Taylor Swift Has Come to Town
Are city-wide branded takeovers the future?
In May of this year, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour touched ground in Stockholm for three shows. It was her first performance in a Nordic country in nearly 15 years, and only her second performance there overall. It had been a long, long time, and since the Stockholm dates were the only ones in that geographical region, it was the primary destination for Icelandic, Finnish, Norwegian, and maybe some Danish fans.
Still, I was surprised to see Stockholm’s official tourist site rebranding the city to “Swiftholm.” May was a big month for Sweden because they also hosted Eurovision Song Contest (ESC). Stockholm wanted to be the host city, but the only venue where the week-long extravaganza could be accommodated had already been booked by Swift (over a year in advance). So in a way, it makes sense that Stockholm felt the need to one up ESC and its host city Malmö.
I thought at the time that this was a sign of what’s to come when it comes to branded skins wrapping up host cities. I didn’t realize how soon I would experience this new reality first-hand when Swiftmania took over Toronto.
As with so much that I talk about, it’s not that it’s new so much as the scale it’s on. If nothing else, when local sports teams do well, the city eagerly jumps on the bandwagon, which I’ve experienced with the Raptors and the Blue Jays. I expect the same is true for other North American cities with home teams.
Besides, brands in general don’t shy from profitable activations and fan service if they can afford it, but it tends to be contained to a degree. Recently,
documented some of the activations for a Seventeen concert in Los Angeles,HYBE was collaborating with numerous premises in and outside of K-Town including restaurants, nightclubs and the Santa Monica Pier. In some of these places, SEVENTEEN branded gifts would be distributed upon purchase. Others, light shows and dedicated party nights and sightings of the official mascot, Bongbongie.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen spatialised meaning-making at this scale and with such company-warranted legitimacy before.
Company-warranted legitimacy is a key phrase, because I don’t know how much of that there has been with the present Swift Toronto takeover. TSHQ1 has a record of taking legal action against fans who were selling handmade unofficial merchandise. I remember the big uproar over this in 2015, but there’s been crackdowns this year as well.
In August, before peak Eras frenzy, I spotted a Swift branded deep-fried cheese curd dish being advertised. It stood out because despite their use of her likeness and the trademarked terms “Lover” and “Taylor’s Version,” I sincerely doubt this was approved by TSHQ.
I don’t believe the glut of food and service industry brand piggybacking that flourished once the Eras tour touched down last week is sanctioned, either. The city has been overrun with branded drinks and menu items, brunches, food tours, trade shows, dedicated pop up lounges, bracelet swaps at multiple locations, and scavenger hunts.
There’s even a ticketed tailgating event set up, but at least they made sure to attach a disclaimer to their event to specify they are “not affiliated with, endorsed by, authorized by, sponsored by, or in any way officially connected with Taylor Swift or any of her respective business entities or their affiliates or subsidiaries, including but not limited to TAS Rights Management, LLC.”
I don’t know if that type of disclaimer will shield them from legal action, but the overwhelming amount of other companies putting their fingers in the pie might do the trick. It’s unfortunate that fans who create merch out of devotion get shut down while businesses get to reap big profits, but it seems par for the course.
It’s expected that businesses will do what they can to increase revenue and visibility. (Remember the Duolingo bird getting in on the Taylor/Joe breakup activities?) But the scale has been massive and unavoidable if you’re in a certain demographic.
I do wonder whether a lot of these activations are resulting in the desired actual participation, or simply delivering online engagement farming and clout. While locals are overwhelmed with branded content in their physical space, the online fandom is vast and insatiable.
That McDonald’s threw their hat in the ring isn’t strange, they have done “collabs” with celebrities fairly frequently, after all. What is odd is that the official account sharing the promotion has so little engagement compared to a fan tweet that noticed the promotion in app. That is the fandom effect: amplifying one of their own because the communal experience of being seen and catered to is so powerful.2
What really caught me off-guard is how the city and related entities jumped on the bandwagon. The city has created a poetry festival inspired by Swift. The Toronto Humane Society is boosting cats with Swift-inspired names. A downtown BIA is hosting a “Swift station fan experience.” Politicians, well, they need to be heard too:
The police, naturally, is highly involved in the event. There have been questions about how much money is being spent, but no numbers will be released until after the tour dates have passed. What we do know is that the London police’s bill amounted to 1.5 million CAD when they serviced their tour dates.
I understand the need for safety measures and increased police presence but closing down the highway seems like overkill, especially in a city that has such intense congestion problems. Allegedly, TSHQ threatened to cancel the London shows if she didn’t receive top security, so it could have been a demand. (Click through to view the video on Instagram.)
There’s even direct involvement in the festivities, decking out police horses in bracelet-necklaces, declaring their favourite albums.
Then there’s the street signs, which really threw me for a loop. I spotted a “Taylor Swift Way” street sign while walking downtown. It turns out, there are 22 signs lining the route from Rogers Centre to City Hall, which is quite a stretch of road.
These signs have already been auctioned off for charity, which is certainly good for the charity in question, but that a city council meeting dedicated time to this stunt when there’s so much the city needs makes me rankle.3
There’s also the relocation of homeless people “to help ensure their safety” which is an interesting spin considering the Rogers Centre is not dormant the rest of the year. The radius around the venue that is allegedly being cleared is frequently congested because of sporting events and other concerts. Is this type of short-term band-aid really that much cheaper than attempting to invest in long term solutions for the homeless population? And what of the coldheartedness of granting these people the privilege of a hotel room for, what, two weeks? Only for them to be kicked back onto the street when the optics aren’t front and centre anymore?
Is it dystopian for a city to rebrand itself for a week or two for a for-profit event (rather than a holiday or local non-profit festival) or am I just a square, now? I have done my share of travelling for concerts and festivals, but part of the fun has always been experiencing the cities for what they are. Not a scrubbed clean version with temporary veneers.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there were many more instances of this brand piggybacking that I missed—and if you know of any, or noticed any in your own town, feel free to share them with me. This feels like a tipping point for city-wide branded takeovers, and since this one is taking place in my backyard, it felt important to document.
HQ is a common suffix in fandom to differentiate between the individual and the actual business entity that works on their behalf, actually running and implementing things.
This should also explain why fans are often targeted directly and tasked with promotional work: they are capable of spreading the word across the fandom. But pulling new people in is not their forte, and where many brands stumble.
The thing is, I could see this type of stunt to be a great move to raise awareness of local talent. It would be a long term investment that would also support tourism and actually spread the wealth throughout the city, as well as contextualizing arts communities, instead of the milquetoast and easy to ignore Walk of Fames.
The "moving the homeless for their safety" thing really smacks of "yeah we cleaned up San Francisco for Xi Jinping."
I lived in Austin during the period when Musk was choosing what city was going to have the dubious privilege of hosting the Cybertruck giga-factory. While it wasn't as intense as this, I remember there being all sorts of local businesses flashing Tesla branding and trying to play into the hype, even if most the population was less than thrilled about the prospect of it. I even recall Tulsa, which was another top contender, painted their landmark Miner statue to resemble Elon Musk. At the time, I saw some tweet that said, "In the future cities will be going into the economic equivalent of gladiatorial combat to flatter billionaires into setting up sweatshops in town", or something to that effect. Hyperbolic? Maybe. But I definitely remember thinking that it was the way of the future. Seems like I wasn't mistaken.