The NFL, like most of the major leagues, are no stranger to the glitz, the glamor and the buzz of popular culture. We have power couples from the NBA to MLB to NWSL to the WNBA to the NHL to NASCAR. Musicians want to be athletes, athletes want to be rock stars, and they like hanging and sharing the spotlight.
So why did Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce reach new levels of engagement, to the point where even outlets like NFL.com seem to have lost their editorial spinning mind.
Welcome to Engagement Humping, or the value of CCR (Not the legendary musicians of Creedence Clear Water Revival…they do have sports ties but that’s another story). We mean Cultural Conversation Relevance, what used to be known as “Watercooler Talk,” but now it is for a global audience.
What is Engagement Humping?
Simple…media outlets see a trend; notice the data they have been collecting is for an audience they are chasing and suddenly find ways to insert themselves via social and visuals into that cultural narrative for the moment. It becomes one of those “drop everything moments,” often dictated by social engagement that puts brands, leagues, media platforms, personalities, into conversations with self-created content they were not in minutes ago.
Despite some reticence, and even some blowback from core followers, ESPN, CNN, even NFL.com, realize the data is showing them that there is a conversation they need to insert themselves into to keep things relevant. They depart from the norm of their news feed and make sure they can create content that puts them in conversation not just with their audience, but with a casual audience they can bring in.
The GOAL: Simple. To use data tied to visuals to win the traffic lottery. That audience (Swifties are a recent case) may be global…they may not be the normal followers, but the data tells the analyst, the platform, the brand…they need to be in it.
In addition to Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce we can look back to the Barbie phenomenon, where even the Boston Red Sox had their most valued giveaway recently…a Barbie-themed tee shirt that had nothing to do with baseball, it had to do with the moment. We have the buzz and conversations around what Deion Sanders has done in Colorado. In year’s past we have seen this with tangible items like Beanie Babies, but the ability to use social traffic to bring new eyeballs and clicks that lead to a boost in revenue for the space, is a lot easier than creating a giveaway. CCR.
And while some may opine the use of Engagement Humping, a study this week by our colleague at Montclair State University showed that the back and forth in and around the Swift-Kelce buzz was pretty benign, and frankly, fun.
So… Cultural Conversation Relevance. How are you watching, listening, and finding inflection points to expose and open a door for an audience who may not be in your wheelhouse. It is a careful play, it can’t drive off the core, but it can expand the window of success.
Just ask the NFL and all the buzz of the last few weeks. Ya gotta be in it to win it.
