Unless you have not looked at your phone in the past week, chances are pretty likely that you have heard about the budding romance between the legendary pop star, Taylor Swift, and football tight-end, Travis Kelce. This relationship has been highly anticipated; ever since Kelce attended Swift’s Eras Tour in July and said in an interview that he had wished he could have met her, fans of both of the stars have been manifesting this relationship. Lucky for them, Swift was spotted leaving Kelce’s locker room on Sunday, and media outlets have taken that information and run with it.
This relationship is iconic for a number of reasons, primarily because it is bridging the gap between sports fans and pop culture fanatics, especially Taylor Swift’s huge fan base known as “Swifties.” The heightened attention of these two wildly popular–and attractive–celebrities is something that brands seem to want to capitalize on, even if they are not remotely related to football or the music industry.
For the brands that are associated with one of the two topics, such as the National Football League, playing into this relationship was a no-brainer. The NFL’s Twitter changed their header photo to a candid of Swift cheering on Kelce at the game and their bio read “NFL (Taylor’s Version)”, referencing Swift’s phrase for her re-recorded albums.
Another brand that decided to hop on the wave was Dunkin’ Donuts. On Tuesday, the coffee brand took to its Instagram to say that they have a special announcement coming on Friday. Swifties quickly noted that the letter beads on the coffee cups seemed to be a reference to the friendship bracelets that Swifties brought to her concerts. Dunkin’ then played into this speculation. We cannot be sure whether or not this launch will officially be associated with Swift, but either way, the upcoming launch already has attention.
The last corporation that wanted to be a part of this buzz was Heinz. When one of Swift’s fan pages shared a photo of her posing with a fan at the game alongside a caption saying that Swift “was eating a piece of chicken with ketchup and seemingly ranch,” the phrase “seemingly ranch” soon went viral. Heinz made the bold decision to create a condiment in honor of Swift’s snacking preferences with the “Ketchup and Seemingly Ranch” sauce.
I hope that other brands continue to jump on this hilarious trend about this iconic new couple.