Taylor Swift’s PR campaign for her new album was flawless
“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail / It was all my design / ‘Cause I’m a mastermind.”
As a public relations student, I can confidently say that Taylor Swift has never written anything more accurate than these lines.
No, I’m not talking about her past reputation and feuds, I’m talking about her campaign for her newest album.
Even if you aren’t a fan of Taylor Swift, you’ve probably overheard a significant amount of talk about Midnights. Midnights is the latest album release from the artist and became the most-streamed album in a day in Spotify history. The album caused Spotify to crash and is on its way to shattering multiple other records.
You don’t have to like her to agree with me. You can’t deny, however, that she knows how to market herself and her work. After 16 years on the music scene and all of her past successes, she knows what her fans will interact with best. She utilizes her dedicated audience and can start a lively conversation about her art in only a few moves.
How did she make this album her biggest hit yet? It’s simple. She built up intense anticipation, executed her campaign flawlessly and kept the excitement going even after the album’s release.
First of all, no one knew she was working on another album, so they were rightfully shocked by the announcement that came only two months before the release. Swift keeps her fans on their toes so they stay engaged constantly, which is an ingenious tactic.
Taylor Swift also announced Midnights differently than how artists usually reveal their new work, which is another brilliant part of the campaign. Swift knows how she can keep people engaged the entire time before the actual release of her music. She created a mystery for fans to solve instead of just following the tried-and-true outline that most artists implement. She did this by creating and releasing unique teaser videos that each announced a track that would be on the album and were filled with multiple hidden hints. According to Fortune.com, these 13 videos garnered over 83 million views on TikTok alone. People want the answer to mysteries and want to feel validated once they solve a problem, which is something Swift capitalized on. This campaign was meant to keep her audience excited, coming back for more each time she had something else to say.
Swift also kept the campaign going after the release by rewarding her audience. She is notorious for leaving "easter eggs" in every music video and song, enticing her fans and getting them to actively view her work. Fans felt a deeper connection to the artist as they spotted clues and callbacks to past albums and periods of her life. Finally, she released seven more songs that no one knew existed. She basically rewarded her fans with more music because of how loyal they were and how their excitement marketed her album for her.
Basically, all Swift did was get people talking about her and her album in a unique way. Taylor Swift knows her fans and knows that she can let them do the advertising for her by keeping them excited and engaged. The execution of this campaign was perfect and public relations practitioners should take a page out of her book for their next client.
By Ryan Walsh
Ryan Walsh is a native San Diegan and fourth-year undergraduate student at San Diego State University. She is pursuing a bachelor's degree in Public Relations and a minor in Interdisciplinary Studies. She plans to graduate in May of 2023 and hopes to find work at a travel, lifestyle or nonprofit PR agency.