Stan Culture & the Ridiculously Determined Marketing Behind It

Photograph by Kevin Mazur / Getty

How far would you go to ensure your idol secures that highly-desired No.1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart? Genuine question.

Would you join forces with fellow admirers to share deceptive offers online, all in a concerted effort to boost your favourite musician's sales? Taylor Swift’s legion of followers, commonly known as Swifties, certainly would. In fact, they’ve already been at it - and they’re not the only ones.

It all started sometime around 2019 during the golden era of Twitter (before Musk took it over) when a user named @vviktoeria posted a photo with the caption: “stream ME! for a free drink at starbucks. ✨🌈🦋” 

While the post quickly went viral, Starbucks wasn't too thrilled about these misleading posts… Not initially, at least.

In a nutshell, @vviktoeria ratio’ed (excuse the chronically online slang) the official Starbucks account. Awks.

Yet, years down the line, Starbucks successfully managed to take this and turn it into an opportunity to further shape brand identity and interact with consumers online. Smart move, considering the significant purchasing power and spending influence that Swift's fans now wield.

Interestingly, this kind of 'false marketing' has become a common strategy among Swifties to boost the number of streams Taylor Swift's new projects receive. Recently, they even encouraged everyone to stream and buy 'Karma', one of the singles of Swift’s 10th studio album Midnights, for a free blue raspberry drink at Starbucks. Wild.

Ariana Grande’s fans, on the other hand, chose a different approach.

https://x.com/daydreamrem/status/1746727938265874745?s=20​

Instead of making fake ads promising coffee as a reward for streaming their favourite's music, Arianators (Grande's fans) created a fabricated Spotify ad that guaranteed a three-month free premium subscription for streaming Grande's latest comeback single, 'yes, and?'.

The craziest part is how this Spotify offer appears totally legit. It's a high-quality, realistic video with all the key features of a real Spotify ad. It could easily fool many, including myself - a 20-something-year-old who practically grew up spending most of their time online.

The only giveaway (and possibly the only flaw of this 'stan marketing' phenomenon) is that it didn't come from Spotify’s official account.

So, what does this mean for brands? I believe the obvious answer here is connecting with audiences, and to do that through a comedic approach. What’s there to lose, after all? These artists have dedicated listeners for a reason, and tapping into them could be the perfect way to break through and connect with gen-z, arguably the most important audience currently.

It’ll be intriguing to see how this continues to develop and evolve in the future. With Beyoncé’s upcoming studio project allegedly in the works, could the BeyHive (falsely) assert that Ben & Jerry's will give out limited-edition honeycomb ice cream to those who can prove that she’s one of their top five artists?

Who knows, the world is truly the stans' playground.