Brand building lessons from a tortured poet.
Take notes because Taylor Swift is teaching a brand building masterclass.
Taylor Swift’s new album dropped today. Or rather two albums dropped today, only 2 hours apart. And with them, a new chapter in her very own brand building masterclass.
Irregardless of your musical tastes, you’d be a fool to overlook the lessons in the brand she’s built. Because she understands that you’re not selling, you’re creating an experience. And when you do that well, the selling takes care of itself.
Not that anyone else is doing it wrong, she’s just doing it so right. Here are my four takeaways.
Look + Feel
Let’s start with the most obvious: every album has its own look and feel. Each album becomes a world unto itself. And every outfit, appearance, photograph, music video, and easter egg reflects a cohesive visual story. It all becomes an extension of the music.
For this release, it’s all monochrome. Moody, low-contrast black and white photos. Black and white outfits. Typewriters. A little gothic and a little throwback. A song titled with an old silent movie star. She does this like no one else — takes an idea and takes it all the way.
2. Pop-Up Installations
Trying to figure out the album ahead of the release becomes its own game. A treasure hunt of sorts. Case in point, the three-day pop up installation in LA. A library where fans can immerse themselves in details and clues about the new album.
What I love about this is the level of knowledge and care it takes to pull something like this off. And again, I don’t care what you think of her music but you should be taking notes.
How often is this level of care shown anywhere in our lives?
Do we put this much work into a gathering or holiday? Do we even know and understand our own work on this deep of level?
If you had to put together an immersive installation around your work, could you pull together this many details? What would it look like? A sad table in the corner of a lonely convention? Or something like the tortured poet library? It goes without saying, but aim for the latter.
And here’s the brutal truth, you might not need better marketing. You might need a deeper, richer brand first. One teeming with care and attention to detail. If you want to run a business, pay for ads. But if you want to build a brand, you have to offer more for people to fall in love with.
3. Surprise Murals
A cryptic (monochrome, of course) mural appeared in Chicago in the days leading up to the album release — featuring only her name and the album and a QR code. That code leads to unlinked YouTube short with a typewriter. It’s a clever way to build anticipation and deepen the experience at the same time.
Sure, her label could have just opted for a bunch of paid social adds to pay for your eyeballs online. And it would probably work…to an extent. But we’re all getting pretty burnt out on being sold to all the time. Which begs the question, why be boring (and lazy) when you can be memorable?
4. My favorite lesson
I get the feeling that Taylor loves creating the experience (and leaving the easter eggs) as much as her fans love discovering it all.
And therein lies my favorite lesson of the whole launch: remember to have fun with your brand.
There is a level of care and authenticity. And that’s what is largely missing everywhere. In the brands we shop from and the ads we see. There’s already so much meaningless garbage out there. Don’t be responsible for adding to it.
Instead focus on creating experiences. Being a breath of fresh air. And in some ways, that’s one of the big benefits of brand building. As you build a brand, work you’re doing today frees up time down the road.
The time you spend on lead generation now becomes the time you devote to creating more fun and value and whimsy and meaning for your audience. Which in turn deepens your brand and your loyalty. Which gives you more time and resources, not to hit cruise control, but to continue to grow and expand the experiences you create and the value you give away.
For more on brands who excel at experiences, check out our YouTube lesson here (featuring SnowPeak, Apple, and Yeti!)