Taylor and Kelce’s romance generated an estimated $331.5 million in brand value for the NFL and Chiefs
Today, the National Football League (NFL) uses artists as a promotional platform until it reaches the Super Bowl. The glamor of celebrities is part of the show put together 58 years ago to satisfy not only American football lovers but also brands willing to pay huge amounts for the most expensive space in the world’s media. The cost of each 30-second insertion went from US$78,000 in 1970 to US$7 million today.
But in the 2023/2024 season, the move went beyond flirting. And all because of the romance between singer Taylor Swift and player Travis Kelce, star of the Kansas City Chiefs. A large part of the audience didn’t support the Chiefs, but rather Taylor’s boyfriend’s team, notes Ivan Martinho, sports marketing professor at ESPM. The match held on February 11, 2024, established the Chiefs as two-time champions in Super Bowl 58, in a dispute against the San Francisco 49ers.
The score, 25 to 22, was decided with just three seconds remaining before the end of overtime, taking the breath away from around 123.7 million viewers tuned in to the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), the event’s official channel in the United States, in addition to from Nickelodeon, Univision, Paramount+ and NFL platforms. ESPN and RedeTV are the broadcasters in Brazil.
But the record increase, of 7% compared to the 115.1 million registered last season, could be even greater. Nielsen projects an audience of 202.4 million, considering people who only watched part of the game, while market consultancy Numerator estimates that 20% of young people supported the Chiefs due to the presence of Taylor Swift in the stadiums.
The singer’s effort to witness the victory held at the Allegiant Stadium, in Las Vegas, Nevada (USA), with a capacity for 65 thousand people, even motivated a creative reaction from the Japanese embassy in the United States, including puns referring to the song titles. of the pop diva.
Taylor performed four shows in Tokyo, on the return of the 2024 season of the world tour The eras tour, which in a three-hour show relives the ten albums of the singer’s career. The presentations took place on the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th of February. Swifties’ concerns about Taylor’s possible absence at the Super Bowl soon surfaced, the day after the last show held in the Japanese capital.
Despite the 12-hour flight and the 17-hour time difference, the embassy can now say (Speak now, one of Taylor’s most famous hits) with confidence that if she leaves Tokyo the night after the show, she should arrive comfortably in Las Vegas. Before the start of the Super Bowl, the diplomatic mission in Washington (USA) joked in a statement. The Swift beef brand, from JBS, couldn’t resist the support and also launched the Swift loves Travis action.
Couple of the year
The euphoria over Taylor and Kelce’s courtship generated an estimated $331.5 million in brand value for the NFL and the Kansas City Chiefs across print, digital, radio, television and social media, according to Apex data. Marketing Group published by the Front Office Sports website.
The legion of fans of the winner of the best album of 2023 at the Grammy Awards, announced on February 4th of this year, started watching Chiefs games just to see the American pop star cheering on the Kansas team. The phenomenon is no coincidence.
Read the full article in the propmark February 19, 2024
