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The Swiftonomics Effect: What can leaders and businesses learn?
According to Forbes Magazine, ‘few personal brands shine as brightly as Taylor Swift’s’. And as someone with a special interest in personal brand, I’ve been determined to follow her example while she’s been in the UK. The pop singer has been Time Magazine's Person of the Year and CNN’s Businessperson of the Year, after all, and I was The Liverpool Echo’s New Comedian of the Year 1997. We’re practically sisters.
The woman can do wrong.
She has a net worth of about $1.1 billion and over half a billion social media followers. Data released by Barclays predicted that her UK Eras shows will provide a £997m uplift for the British economy, with ticketholder spending more than 12 times higher than the average cost of a UK night out (£67).
So, what can we learn from Taylor Swift that could help us build better workplace cultures and brands, whether personal or organisational?
The Swiftonomics effect
I witnessed the effects of Swiftonomics last week when a trip to my hometown of Liverpool coincided with one of her Anfield concerts. I can usually gauge proximity to home by the number of hair curlers on display and the shade of fake tan. But the glamour factor was dialled up to 12. Glitter had clearly rained on Liverpool One. I’ve never seen so many sequins and pink cowboy hats, and I’ve been to Dallas Pride.
The city was transformed into 'Taylor Town'. In terms of cultural significance, I’d not seen anything like it since Stan Boardman opened for Cilla at the Empire.
It got me thinking about how certain artists can transcend their art forms to become something more than musicians, actors, or comedians. They become mags-brands.
Why does Taylor have that effect, and what can we learn from it to apply to the workplace? Here are five lessons from the Taylor School of Business.
Shake it off
Taylor is not scared of trying something new or diversifying, yet her brand has always remained recognisable and familiar. From country to pop to indie folk and alternative, she’s expertly navigated genres throughout her career. This ability to evolve is difficult to master for anyone but Taylor has done it while still managing to still sound familiar. You know the Taylor brand, whether it's delivered via a pop classic like Shake It Off or a duet ballad like Exile. Each change of tempo and each new style is done in a way that respects existing fans and picks up new ones. The lesson here is that in order to evolve, we need to change, but when we do, we need to take people with us and build trust and engagement.
Eyes Open
Taylor has always had a knack for reading the room and gauging the mood. During the pandemic, she managed to perfectly capture the zeitgeist with the surprise release of two indie folk albums, Folklore and Evermore. They were a clear departure from the pop music fans knew her for but perfectly encapsulated the mood of the world.
Folklore went on to become the bestselling album in the U.S. in 2020. Taylor showed that sometimes success is not about giving people what they expect; it’s about giving them what they need. Organisations and leaders should constantly be tuned in to their people's moods and feelings.
Bad Blood
In 2020, Taylor’s former record company, Big Machine, and its owner, Scooter Braun, sold the master rights to her back catalogue. Taylor could have gone down the legal route and thrown fortunes and years at fighting the decision. Instead, she thought laterally and proved herself to be a master problem-solver.
In a move that business leaders have described as ‘genius’, she re-recorded and re-released her early albums, branding each one ‘Taylor’s version’. Making a new recording that’s identical in every respect to an existing recording does not violate the copyright of the older recording as they are two separately copyrighted recordings, even though they may sound the same in every respect.
Having built unshakable brand loyalty, Taylor’s fans were in no doubt as to which versions they preferred to stream. No one gets a smooth ride in life, people. Leaders and organisations distinguish themselves by the way they deal with challenges when they arise, learning from them and bringing everyone with them.
Delicate
Taylor’s authenticity is reflected in her lyrics, which often draw from raw personal experiences and emotions. She is such a successful songwriter because her lyrics are relatable. She wears her vulnerability on her sleeve and sings about things that we can all relate to. “When I felt like an old cardigan under someone’s bed, you put me on and said I was your favourite.” Who can’t love someone who writes a lyric like that?
Her authenticity and vulnerability connect with the audience. In the workplace, authenticity can be a game-changer. When leaders and employees are genuine, they build trust and encourage open communication. A culture where people feel safe to express their true selves is one where innovation and collaboration thrive.
Love story
Taylor has been vocal about artists' rights and has taken a stand against unfair industry practices, showcasing her determination to protect both her own interests and those of fellow musicians. She stands up for what she believes in but doesn’t jump on any random bandwagon for the sake of it.
She is pro-choice, an advocate of gender equality and LGBTQAI+ rights and a vocal critic of racism, white supremacy, police brutality, sexism and homophobia. She aligns her politics with that of her fan base and is a quiet activist, using her voice for good without shouting about it and without asking for recognition.
Within organisations, there can often be a compulsion to automatically hitch up to the bandwagon de jour and then shout about it without any thought. This then comes across as opportunist and inauthentic.
We can learn a lot from Taylor’s thoughtful, caring, and authentic brand. Hooray for Taylor!
Want to get the Taylor effect in your organisation? Get in touch with Doug - doug@laughology.co.uk and he’ll talk you through how we can help.
About the author:
Laughology’s CEO, Stephanie Davies, is one of the UK’s leading voices in happiness and engagement in organisations. She has an unsurpassed reputation for designing and delivering interventions for top-performing teams across a range of sectors and has developed Laughology into the nation’s most talked-about training and development provider. She also has the smallest little fingers of any human being ever and can often be seen walking a cat on a lead in the Surrey village where she lives.
