You probably didn’t expect me to write a Marketing post about Taylor Swift. I was planning to post something different this month, but I thought that topic could wait.
A disclaimer: I’m not a Swiftie. However, with the continuous coverage of her latest album, it’s almost impossible to avoid her name. Whilst reading a news article discussing her album with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, something she said caught my attention when discussing the negative reactions to the album, “If it’s the first week of my album release and you are saying either my name or my album title, you’re helping.”
What she says is pretty much the key point of mental availability — she benefits from having her name or the album title fresh in everybody’s mind. If fifteen years ago you asked strangers to name a popular female artist they listened to, many would probably mention Beyoncé or Adele. Perhaps a few would mention Taylor Swift. If you ask the same question now, Taylor Swift would likely dominate. I’d predict fewer people would mention Adele since she hasn’t really done much marketing or promotion beyond her Las Vegas residency.
This is why marketing is vital when sustaining and building a brand.
The activities Taylor Swift has done for the album launch – the surprise release, movie parties, talk-show appearances and interviews – are all very much aligned to building her mental availability, whether you listen to her music or not. In the music industry, Taylor Swift is a big brand with the resources to support her continuous and wide-reaching marketing activities. For an upcoming artist with an album to promote, it’s unlikely they would have the money or access for popular talk-shows or podcasts. However, the rule is still the same — for any musicians to survive, their albums will need to be marketed so potential listeners would give them a try. Of the millions of albums in Apple Music or Spotify, I’m sure there are many mind-blowingly great ones – but they remain largely unknown except to few music fanatics (i.e., heavy category buyers). At least in the good old days when stores like Borders, HMV, or Tower Records were around, we could also discover unfamiliar artists if the album cover caught our attention, or if the the album was featured in-store.
It’s a misconception that the principles covered in How Brands Grow only apply to big brands. Whilst the laws and the principles certainly help big brands to remain big and continue growing, they also provide great guidance for small brands to grow and avoid activities that go against the grain — by understanding law-like principles such as Double Jeopardy and Duplication of Purchase, and by keeping penetration as their north star.
Back to Taylor Swift’s album. For a megastar like Swift, she could simply announce the album release without any promotion or advertising. It’s the same reason why it’s vital for big brands like Coca-Cola, Apple, Snickers to keep advertising. They need to continuously inform whoever is in the market for their product or service that they are still around – and still very relevant to their category needs.
Just as Spotify and Apple Music are full of brilliant, undiscovered albums and musicians, there are many great products in supermarkets, stores, and outlets that could have achieved great heights — if only more consumers knew about them. For product launches, it’s not just the first week that matters. Consumers need to know about them three months, six months, and even two years after release — to capture anyone with category needs when they are ready to purchase.
That’s what marketing does.