This week's PR Roundup examines the Taylor Swift effect on brands, how miscommunications at a federal level can cause crisis, and LinkedIn's back-to-school data.
Brands Hop on Taylor Swift’s TS12 Announcement
What happened: Taylor Swift might as well be named a fifth element. Everything that woman touches turns to marketing gold. You have air, fire, earth, water … and then you have Taylor Swift.
Earlier this week the public received a sneak peek of a new media crossover for Swift—the sports podcast. For those who may not know, her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Tracis Kelce, and his brother, retired NFL player-turned-ESPN-commentator Jason Kelce, run a sports/lifestyle podcast called "New Heights." Well, when "New Heights" posted a graphic of the duo with a female silhouette on an orange shimmer background, teasing their next guest, fans (and brands) went wild with speculation.
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Unlikely brands for this conversation jumped right in the comments, including Ruggable, Headspace, Fabletics, Chewy, Panera Bread and the Cleveland Cavaliers among many, many others.
The fun followed early the next day when "New Heights" posted a clip of Swift, teasing her appearance with a new album reveal also on its Instagram page, and the call to action to watch the session on its YouTube channel on Aug. 13 at 7 p.m. ET. The post currently has over 2.1 million likes, and probably an incredible amount of views.
Brands celebrated the announcement with orange-themed posts and lyrical wordplay of Swift’s songs. For example, the Empire State Building posted itself shining in orange light with the caption, “On to the next era.”
And the podcast literally broke YouTube Wednesday night, forcing the site to step in and release more bandwidth for Swifties. As of today, the episode has over 10.5 million views. For reference, the Kelces’ show has three million subscribers.
Communication takeaways: When it's done correctly, brands can win when hopping on the coattails of a cultural moment. A recent Meltwater report confirms this, saying that in the two-day wake of the reveal, brand-led activations generated 2,600 posts—just 1.9% of the TS12 conversation volume—but with a potential audience of 20 million for engagement.
Brands who received the greatest engagement? McLaren, whose “TS12 + 1 day left of shutdown” tweet became the single dominant campaign post; Google, whose confetti and sparkle reaction for Taylor Swift searches became a dominant topic of conversation; and the Empire State Building, as mentioned above.
Rachel Huff, President and Founder, Victoire & Co, stated on LinkedIn that she’s “no Swiftie,” but that “this woman knows a thing or two about how to launch” and that content lessons can be learned here for brands.
“Good luck to any brand that thinks they can recreate the same attention Taylor just did,” Huff says. That said, it’s easy enough to follow the cultural current and join the conversation, which we’ve seen many brand social teams do in response. The strongest examples find a way to tie it back to their own brand, like Dunkin’s “our closets are similar” nod to its signature orange color, or Wella hair color’s “BRB, mixing the perfect copper hair formula for this era.”
Huff also noted that commenting in an appropriate way is part of a larger trend she’s seeing across platforms—brands and executives embracing engagement with others’ posts, not just focusing on their own highly produced content.
“It allows them to be more spontaneous, less polished, and tap into moments as they’re happening,” Huff says.
Mixed Messages from National Guard, Law Enforcement Deployment in D.C.
What happened: This week President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard, FBI, DEA, ICE and Homeland Security forces and took control of the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department, and he described it as an effort to combat crime in the nation’s capital. This happened even as violent crime in D.C. has hit a 30-year low, and overall crime has decreased by 7% from last year, contrary to the President’s claims.
Many district officials and officers seem to have been left in the dark as to what exactly the plans are for the deployment. Multiple sources told NBC News4 Washington that “specific details of the National Guard deployment remained in flux, [and there] was little to no coordination between the White House and local D.C. officials." The mixed messages are proving confusing and a point of contention for residents and stakeholders involved.
Communication takeaways: Edward Segal, a crisis management expert, consultant and author of “The Crisis Casebook: Lessons in Crisis Management from the World’s Leading Brands,” says a situation can quickly become a crisis scenario when conflicting information is presented.
“A best practice when communicating about a crisis is to make sure that everything that is said about it is accurate, credible and up-to-date,” Segal says. “President Donald Trump’s announcement of the temporary takeover of the D.C. police department by the federal government ran counter to that best practice. Keeping [officials] in the dark could compound the crisis and put officials who should be in the know in a bad light and create unnecessary bad feelings.”
Segal offers the top ways for communicators to ensure employee stakeholders receive accurate, clear and timely information:
- Checking and re-checking the facts, figures and other details about a crisis before sharing them with others
- Only citing authoritative and credible sources for that information and telling people the source of that information
- Updating the information as needed to reflect new developments
- Using all available communication channels and methods to distribute that information
“The longer you wait to correct bad information, the more likely it is that people will assume it’s true and [it] will become conventional wisdom,” he says.
LinkedIn Debuts Top Colleges List
What happened: Move over U.S. News and World Report, a top colleges list has emerged for the digital age.
This week LinkedIn News released its inaugural Top Colleges list, identifying the 50 U.S. schools that best set up graduates for long-term success. Exclusive data from LinkedIn fueled the ranking, with editorial looking at career outcomes of alumni, such as job placement rates and advancement into senior-level positions, as well as how many alumni held internships during their in-class years and how many became founders post-grad.
LinkedIn has published lists such as top companies to work for and jobs on the rise in the past, but the company says member feedback following a list of top MBA programs sparked the need for an undergraduate list.
It’s no secret that the cost of college continues to rise, and many are looking for the ROI of attending. And while it’s not a path for everyone, this is a good resource for those looking to invest in higher ed.
The list also breaks down into more finite areas of interest including the top public universities, liberal arts colleges and HBCUs.
And while some traditional big names are on the list—Princeton, Harvard, Duke, Yale—a few surprises popped up, including Bentley University and Babson College.
Communication takeaways: According to Catherine Fisher, LinkedIn Vice President, Global Consumer Communications, data is powerful, but it's the context and storytelling that brings it to life.
Fisher says LinkedIn knew people were thinking differently about college, weighing the investment and wanting to know the ROI. Fisher says the list they provided can help people make informed, career-driven decisions around higher education.
"Top Colleges starts with LinkedIn’s unique insights, but then we translate it into what really matters for people’s futures—job opportunities, career growth and networks."
Fisher also notes that the way people are finding their news and information is changing, so focusing on emerging platforms with content that fits the algorithm or search results can break through the noise and get to the right audience.
"By partnering with outlets that surface high in LLMs like ChatGPT, we’re ensuring that when someone asks, “what’s a good school for landing a job?” they’ll see our data and insights right there in the answer."
Nicole Schuman is Managing Editor at PRNEWS.