Degan Schloemann

Tag: entertainment

  • What Made Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour A Global Success? A PR Breakdown

    What Made Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour A Global Success? A PR Breakdown

    Cover Photo Credits: Creative Commons

    This week, we will examine the strategies of a famous concert public relations campaign. Concerts are continuously evolving. New artists go on tour yearly and sell out thousands of seats in countries across the United States and worldwide. One of the most recent and successful examples is Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour.” This record-breaking tour has become a global phenomenon and a dominating presence in media headlines. Let’s look at what she did!

    Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour”

    Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” was an unprecedented success worldwide. It had stops in 20 countries and multiple sold-out nights for each show. So how did she do it?

    Swift’s tour started in Glendale, Arizona, in March 2023 and ended in Vancouver, Canada, in December 2024. It grossed $1 billion, making it the highest-grossing tour of all time. The concert went through each “era” of Taylor Swift’s career, and she had a set with a few songs from each album that all fit the themes of her different albums. 

    Swift’s engagement with fans drove engagement and filled those seats! Through easter eggs, friendship bracelets, surprise songs, and more, she created a highly interactive experience. Each night of the tour, she would play a song that wasn’t on the set list and was considered a “surprise song.” Fans waited in anticipation, hoping they would get their favorite songs. 

    Fan Engagement is Key

    Photo Credits: Creative Commons

    Easter eggs are a huge part of Swift’s fan engagement and culture. She keeps her fans widely engaged through visual stage clues, cryptic social media posts, concert and event outfit clues, and sneak peeks such as her vault. 

    Easter egg clues were planted months in advance and came together full circle upon the release or once fans figured out the message. This fun, interactive method keeps fans engaged and excited for upcoming events. Clues for these were seen in social media posts, outfits, and stage designs. Only the most dedicated fans could decode the meaning behind these clues, which made the experience feel exclusive and rewarding.

    One of the most creative PR strategies was Swift’s interactive digital vault campaign to announce her newly recorded album, 1989. Fans would piece together clues to unlock the vault, which would slowly unlock as fans globally answered questions and completed the puzzle. A total of 33 million puzzles were solved. Once the vault was cracked open by fans, five new “from the vault” songs were released with the re-recording of the album 1989: Taylor’s Version. This cryptic puzzle involved fans, who started online conversations about the tour. 

    The media played an enormous part in engaging with Swift’s tour. Thousands of edits, videos, fan reactions, and theories circulated online, keeping the tour in news headlines for almost two years. 

    Swift’s fan engagement, easter egg clues, secret vaults, cryptic messages, and carefully crafted promotional tactics have led to the worldwide success of “The Eras Tour.”

    The Eras Tour Vault

    The Eras Tour Easter Eggs

  • NonProfits: A Platform for Artists

    NonProfits: A Platform for Artists

    Cover Photo From Creative Commons

    This week, we’re going to take a deep dive into a few nonprofits that are within the film industry. This is an exciting area to explore, as it drives competition in the ever-evolving film world. Specifically, we will look at the Sundance Institute and The Entertainment Industry Foundation. 

    Sundance 

    The Sundance Institute is a nonprofit organization with a mission that is dedicated to independent artists and audiences. Their organization has over 165 employees and grants over $3 million every year. Each year, Sundance Institute holds a film festival that showcases a collection of independent films. The film festival is centered around advancements for these independent artists. The festival spreads the word about artists and creators, as it has a diverse crowd of artists, directors, film producers, and more. 

    The festival will be held in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah, for the annual 2026 showing. Excitingly, Sundance just revealed that their new home for the 2027 Sundance Music Festival will be in Boulder, Colorado. 

    The Sundance Institute does an incredible job at promoting the festival, as well as its mission, through social media. Their social media accounts are active and constantly updating eager participants of the festival application processes and deadlines. In 2023, the festival attracted over 86,000 people to its in-person film events. 

    Not only is the Sundance Film Festival an incredible platform for a nonprofit, but it is also efficient. It has become an esteemed event that hundreds of thousands of people have attended over the past several years. The film festival helps over 1000 emerging artists each year. 

    The film festival also brings incredible resources to where it is held, boosting tourism and attracting visitors from all over the country to attend. This money supports local businesses and foundations, as well as the money that The Sundance Institute receives. The film festival is an incredible way to provide incentives through nonprofit support to help emerging indie film artists reach mainstream media. 

    Sundance

    The Entertainment Industry Foundation

    For over 80 years, one of the most prominent nonprofit organizations in the entertainment world, the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), has been paving the way to raise awareness and funds for health, social issues, and education. The EIF has over 50 employees and has raised over $1 billion to date. The EIF also supports over 200 charities each year and has donated more than $1 billion in advertising support. 

    The Entertainment Industry Foundation supports hundreds of different causes, including fiscally sponsored funds, EIF programs, and public service campaigns. Some of their campaigns utilize celebrities to gain awareness and become the face of the campaign. For example, Olivia Rodrigo has a campaign called “Olivia Rodrigo’s Fund 4 Good” that builds an equitable and just future for women and girls.

    The foundation is very active in promoting events and raising awareness through its social media, sharing upcoming events, fun facts, news updates, and donation opportunities. The opportunities to donate and campaigns that have been launched are always current and focus on the most pressing and timely issues. 

    These nonprofit organizations have a strong foothold in the entertainment industry and continue to revolutionize the field. While these are just two of the most popular nonprofits in the entertainment industry, there are many more to support!

    The Entertainment Industry Foundation

  • Rebrands and Collabs: A Look at Coachella and Stagecoach 2025

    Rebrands and Collabs: A Look at Coachella and Stagecoach 2025

    Cover Photo From Creative Commons

    Welcome back! With all the festival events happening over the last few weekends, it’s the perfect time to reflect on who performed at the festivals and what sets them apart from others. Specifically, in this post, we’ll be looking at two of the most popular music festivals of the year: Coachella and Stagecoach 2025.

    Coachella

    One of the most popular events of the year is the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The music festival attracts influencers from all over the world and features some of the most famous artists, bands, and creators. This year, artists such as Charli XCX, who leaned into mainstream media, Lady Gaga, who debuted an exciting rebrand, and Benson Boone, who surprised fans with an unexpected collaboration, gave performances of a lifetime.

    This year, Lady Gaga had a complete rebrand with the drop of her song “Abracadabra,” as well as the entire album Mayhem. It was an incredible way for her to debut her new era and build excitement about her upcoming tour. 

    Charli XCX also had a fantastic show. She brought out creators who were not performing at Coachella, such as Troye Sivan, Lorde, and Addison Rae. This type of publicity creates a unique anticipation that keeps fans eager to attend all her shows while also keeping her shows in the headlines. Charli XCX also ended a summer trend that started with her album, BRAT. The term, coined “Brat Summer,” may be officially over after Charli mentioned several other artists’ “summers” and said it may be time to make way.

    Another fan-favorite performance at Coachella was Benson Boone. Boone surprised fans with a performance of Bohemian Rhapsody with Brian May, a founding member of the band Queen. This is not only an incredible achievement but also a unique take to surprise fans with this cover. Not only did this collaboration shock fans, but Boone also performed a song that had not been released to the public yet and was not set to be released until a few days after Coachella ended. 

    Thousands of influencers attend Coachella and broadcast the experience, shows, and interactions across hundreds of platforms. From things such as “#bratsummer” trending across TikTok to people anticipating the drop of Benson Boone’s new song, Coachella 2025 was a year for collaborations, rebrands, and strategic branding. 

    Stagecoach

    Now let’s take a look at Stagecoach, which takes place a few weeks after Coachella, a country music festival. This year’s headliners were Zach Bryan, Jelly Roll, and Luke Combs, with featured performances from Lana Del Rey, Nelly, T-Pain, and so many other artists. 

    This year’s lineup of artists, including Lana Del Rey, Nelly, and T-Pain, introduced another side of Stagecoach that many fans aren’t familiar with. This cross-genre approach to Stagecoach brings in another set of fans who might go in hopes of seeing only their favorite artists, such as Lana Del Rey. Stagecoach embraced that a genre-specific festival can expand its reach and performances.  

    Music festivals make headlines in the media for months after they happen. They are the anticipation and talk of the year for influencers, artists, and fans. Coachella and Stagecoach are no exception!

    Charli XCX Set

    Stagecoach