CRISIS OR OPPORTUNITY: Understanding how to build a brand with reputational solidity.
Case study Taylor Swift
Summary
Nowadays there is an abundance of artists in the music industry who must work to maintain their position in the market. However, the network environment is shown to be a double-edged sword, providing tools for communication. Nevertheless, on certain occasions, it ends up cultivating the end of the reputation of some brands, enhancing reputation crises due to the culture of cancellation. Here it’s where the personal brand of the artist Taylor Swift becomes a target of study: her brand has remained successful over the years, despite being the direct target of different reputational crises.
Through this case investigation, we can answer the main research questions by identifying those elements she built her brand on and those which contribute to reputational solidity. Among them, we find variables related both to the Brand concept and to the Reputation concept. Each one of them is exemplified by its impact on the Taylor Swift brand to understand its strength in resolving those reputational crises located in the professional career of the singer. These crises are of different types, and therefore different elements come into play when reacting. However, the main element that contributes to her success is to have built a conceptually solid brand, an idea that is reinforced by the transversality of all its actions and products, but also the acceptance of the criticism that at the same time she includes in the development of her personal history.
Keywords
Personal branding, Reputation, reputation crisis, Taylor Swift, music industry, network environment
