As the dust settles on the female empowering glitter whirlwind three day extravaganza of Taylor Swift performing in The Aviva there are a number of lessons we can take from her as a global Personal Brand.

YouGov reports that an astonishing 97% of British adults have heard of Taylor Swift. This kind of universal awareness is usually reserved for multi-billion dollar companies like Google or Coca-Cola. She is the top streaming artist on both Spotify and Apple Music and has had 232 songs in the Billboard Hot 100. She is the most liked person on instagram, with 283 million followers and each of her posts averaging 7.8 million likes. She is quite literally groundbreaking with the jumping of her fans at her Eras Show in Seattle creating a 2.3 magnitude earthquake. Seismometers were placed outside the Aviva Stadium to measure seismic activity generated by Swifties during the Friday, Saturday and Sunday night shows with results pending.

18 years ago I first saw the value of global Personal Brands up close when working on PR for artists including Beyonce, Bruce Springsteen & Elton John. The response of people the moment you mention their names is generally one of joy and interest due the Personal Brands they had built for themselves over life long careers. Taylor is up there for many reasons with some of the great singer-songwriters who have built Global Personal Brands.

So how does she do it? Here are some of the key ways Taylor has been building her Global Personal Brand since the release of her debut album in 2006.

⭐️ She Builds Genuine Personal Connections with her Community
Where Our Daniel goes others follow! Daniel O’Donnell has for decades built the foundations of his fan base deeper through his annual Tea Party which he hosts in his mother’s home in Kincasslagh, Co. Donegal. Taking a leaf from his book, Taylor invites fans backstage at the end of her concerts and has opened her home to hundreds of fans for cookies and dancing. This unique closeness to their idol fortifies an unerring sense of belief and love in fans that creates further energy across a whole fanbase. They believe there is a real opportunity for them to have the same closeness with a performer.

⭐️ She Tells Stories
Her Eras are all periods in her life from which she tells the stories of her experiences. During her Dublin Concerts Taylor said her album Folklore was inspired by the ‘storytelling’ of Ireland. Taylor tells stories from start to finish through the songs of each of her albums which capture the female experience at the various stages of life, love and heartbreak which resonate with all women on some level.

⭐️ She is Honest
Her lyrics are often very raw and are easily connected to relationships she has publicly. These immediately hook in her fans and give them an insight into what has been going on in her life. Songs range from featuring her romance with Joe Jonas in 2008 with ‘Last Kiss’ ‘Forever & Always’ and ‘Holy Ground’ being about their relationship and split to her current relationship with Travis Kelce where her song ’The Alchemy’ details their love for one another and how their relationship helps them both thrive. This honesty builds strong connections of trust between her and her fans.

⭐️ She is Relatable
Her writing and performance of the female experience is deeply connecting. The relationships and career struggles she has publicly had which feature in her lyrics focus on the universal emotions she feels around them. This is what makes her fans feel one and the same as her. Breaking down situations to the bare bones of feelings will always win people over.

⭐️ She Leverages Social Media
When Taylor posted in September 2023 on Instagram about registering to vote in the US, in the following hour, traffic on vote.org spiked by more than 1200 percent. Through Social Media she shows an interest in her fans wellbeing and will often like their posts, share fans’ content and respond to their messages. Buiding her community in this way shows she is accessible and really cares for her fans.

⭐️ She places her Weight behind Causes
Taylor’s activism around artists’ rights and fair treatment on global streaming platforms was a landmark moment for artists in the new media landscape. When her masters were sold by her ex-manager, her fightback by re-recording Taylor’s Version showed her resilience and how she will stand up for what is right.
She influenced the mobilising of protesters at BLM Protests across the US in 2020 and through her backing of the Democrats when Trump was on the US Election Trail in the same year she used her platform to back the Democrats and fight for the rights of women and the LGBTQIA+ Communities.
Taylor has been praised for doing more for Food Poverty in the UK while on her 2024 Eras Tour there than the UK Government where she donated to Food Banks in every city she performed. Her donation in Liverpool alone will cover food bills for 11 food banks and eight community kitchens for a year.
However she has in recent months been heavily criticised for her silence on Gaza and wasteful private jet usage, raising questions around what she really stands for.

Through her music, unique connection with her fans and her authenticity, Taylor Swift has created a brand that will stand the test of time. Emotions drive human behaviour, and according to psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, humans often make decisions that defy logic when they are in an emotional state; therefore, if you want to influence people’s decisions, tapping into their emotions is essential.

As for Ireland, the country will feel the Taylor effect long after her departure. For a start The Westbury Hotel where she stayed and The Hacienda Pub where she, her crew and Stevie Nicks enjoyed post show celebrations and are highly likely to be stops for Swifties visiting Ireland going forward. Young fans will have memories imprinted for the rest of their lives of their first ever concert and women will remember how she champions the female experience in all its difficulties and glory.

(Some content taken from Forbes & Stylist Magazine)