Brand Breakdown: Taylor Swift Sets NFL Records

44 Million

According to Google Trends data, user involvement successful the NFL spiked to astir 44 cardinal searches aft Taylor Swift attended 2 back-to-back Kansas City Chiefs games.

For perspective, the five-year mean is person to 14 cardinal successful the 2nd week of October, typically peaking astatine 28 cardinal searches successful the last week of January earlier the Super Bowl.

In different words, determination were 50% much searches for the NFL that week than determination were 3 weeks earlier the biggest shot lawsuit of 2023.

_{Source: Google Trends}

The record-setting continues

According to Marketing Dive, pistillate viewership of games has skyrocketed. The Chiefs vs Bears crippled was the highest-rated crippled that week for women aged 12 to 49.

Viewership by women aged 18 to 49 roseate 63% compared to the erstwhile Chiefs game. 53% much teenage girls watched Sunday Night Football than past season.

Variety reported that Interest successful Travis Kelce besides exploded. Kelce gained much Instagram followers aft Swift’s televised appearances than helium did aft each 3 Super Bowls helium played in.

Search involvement successful Travis Kelce jerseys concisely surpassed involvement successful Chiefs jerseys, starring to a 400% summation successful income for jerseys bearing his name.

Then, Travis Kelce’s podcast, New Heights, became the astir streamed podcast connected Spotify and Apple and added much than 200,000 subscribers connected YouTube.

There’s nary denying the interaction Talor Swift has had connected the NFL. But is it sustainable?

Capitalizing vs connecting

The NFL and its TV partners person been launching strategies to scope caller audiences for years. They’ve partnered with Nickelodeon to pull younger viewers, planned games successful Germany and the UK to scope planetary audiences, and streamed games connected platforms similar Prime and Peacock to relationship for changing user behavior.

But thing has galvanized attraction and expanded their pistillate assemblage the mode Taylor Swift’s appearances have. So far, the NFL hasn’t fumbled the accidental to support her fans interested. Take the Chiefs vs. Jets game, for example:

• The crippled promo video was acceptable to Taylor’s opus “Welcome to New York”
• Cameras chopped to Taylor Swift sitting successful a container watching the crippled 17 times
• The NFL temporarily changed their TikTok and Instagram bios to notation her

In different words, the NFL is doing everything it tin to intercept Swift’s prima powerfulness — and for bully reason. Swifties are 1 of the largest and astir devoted instrumentality bases with precocious levels of participation.

But is the NFL taking vantage of Swift’s stardom to tribunal her audience? Will Swifties hide shot if Taylor moves on? How tin the NFL person funny caller fans into fandom?

How the NFL tin person Swifties into ace fans

Swift’s beingness triggered a media blitz, boosted Google searches for the NFL higher than Super Bowl levels, and catapulted Travis Kelce into stardom.

But the NFL hasn’t yet tapped into the invaluable semipermanent accidental to scope Swifties (and different caller audiences) who are acceptable for meaningful connections.

$18.6 Billion

Statista reported that the NFL and its 32 teams brought successful $18.6 cardinal successful 2022 done sponsorships, media partnerships, summons sales, and concessions. That’s the powerfulness of cultivating ace fans. Unlike retail brands, the NFL sells experiences that are powered by connection, passion, and unwavering loyalty.

But that level of engagement doesn’t hap overnight. It requires a heavy knowing of user needs to nurture caller audiences. And acknowledgment to Taylor Swift, the NFL has a heavy excavation of imaginable fans to activate.

Swift’s nationalist passionateness for the Kansas City Chiefs has ignited the curiosity of millions of her followers who antecedently weren’t shot fans. But the powerfulness to person them into lifelong fans lies with the NFL.

Swifties aren’t present for the shot — yet

Although determination has been a historical summation successful pistillate viewership crossed the past fewer shot games, galore of those caller assemblage members aren’t watching due to the fact that they emotion football, they’re watching due to the fact that they privation to beryllium a portion of the Taylorverse.

As it turns out, Swifties and shot fans are driven by akin desires.

In her article for Adweek, Christina Garnett explains that Swifties emotion being portion of thing bigger than themselves, and they’re dedicated to supporting an creator who has been determination passim each play of their lives.

Similarly, shot fans are community-oriented, they’re loyal to the end, and they’re consenting to walk wealth to enactment their favourite teams twelvemonth aft year.

It seems similar Swifties are a cleanable acceptable for football. But to guarantee they support coming backmost adjacent if Taylor doesn’t, the NFL indispensable physique a caller benignant of community.

Creating abstraction for caller audiences

By listening to their caller fans, and knowing what accusation they are looking for online, the NFL tin physique the right type of online communities and contented to support their newfound fans engaged and feeling similar portion of the team. 

The halfway elements of a bully reception selling strategy revolve astir the thought of listening to the signals consumers are sending.

By listening, and responding with relevant, utile content, the NFL tin easy conscionable the needs of its new, and existing, audiences with prime contented that people supports, guides and includes consumers on their online journey.

Connecting with caller shot fans

The NFL does an astonishing occupation of keeping ace fans engaged with news, scores, stats, interviews, and merchandise. But what astir caller fans who don’t person a favourite squad oregon mightiness not cognize the quality betwixt a moving backmost and a wide receiver?

New fans mightiness consciousness similar outsiders trying to decode a overseas connection portion watching a shot crippled — particularly if they’re watching with long-time fans. That feeling of exclusion could beryllium capable to support them from converting.

If the NFL wants to physique much authentic relationships with caller fans — whether Swifties, kids, oregon Europeans — it’s captious to marque them consciousness comfortable, included, and welcome. They tin bash that by publishing basal shot 101 contented that explains the crippled to caller audiences successful a highly engaging way.

Terakeet analyzed 24.2 cardinal yearly searches to find retired which brands and publishers are answering basal shot questions like:

• How galore NFL teams are there?
• How agelong is simply a shot game?
• How galore points is simply a touchdown?
• What does a choky extremity do?
• What’s the quality betwixt a moving backmost and a wide receiver?

Although the NFL performed good from a marketplace stock perspective, the marque is losing crushed to publishers that are doing a amended occupation of explaining the crippled to caller audiences.

_{Source: Terakeet}

Publishers similar Wikipedia, Rookie Road, Merriam Webster, and vIQtory Sports each excel astatine connecting with caller audiences asking basal questions astir football.

_Google

In fact, vIQtory Sports has an full learning conception connected its website dedicated to educating caller fans astir football.

^{Source: VIQtory Sports}

This presents a premier accidental for the NFL to leverage its monolithic squad of influential sports personalities and taxable substance experts to link with fans and reply their questions.

The NFL’s MACH-6 playbook

Even better, the NFL tin amplify the contented they make for their ain website to prosecute audiences crossed aggregate selling channels. Let’s look astatine a imaginable play utilizing Terakeet’s Marketing Asset Control Hierarchy (MACH-6).

^{Source: Terakeet}

Customer Personas: Create personas for caller fans that leverage integrated hunt information to recognize their needs arsenic good arsenic the travel they instrumentality from caller fans, to engaged fans, to ace fans.

Website(s): Use the insights to amended the website experience, and physique further websites arsenic needed, to enactment these caller fans and assistance them consciousness similar portion of the team.

Website Content: Create pillar content, specified arsenic blog posts, videos, quizzes, interviews, and interactive tools and games to amended and prosecute fans connected the NFL website and artifact competitors.

Social Media: Share the astir fashionable contented connected societal media successful caller formats designed specifically for each level to triumph the astir attention.

Organic Search: Optimize blog posts to outperform competing websites successful integrated search.

Affiliates & Influencers: Leverage athletes, stars, and influencers to assistance make and beforehand contented done strategical partnerships.

User-Generated Content: Build communities for caller fans to nurture their consciousness of belonging and boost engagement. Make it casual for them to stock their ain experiences arsenic caller fans, big events similar Swiftie Watch Parties, oregon connection tips for hosting tailgating events oregon squad parties.

Not lone would this grow the NFL’s online marketplace share, it would besides prosecute an wholly caller instrumentality base, expediting their travel to go ace fans.