My days of tuning out the 'boob tube' when the commercial break comes on ended the day I started in the BA biz. Now when I see a commercial or ad campaign that features a famous person, my mind wanders through all sorts of things:
I wonder how much creative input the celeb had…
I wonder what the Celebrity Rider for the shoot looked like…
I wonder what was the talent budget…
I wonder what the glam squad cost…
These are just some of the things that first popped into my brain last week when I was sitting on the couch watching TV and first saw the latest Capital One spot featuring TAYLOR SWIFT (and a whole bunch of her signature EASTER EGGS)!
With a lot of celeb commercials, I’d usually also be wondering the following:
Was this celeb in the original decks…
What other celebs were on this brand’s list of potential talent…
Venture X Card - Multiple Taylors :30 | Capital One
Sometimes it’s hard to tell if the creative was written with that celeb in mind or if the brand just knew they wanted (or had enough money for) a specific celebrity. Sometimes I’ll see a commercial with a celeb and I’ll start to ponder what the celebrity spokesperson brief was like and how many lists from talent agents were combed through and how the creative concept may have shifted as the brand honed in on their best option.
But, when it comes to a celebrity who is as big as Taylor Swift, it’s much more obvious that the brand partnership is of design and that it must go deeper than just a :30 spot on TV.
With a bit of Googling, I learned that Capital One announced a multi-year brand partnership with Swift back in 2019, likely in preparation for what would have been her Lover tour, had the pandemic not caused its cancellation. Now, with her Eras Tour in sight, the creative for this Capital One spot was obviously written for (and very likely with creative input from) Taylor Swift to promote both the Venture X Card and her upcoming tour.
The partnership between Capital One and T. Swift is a great example of what an impact it can make when a brand thoughtfully considers their celebrity partnerships. Instead of just throwing a celeb at something for a celeb's sake, well-planned celeb deals allow the brand to leverage the celebrity in a meaningful and natural way. This type of partnership resonates with the celeb’s fans, and, thus, the brand gets to adopt some new ones.
I’m guessing that T. Swift fans who have since converted to Capital One were thankful for it, too! I mean, I don’t know for sure, but… I have to imagine that the Capital One Exclusive Presale for cardholders ran much smoother than the one organized by Ticketmaster… ???#BAdreamin