Whether or not you are a Swiftie, you have probably heard about Taylor Swift’s appearance at the Kansas City Chiefs football game on Sept. 24. Within 24 hours, Travis Kelce, the tight end for the Chiefs, has gained over 300,000 Instagram followers, ticket sales have increased by the thousands and Kelce’s jersey has been ranked in the top five best-selling ones. The big question still remains: was this a PR stunt?
When Swift appeared on the TV screen, everyone’s jaw dropped, including players on the Chiefs team such as Patrick Mahomes. The team appeared giddy as Swift was waving at Kelce. All seemed supportive and happy about the new suspected couple’s hard launch.
From a public relations standpoint, Swift and Kelce’s PR teams absolutely killed the execution of her appearance. Kelce and Swift have major successes in both of their fields. Kelce has won Super Bowls LIV and LVII with the team, recording a touchdown reception in both wins, and Swift has made over $300 million for her iconic Era’s Tour and has generated over $100 million on her Era’s Tour movie. Why would you not take the power duo and couple them off?
They each have vastly different target audiences. Swift’s target audience has no gender, but her fans are typically five to 35. There is no age limit to her music. This is a huge strength for Swift. She is a timeless classic. I remember listening to her music when I was eight years old, and she’s even more relevant now than she was back then. She never goes out of style.
On the other hand, Kelce’s target audience is football fans, more specifically Chiefs fans. These people are more than likely from Missouri or surrounding areas, with a heavily male fanbase and many women as well, ranging from ten to 60 years old. Similarly, there is no age limit on football. By having Swift show up at Kelce’s game, football has now increased its target audience to Swifties, an audience that may not have been interested before.
Just by Swift showing her face at Kelce’s game, ticket sales for the Chiefs have tripled. Along with that staggering fact, Kelce’s merchandise has had a 400 percent increase in sales just within 24 hours of Swift’s appearance. There has been a 20 percent increase in website searches for Taylor Swift on StubHub as well. Spotify has issued a press release stating New Heights, a podcast by Kelce and his brother, Jason Kelce, has increased in streaming. “After Sunday’s game, searches for “Travis Kelce” increased by more than 1,300 percent on Spotify, in comparison to Monday, September 18.”
After the game, people were tweeting about how successful Kelce has been recently with his football career, and how it all ties back to Swift. This sparked some controversy among Kelce fans, but you can’t argue with the facts- Swift is powerful. The iconic couple was seen leaving the game on Sept. 28 holding hands. Although this was more than likely a PR stunt, the couple is cute together. Kelce and Swift fans alike seem enchanted by this couple.
