Honors Program Theses

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Honors Program Thesis (UNI Access Only)

First Advisor

Matthew Wilson

Keywords

Marketing--Music; Swift, Taylor, 1989-. Midnights;

Abstract

This thesis explores the effectiveness of the Easter egg marketing strategy through a case study of Taylor Swift’s Midnights album era, focusing on how hidden messages embedded in her promotional content impact fan engagement on TikTok. Easter eggs are deliberately hidden messages and references that encourage fans to decode hidden meanings and foreshadow future releases, such as music videos, guest appearances, and albums. The gamification strategy is similar to the Easter egg strategy, which means enhancing a service with affordances for gameful experiences to support users' overall value creation. This study argues that Swift’s Easter egg approach fosters a loyal fan base through a collaborative environment that increases her social media engagement. Through a comparative analysis of six TikTok posts—three featuring Easter eggs and three without—data was collected on views, likes, comments, and shares to determine engagement metrics. Results showed that posts with Easter eggs generated higher engagement, with a 57.69% increase in views, 56.55% increase in likes, 44.07% increase in comments, and 75.79% increase in shares compared to non-Easter egg posts. While none of these results were significant at p < 0.05, these findings suggest a potential positive trend of Easter eggs and fan engagement that should be further researched. While this strategy may not have the same effectiveness for other influencers or brands, Swift’s strategy positions her as a trendsetter in modern celebrity marketing.

Year of Submission

2025

Department

Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship

University Honors Designation

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the designation University Honors

Date Original

2025

Object Description

1 PDF file (18 pages)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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