The Marketer's Guide to Taylor Swift's Life of a Showgirl Era

Yahoo

a day ago

First there was Barbie Pink, then came Brat Green. Now, with the reveal of Taylor Swift's The Life of a Showgirl cover art, the world is about to turn "TS12 Orange."
The orange-and-turquoise color scheme from the artist's 12th studio album (known among fans-or 'Swifties'-as TS12) isn't slated for release until October 3, but it's already taken over brands' social feeds and promotions.
In the seven days since the announcement, the Empire State Building has been illuminated in orange. On X, McLaren nodded to the similarity between Swift's new aesthetic and its livery shade. Duolingo's owl Duo and the Scrubdaddy Sponge each got a sparkly makeover, too, while other advertisers like Dunkin', Shake Shack, United, and Olipop nodded to the color scheme on Instagram.
Like the bygone hues of Barbie and Charli XCX, the palette is quickly emerging as a new cultural currency for brands, providing them with a shortcut to relevance and buzz without the need for expensive, official tie-ins.
Since Swift debuted her latest project on her partner Travis Kelce's 'New Heights' podcast, brands have published 2,600 related posts on platforms including Instagram and X, according to data from social measurement tool Meltwater. Collectively, these have reached around 20 million people.
With a potential audience of 600 million, there's plenty more room for brands to ride the TS‑12 orange wave.
However, the early winners aren't just rethinking their logos; they're embedding themselves in Swiftie lore to turn what could seem like an attention grab into something more meaningful.
Among them is Panera, which jumped on the TS-12 bandwagon less than a day after it was announced by capitalizing on the star's bread obsession.
After the musician admitted on New Heights that "sourdough has taken over her life," the brand and its agency, 72andSunny New York, came out with "Loaf Story," an all-bread meal with accompanying sweatshirts that read: 'In My Sourdough Era."
Mark Shambura, Panera's chief marketing officer (CMO), said that the bread mention "created the perfect opportunity" for the brand to fold the moment into its "It Just Meals Good" campaign, launched back in April.
"Within 16 hours, we had a curated meal purchasable on our platform and merchandise available to round it out," he told ADWEEK. "It wasn't about the colors of the sweatshirt or the changing of our logo-we had a meaningful story to tell around our product that perfectly met the story that she was talking about on the podcast."
Creating a meal tied to the musician is a part of the "reactive playbook" that 72andSunny New York has been building for Panera since becoming its creative agency of record (AOR) in January, said Peter Hughes, the agency's group creative director.
It recently tapped The Summer I Turned Pretty actor Chris Briney and Las Culturistas podcast host Matt Rogers for social ads showcasing their favorite meals.
Per Panera, "Loaf Story" has earned more than 500 million impressions and over 550,000 organic views in the 72 hours since its launch. The sweatshirts also sold out in under three hours.
"Her audience is clearly eating in our restaurants," said Shambura.
Reese's, the official candy partner of the Kelce brothers' podcast, also playfully leaned into the moment with a 15-second spot created less than 24 hours after Swift's episode aired.
The result, "You Asked For It," linked the brand's signature orange tones to the buzz and promoted a Reese's-Oreo collaboration that has been waiting "in the vault"-a term Swift uses to refer to unreleased material. It was developed with The Martin Agency and Publicis' bespoke Hershey media shop, MiltonOne.
The brief was decided "minutes" after Swift's New Heights episode aired, Vinny Rinaldi, vice president of media and marketing technology at The Hershey Company, told ADWEEK.
The team secured last-minute YouTube mastheads after partnership data showed that's where New Heights overindexes. It also ran on TikTok and Instagram.
The New Heights episode has been viewed on YouTube alone 19 million times and counting, while Reese's content generated more than 500,000 views on TikTok "almost instantly," Rinaldi said. Reese's will measure sales, but the activation was about driving short-term growth, he added.
"What's particularly valuable is longevity," he said. "Swifties have deep brand loyalty and long memories. When you earn their respect by showing a genuine understanding of their culture, that relationship extends well beyond any single campaign."
Miruna Dragomir, CMO at content collaboration platform Planable, said fans will sniff out brands jumping on The Life of a Showgirl hype just to ride the attention wave.
'Successful reactive marketing isn't about jumping on every trend; it's about participating in the right moments," she said. 'Brands that avoid these pitfalls and maintain methodical approaches are creating long-term competitive advantages.'
As brands scramble to post orange content, Swift and her management team, Taylor Nation, have executed a masterclass in fan-led marketing, slowly unveiling elements of her release via fun Easter eggs hidden in live performances, interviews, and social posts.
Taking their cue, CMOs will need to fight hard to earn their spot in the next chapter of Swift lore.
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