shift in the market. All the girlies who loves Love Story are now a little more grown up and are entering their rebellious and party girl faces. Needless to say, my middle school year is being the years that radio was still commonly used as a medium to play music. Wherever you went, there was Taylor Swift. And this omnipresence was enhanced by her new and about to be staple visual brand. Red, the name and color of her album, and this dress I purposely wore for the Taylor Swift video,
Starting point is 00:14:08 Keep the back too. Red became the iconic shade of her lips, mentioned from many, many issues of the Teen Vogue I read growing up and the color of her tour outfits. It's so loud, so hard to miss, and so Taylor Swift. And the moment she claimed this color to be her brand visual color, she was set on the route to become an icon, whose brand pops into people's minds whenever they get a visual cue.
Starting point is 00:14:33 And in her case, the color bright red everywhere. the color of an it girl, the color of brand endorsers like Coca-Cola or the red cats. And this was also the time that the fashion and beauty world began paying more attention to Taylor Swift, often called best dressed and highlighted at different carpet events. The visual brand of Taylor Swift, tall blonde with a bold red lip, began to be more and more elevated with brand endorsements. Beauty giant cover girl with the cover girl to all the fashion labels dying to dress her. From Ralph Lauren to Louis Vuitton to Victoria's Secret, duh.
Starting point is 00:15:08 When you start to have people copy your lips, your outfits, to your eye makeup, you know you're onto the throne of a knit girl. Taylor Swift's iconic cat's eye was the makeup look for over five years. Along with her being known to own cats, extended her visual brand further to yet another common day object. Cats! We're just like how Sabrina Carpenter's espresso primed you to think of her saw an espresso whenever you see an everyday coffee,
Starting point is 00:15:33 Tears Swiss brand empire built the association between her and cats. With the priming further reinforced on her Instagram, this Times cover, her music videos, and her lyrics like, Draw the Cats Eye, sharp enough to kill a man. Speaking of which, this a girl era became a time that she began to be more public about her personal relationships, which began her reputation of a serial dater. That leads to her third success marketing factor that also led to her her first ever branding crisis.
Starting point is 00:16:07 Associations. Thus, we now enter the third era. Hate era. Before we talk about the almost inescapable era that every mega successful artist faces, hate and cancellation, we must take a closer look at a crucial success factor, but also a ticking time bomb.
Starting point is 00:16:26 Associations. First, being an it girl was not enough. Already the icon of a massive young female audience, Taylor Swift and her team knew the importance of associations. Thus, she built a marvel of eight girls. From her besties, Selena Gomez, to Lord, to Zendaya, to supermodels like Harley Claus, Gigi, Sydney Crawford, Cara Delavine.
Starting point is 00:16:48 The list is so long. Just watch the badblood music video and you'll understand. It's like the prototype of Charlie X-AXS-360, but also infused with the alleged drama of her feud with Katie Perry. Nevertheless, the combined influence of Taylor Swift's so-called squad covers probably all of the age 12 to 35 female demo in Western media. Where out of all her eight-girl associations, there must at least be one person you like. Thus, gaining more likeability score for Taylor Swift through associations.
Starting point is 00:17:18 In addition, the associations with the people who she dated became a hot topic. From Joe Jonas to Taylor Lautner, to John Mayer, to Harry Styles as the list goes on. Guess who all these hot shots cater to? That's right. Also young female audiences. Many other artists also have their dating lives put under the spotlight, but never to the scale of Taylor Swift. To one point, it became overpowering for her brand and will bite her back.
Starting point is 00:17:45 I just wanted to show the legs, because as I was telling you ahead of time, you're gonna walk home with more than maybe just a trophy tonight. I think lots of men. I'm not gonna walk home with any men tonight. No one says that about Ed Sharon. No one says it about Bruno Mars. They're all writing songs about their exes, their current girlfriends, their love life,
Starting point is 00:18:00 and no one raises a red flag there. And if there was one person she will always be tied to without a choice, however, is Mr. Kanye West. Ever since the 2009 VMA, Bad blood has been drawn indeed. And while initially the internet sided with Taylor as she was a young, innocent country music girl, when a star climbs too high and jealousy, unwanted attention accumulate, she becomes the flash in target for the next cancellation.
Starting point is 00:18:28 TLDR on the whole Kanye-Taylor song beef. Kanye sang some derogatory lyrics in an explicit song about Taylor Swift saying he made her famous while Kim Kardashian called Taylor Swift a snake and plain victim because she allegedly approved the lyrics in a leaked phone call. Details are messy. This is a marketing deep dive. We're not here to discuss drama. Although drama was inevitably part of Taylor Swift's new brand. The fake victim label crumbled. The relatable sweet, sweet all-American it girl image and hate began to flood in. This ultimately stems from the psychological premise of the social comparison theory.
Starting point is 00:19:13 That explains how people evaluate themselves by comparing themselves to others. Because celebrities are often objectified and only seen through the lens of their highlight moments that in no way can an average American compare themselves to without feeling less adequate about themselves. Thus, when a public figure faces a downfall, It brings somewhat of a comfort to many people that those at the top can suffer too, aka Shotden Ford. And because Taylor Swift climbed so high, the backlash was worse than ever.
Starting point is 00:19:44 She was now seen as a pick-me girl who victimizes herself and is an opportunist. And the internet was filled with her snake memes. It just feels like it's more than music now at this point. She disappeared completely for a whole year. Nobody physically saw me for a year. And that was what I thought they wanted. And this was where the true marketing genius of her brand began. With the fourth comeback era, whenever an artist experiences the worst of the worst nightmares,
Starting point is 00:20:16 such as the cancellation of their carefully crafted brand built over 10 years, there really isn't much else to fear. I always have to bring up everything that could go sideway, or everything we need to expect. Number one, president can come after you. Yeah, fuck that. And this is a blessing in disguise for new creative directions. Let's see how Taylor Swift played this to her advantage.
Starting point is 00:20:40 Starting with turning the hate into source material and organic marketing. As her reputation album, compared to the Sweet Girl Love Story brand, was filled with much darker and aggressive visual and music style, such as Look What You Made Me Do. The imagery of snakes representing the hate she received appear over and over again in the video, in her outfits to even a giant snake in her tour set that casually made her $266 million on ticket sales alone. Not including merch and additional album sales.
Starting point is 00:21:12 The genius of Taylor Swift is that she knew how to play the media to her own advantage. She's already done it in the past, where her negative reputation as a serial dateer became the source material for a dramatized version of that story in blank space and other music. The media have had a really wonderful fixation on painting me as like the psycho serial dateer girl. It's been awesome. Like if you want to play this way, like we can play this way. Which drives more controversy, hence more attention, hence more sales. It's all marketing, babe. And after this hiatus due to massive online hate,
Starting point is 00:21:49 when the worst possible thing already happened, then what's more to be scared of? Hence, Taylor Swift removed the last bit of the agreeable, non-trouble-causing country girl, and became vocal of what she stood for. Her political believes her support for gay rights and more, which she stays silent for the longest time, due to seeing how her idols, the Dixie Chicks, were cancelled before for this very reason. But this actually helped her gain greater support and greater connection
Starting point is 00:22:19 with the fans who align with her values. It gave me a limit and I went, and I went for it and was so crazy! And luckily for her, due to the timing of the political landscape, It was the majority of her fans. But one lesson she really took to heart from her hate era is that her initial factor for success, relatability, or perhaps the lack thereof, during her rapid rise to massive success,
Starting point is 00:22:41 contributed to the downfall of her reputation. And Taylor Swift is incredibly smart. Although she might no longer be a 19-year-old country music girl, the Miss Americana documentary shares an incredibly vulnerable side of her and her struggles behind the somewhat romanticized image, of a perfect American pop idol. I looked like my tummy was too big or like someone said that I looked pregnant or something and that'll just trigger me to just starve a little bit.
Starting point is 00:23:08 Just stop eating. Because if you're thin enough, then you don't have that ass that everybody wants. But if you have enough weight on you to have an ass, then your stomach isn't flat enough. It's all just fucking impossible. Which builds up her biggest card plate yet in rebuilding her brand. Factor four, parisocial relationship. We're Swifties. We're gonna freak out if we hear Taylor Swift in public.
Starting point is 00:23:30 We're Swifties. We're gonna tell you if it's Taylor's version or not. We're Swifties. We're gonna stay up until 3 a.m. after every release, just in case she releases more songs. We're Swifties. We're gonna clap. We're swifties. We're gonna spend our entire life savings on Erez Tour tickets in March. We're swifties. We're gonna freak out every time we get a notification from Taylor Swift or Taylor Nation. Where as a celebrity, a billion dollar status, Taylor Swift still cultivated an image of a friendly big sister that
Starting point is 00:23:57 could be your friend. I'm here at Target buying my city and there are all these people who are buying it too, which is cool. Who else at her level invites fans over to her private home to bake cookies? Hands out friendship bracelets at concerts sends gifts and handwritten notes to fans that all made headlines. And the question remains, is this all genuine or just a calculated marketing move to sell more. Here is part of my hall bill for 120 bucks. All of my Taylor Swift holiday collection items came up.
Starting point is 00:24:35 Thus, we are finally ready to talk about the three branding warnings. That could be the cracks that lead to the drowning of the seemingly invisible Titanic of a successful brand. Starting with the first potential branding misstep. Parassocial relationships. Square knows that in hospitality, efficiency is everything. That's why their system lets you take payments. Track sales, handle inventory, manage staff, send invoices, and keep up with finances all in one place.
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Starting point is 00:25:51 owns 8 mega million mansions, and has the world at the tip of her hands, is quite genius. Her listeners aren't drinking champagne, eating caviar, or taking a casual loop on a private jet to visit their boyfriend on a Tuesday afternoon. I got it. Oh no!
Starting point is 00:26:08 No! Not a mistake! They're either in school or working to pay rent. Yet somehow they like... Excuse me, someone will probably die or kill for Taylor Swift. Go on, go! Sorry. Because she cultivated this deep connection with her fans.
Starting point is 00:26:25 As one Swifty may say, quote, Taylor's the reason I exist. She's my blood and my soul and everything good in my life. She's the person I think about every day, and it's not a weird parisocial thing. She's just my hero in every way possible. To help you understand how it's not just this one person, but millions and millions of people,
Starting point is 00:26:45 Let me also share this comment with you. Quote, Taylor brought my cousin in her tour bus after her concert once. To this day, her mom and her are trying so hard to get Taylor to remember them because they think they're old friends. That is the power of a parisocial, relatable brand, a brand worth more than $1.6 billion. It's not just the music you're listening to or buying. It's your own story you're purchasing,
Starting point is 00:27:12 a chance for your BFF to feel the love you have for them. It's not just a singer you're supporting. It's the best friend you believe you're destined to me because she is your soulmate. And other lucky people have been picked to pay cookies at her house, received handwritten notes and have all these privileges. So why not you? That is a power of parisocial relationship. And it is powerful yet dangerous to both ends of the relationship.
Starting point is 00:27:38 That could lead to the very downfall of this $1.6 billion brand. Because the magic of this relationship depends on two, elements. First, fans need to believe that there is hope that out of several hundred million people, Miss Americana Taylor Swift will pluck them out of the crowd and give them special treatment. That's 0.000000000-035% if you just account for her Instagram friends. So when fans stop believing in the special idealized relationship with their Idol, they also stopped buying these affordable tour tickets between $700 to $500 or spend $200 or more for a free TTPD mug and Tumblr. And there has been so many physical, digital versions like ma'am.
Starting point is 00:28:31 This is also why K-pop groups, with fans that will probably break the loss for and spend all their life savings on, can't tour any longer once they're past their peak. Second, relatability. EO. Yield times. Different from the untouchable, flawless, aspirational brand of Beyonce, Taylor Swift has built an even stronger and more lucrative brand of being your best friend. Which makes people invested in her personal life more and hard to dislike her. You cannot hate what you relate in yourself.
Starting point is 00:29:07 But this also comes with a caveat. This branding direction lasted for 17 years and accompanied her, through different eras. But she's a billionaire and a star. Not the 19 year old girl with a guitar. I don't even understand logistics of a 13 minute flight. You have to dump like a million gallons of CO2 just to go to the grocery store.
Starting point is 00:29:28 Probably only a handful of people can actually relate to her as a person, not just her brand, her persona. She used her private jet to go 28 miles. She's starting a school student over the fact that he's speaking about her private jet usage. So if this brand of relatability gets overused, it will come across as fake and even manipulative. And love could turn into hate really quickly.
Starting point is 00:29:56 Like I said, parasycial relationship could harm people from both ends. As we've seen, the removal of boundaries made Taylor Swift the target of fans feeling entitled to your privacy. Where anytime she's out anywhere, fans fled to catch her, local police have to be dispatched, and it's a scene. serious safety hazard. For any human to have sanity, we need to preserve a level of respect and freedom in our social environment. Yet going to a random whole foods without being stopped is now a luxury that Taylor Swift has to let go of while constantly having stalkers and paparazzi's and fearing for her safety. Taylor Swift fans just shut down an entire restaurant. Some also say that Taylor Swift only pretended to be friends with their fans to cash in on the
Starting point is 00:30:43 parissocial relationship. Leading to the gunpins, of a potential sudden downfall anytime soon. She has a fan base that is very young and impressionable. She is using them for greed, for more money, and for more power of that number one spot. I do think it's a little dark to think about everything only from a cash-grabbing perspective. Is it a genius marketing and PR move? Absolutely. Does Taylor Swift truly love her fans?
Starting point is 00:31:12 Maybe? And maybe just not the moments when she remembers that she can't be outside like a normal human. I mean, there's just no way you can tell me she likes this. This has been her life for a decade plus now. It's just like you can't even go to your friend's rehearsal dinner. But is this sustainable from a marketing perspective? No. Just look at all the inactive K-pop groups that once also had just as crazy of a cult-like following.
Starting point is 00:31:38 Which is why we have to talk about potential branding the step three. Fatigue. It is very worth noting the shift in audience demographic. To ignore this will be any. brand's own demise. Being the it girl for almost two decades who captured the millennial and Gen Z fan base, as Taylor Swift matures as an artist, so do her fans. It is inevitable that all fans grow out of her music. If they can no longer relate to the repetitive themes of exes dating to burning out during the
Starting point is 00:32:13 era's tour with $10 billion economic impact, which I have tremendous respect for. It shows how Taylor Swift really has the foundation to a star brand and can just create a whole album on the fly while feeling burned out on tour. But it's not just Teetay feeling burned out. As a highly commercialized personal brand, it is easy for her audiences to burn out as well. Some critics argue that her music and branding, while iconic, have become predictable. Her reliance on personal narratives, ex-boyfriends, and revenge plots could risk feeling overplayed to some listeners. Especially with the demands of the global era's tour, fans may feel
Starting point is 00:32:52 Overwhelmed by ticket prices, merchandise costs, and the constant stream of content. For her to extend the longevity of her brand, she needs to either alter her story brand to cater to more mature audiences, which she has done a phenomenal job in folklore, or cater to a new generation of the newer teenage target audience, which is why it's not too helpful to have negative associations with the new pop girlies, Whether intentionally or unintentionally, with controlled controversies with artists like Billy Elish, Olivia Rodrigo. But unlike the past drama days with Katie Perry and Kongy West, Taylor Swift might no longer be the major dominant influence in the younger Gen Z and alpha demographic.
Starting point is 00:33:36 Thus, these negative associations could actually make her lose out on a huge chunk of the future market. In addition, a career in the spotlight inevitably filled with drama, whether or not as publicity stunts, leaves many small instances of shifts in brand image, such as old fans criticizing her using feminism and womenhood as a shield. Taylor Swift uses feminism to tell people they can't be mean to her instead of using it for its actual purpose. That could lead to another branding crisis, where she's not seen as a girl's girl, but has a brand that depends on the market of girls. Thus, with the inevitable weakening of relatability, the negative aftermath of an unsustainable parasocial relationship,
Starting point is 00:34:18 relationship and fatigue. Without a shift in brand strategy, even a massive brand like Taylor Swift could sink slowly like a giant Titanic but with small cracks. So what is one potential strategy that could prevent this? Usually at this stage of massive success, stars like Beyonce, Rihanna Madonna have pivoted or rather never begun with a relatable brand as the foundation of parasy social relationships, which is why at one point, the overuse of relatability and leverage of parasycial relationships will come across as fake and manipulative, regardless if the intentions are good or sincere. The brand of Taylor Swift has shifted, and she can't continue using the same marketing principles that got her love story country girl brand into the spotlight
Starting point is 00:35:08 for maintaining the brand of a billionaire queen, a pop, that quite frankly is causing her a burnout as well because it is inauthentic. Hence, it is time to transition from relatable to aspirational. Rebalance the supply and demand of access to her, avoid over-commercialization, and heck, reset some boundaries with fans. With the rise of an aspirational brand, it actually breaks down the age boundaries of the relatability strategy,
Starting point is 00:35:37 for she doesn't need to pick a more mature crowd or a younger crowd to create an image that only one can relate to and transcends the audience demographic to people of all ages. Meaning, including the alpha girlies who are going to be the up-and-coming strongest consumers. As well as frankly, old fans who find it hard to relate to a billionaire pop queen. With that, a brand that considers not just the present, but future demand, with the marvelous storytelling abilities of Taylor Swift to craft any world she imagines and clearly embodies the resilience and discipline to push through some of the hardest and loneliest times as an artist
Starting point is 00:36:17 who tries to relate to everyone but is often never truly understood. You shouldn't care so much if you feel misunderstood by a lot of people who don't know you, as long as you feel understood by the people who do know you, people who will show up for you, with people who see you as a human being. But no doubt, Taylor Swift has changed culture for over a day. decade and has the potential to continue doing so. As long as pivots are made about the potential branding missteps. To shift from a brand that is relatable but no longer authentic to her, to a brand that is real to her, regardless if it comes across as unrelatable.
Starting point is 00:36:59 Because authenticity moves hearts. Whether a country music girl or billion dollar pop queen, who at the end of the day is still just human. Let me know if you think Taylor-Swiss brand is sustainable, and comment which celebrity you like being to analyze next through a marketing perspective. This is your marketing bestie, Zoe Unlimited. Episodes are available on all podcast networks, Apple, Spotify, YouTube. Share this episode with someone you love.
Starting point is 00:37:24 I hope you have an amazing, gorgeous day, and I'll see you next week.

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