Talking Insights

The Research Era of Taylor Swift

• ESOMAR • Season 2 • Episode 4

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QuestionPro's research on Taylor Swift generated significant media exposure and showcased the importance of market research data for journalists and storytellers. The research revealed insights into the economic impact of Taylor Swift's concerts and the amount of money fans spend on tickets, merchandise, and other expenses. The success of QuestionPro's research serves as a blueprint for others looking to gain exposure and attract media attention. The conversation also touched on the role of SMR's North American representative team and the significance of regional events in the market research industry.

Key Takeaways

  • Market research data can provide credibility and legitimacy to journalists and storytellers.
  • Timeliness and impactful data are key factors in attracting media attention.
  • QuestionPro's research on Taylor Swift demonstrated the economic impact of her concerts and the amount of money fans spend on related expenses.
  • SMR's North American representative team plays a crucial role in connecting the global market research community.
  • Regional events, like the Art and Science of Innovation conference, are important for showcasing the presence and impact of market research in specific markets.



QuestionPro, Taylor Swift, market research, media exposure, economic impact, SMR, North American representative team, regional events, ESOMAR, ASI, Chicago

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ESOMAR (00:00)
It is a little bit of like, okay, this is what happened to question pro, but it's really a blueprint for anyone to use in terms of they want to get more exposure and they want journalists to pick them up. There's three key points that I'll be talking about that will allow you to, I mean, essentially replicate what we did.

All right, my name is Bob Birdsell. I'm the membership development director here at SMR in North America. And I'm sitting today with Dan Fleetwood, who is the president of research insights at QuestionPro. Awesome. Hey, thanks for having me today, Bob. Appreciate it. No worries. So I wanted to talk with you a little bit about your presentation a little bit later today. I know QuestionPro had done some really cool research.

pop culture research regarding Taylor Swift. And so I just wanted to ask you real quick, just in general terms, if you want to share a little bit about what was done there, just talk a little bit about that research. Yeah, no problem. So last summer, we were definitely in our research era, if you will. See what I did there? Yeah, I like it. So we wanted to do some research on Taylor Swift. The kind of the marketing team is a bunch of Swifties, know, so they wanted

Obviously just some research on Taylor and tie it back to kind of a cultural phenomenon or cultural thing that was happening at the time. And it also happened Taylor Swift was everywhere last summer as we can attest, it was we've seen. And so we did a lot of research on her. Little did we know how much this would catch on and really talk more about it in the presentation. But we really captured lightning in a bottle with just the amount of media mentions and also the exposure that we got. We were being quoted in

publications that we didn't even realize until I picked it up and I was like thumbing through a Time magazine article about Taylor Swift. I'm like, Dan Fleetwood, president of Research and Insights, Research and Insights, the question pro says this. So it just completely caught fire. So that's great. Yeah. I know. I know some of your team members. So, and I know how passionate they are about Taylor Swift. So I could see it was probably a passion project for them. a hundred percent. Yeah. yeah. This is good. And it's worked too. So I probably really enjoyed it. Yeah.

And I do know too, I know you mentioned you were a little bit surprised in some of the places that it was. Wasn't it on like headline news or something? It got caught, picked up and something, some of those really cool like Associated Press or something like that and really surprised you guys. Yeah, I mean it got picked up everywhere. So from CNN to Bloomberg to Washington Post, we partnered with New York Times and did a story specifically for them on Taylor Swift because of all of this publicity that we were getting from

And there were countless, you know, news stations and even on a Today show and the evening show with Lester Holt. So it was pretty cool to see Question Pro's name up there and tied to some things as super relevant as Taylor Swift. So in no realm did I ever think Dan Fleetwood and Taylor Swift would be in the same, you know, ballpark. yeah, it's pretty cool. It's pretty cool. That's awesome.

So can you also then tell me with regards to that research some of the some of the key data points of what you guys discovered and insights there? Yeah, so one thing we've one thing the marketing team obviously I mentioned there in a bunch of Swifties so they were looking at data before we even collected it in terms of what are other people saying. So in November of 2022 the term Swiftonomics kind of came out and this was Augusta who was a journalist at Bloomberg.

kind of coined the term Swift Swiftonomics She was looking at all the ticket sales and just seeing the impact that it was having on, I mean, obviously revenue, but then also just on the economy. So she like appropriately named it Swift Swiftonomics But one thing that the marketing team and myself wanted to find out more of is, okay, that's one piece of it. We know there are people that are spending money on outfits, on merchandise, obviously the ticket sales, but there's a lot of auxiliary expenses that people

are putting into going to these shows. So we wanted to try to capture that. So one of the things that we found that was really interesting is that the number, the amount, I should say that people are spending when they go to Taylor Swift shows is about $1 So some of that is, some of that's tickets, obviously, like that's around $400 in tickets. And then the rest is things like merchandise, outfits, travel, food, and those sorts of things

all make up like the spending and the impact on the economy that she's having. So we factored that out and then looked at the concert, like the number of attendees that are going to each of the venues. We extrapolated a number out and estimated that she could generate five billion in economic impact just in the US alone. This is not globally, didn't. Imagine phase three where you get all, my gosh. So it was wild. It's stunning. Yeah. Wow. Okay.

Well, that's awesome. So why do journalists and storytellers need market research data, do you think? Yeah, I think it's very important because the journalists and storytellers, they have like these ideas that they want to use for the stories, whether it's in online or whether it's on TV, whatever it might be. But they need numbers to back that up and help legitimize what they're actually saying. Right. So anytime like you read something, you're like, hmm, is that real? But then if you can back it up with numbers.

becomes a more impactful data point as opposed to most people think. if you can say, you, most people, but if you can say like four out of five people think that, you know, Taylor Swift is, you know, XYZ or does XYZ. So they really need market researchers to help back up the data in their story and the different narratives that they're coming up with. Almost give it some credence or credit behind, you know, what you're finding. Yeah. And I'll just add this. So in the presentation that I'm giving,

It is a little bit of like, okay, this is what happened to question pro, but it's really a blueprint for anyone to use in terms of they want to get more exposure and they want journalists to them up. There's three key points that I'll be talking about that will allow you to, I mean, essentially replicate what we did. Obviously one of the things is timeliness. You have like timely data and it has to be like impactful and something that's trending at the current time, right? Like if you try to do, I don't

something that isn't in the news, it's not going to get picked up. So there's some key points there, but that's one of our goals is what we did isn't necessarily magic. It's more of the trends and catching at the right time and then giving journalists these data points that they can then really utilize in their stories that are catchy and that they can, you know, run away, run or, you know, go away with actually. So, yeah, it would.

There's no topic I think that's bigger than Taylor Swift. So if you're gonna catch lightning involved, that's the one you take in your Also in my house too. that too. in your building, in your office, everywhere. So taking a little bit of a departure then from your presentation, because I know you mentioned you're gonna talk about that a little bit later today. I wanna talk a little bit about your role also with SMR.

you know, for folks who aren't familiar, Dan is also our North American representative chair. And I just want to get a little bit of a sense from you, Dan, what do you feel is kind of, you know, the meaning for you in that role, the importance of our representative team in North America? Like how, how do you see that? what? Yeah. The way that I see it is one very honored to be the chair for the North American rep team.

And the way that I see it is you have a bunch of associations both in the US and obviously in other parts of the country. One thing that I think as someone does exceptionally well is tied all together. So even the question, bro, we're a global company. I can't just have an outlook on what's happening in North America. I need to have like kind of a global sense of what's going on. So that's where I feel the SMR really helps me out and helps other people out is not only having the impact and the look

North America, but globally as well. So I think that's very important in not only why I wanted to be a rep, but also the impact that SMR can have on North America and it's happening. Yeah. And speaking of the impact, so this is our conference, the Art and Science of Innovation here in Chicago 2024. First time in a long time that we've done any sort of regional events in the U .S., in North America.

What do you, the significance of that, the meaning for that, like going forward, like how huge, how important is this, you know, to the market, the industry here and this particular market, would you say? I think it's very important because you can talk about it, you can do webinars, but until you actually have like a big event in the US, it's almost like now you've arrived. So, and I know SMR has done things in the past, but I think, you know, post COVID, this is one of the first major events.

that they put on here in the US. And so I think it's very significant. It's a chance for people to see like, that isn't just a European research society. It's here in the US as well. They can also help me out. And it helps be more real, right? It helps that feeling of, think just when you can be somewhere with other SMR representatives in the same spot, obviously, that's in a real spot, not just like a webinar or something virtual. It makes it that much more impactful, that much more real.

Yeah, exactly. More meaningful for Yeah, 100%. I think that wraps it up unless you got anything else. Any other comments? The only thing is the Refer a Member. Oh, yeah, yeah. Member, get a member. Member, get a member. So if you refer a member, then you can get a member or you'll get your membership free for the next year. Right. Is that right? Well, you know more about this than I do, actually. So our Member, Get a Member campaign, which is an initiative we've been planning for a little while now.

just launched this week here at the Art and Science of Innovation in Chicago. It is a global program, so it's open to any SMR member, regardless of where you are, as long as you're active. And basically, you can earn rewards for referring another individual member to join the association. So when you refer them, and they actually do go ahead and join,

you will earn a credit for that and those credits can be cashed in for prizes. Now those prizes could be membership, could be download of a report all the way up to the one, the highest tier we have, which is a complimentary pass to our Congress event in that particular year. And we've also got, you know, Amazon gift cards and that type of thing. So it's incentivized such that based on the number of new referrals you bring in,

the more you can actually earn as an active member. So it is open to all of our active members who are basically out recruiting new individual members. And that's gonna run starting now all the way through September 30th. So you got about three months to total up those credits. Yeah, thanks, Dan. Yeah, thanks, Bob. Appreciate it, was awesome.