The Genius of Taylor Swift and Uber
How is Uber like Taylor Swift? The similarities may not seem obvious, but trust me, they are there. And I am not just talking about my incredibly obvious and vocal fandom of both of them. It is what precipitated that fandom, and keeps it growing that, that make these two so alike.
Nice to meet, where you been? I could show you incredible things
Both have shown us incredible things. Perhaps written off initially as just another pretty musician out of Nashville, or of-the-moment app out of San Francisco, Miss Swift and Uber have proven themselves to be so much more. Their staying power relies on how truly incredible each is. They are the perfect products. The feel good catchiness with lyrics we can all relate to. The superior and immediate service, whether it is a ride home on Saturday night, or a lunch delivered in minutes to our office. Both don’t just play in their respective spaces. They dominate them. And they dominate because they are just so much better than the competition.
I’m even better than you imagined I would be
Which brings us to the second point in which they are similar: constant improvement. From day one both have been incredible, but that was never enough for these two. They want to be perfect, and they both know perfection only comes with continuous improvement. Whether it is through reinvention and genre hopping, or nearly daily product improvements and expansion, good is not part of Ms. Swift’s or Uber’s vocabulary. Neither wants you to just like them, they want you to love them, and to tell all your friends how much you love them and why. They don’t just want this love; they earn it, and earn it constantly.
I just want to know you better, know you better, know you better now
Which brings us to our third point: they know their customers, and this is how they are able to consistently deliver the perfect “product.” Whether it is via big data tracking and analytics through the phone in your pocket, or the incredibly close and personal relationships cultured with her fanbase, both invest in intimately, and truly knowing their customers/fans, and what they want, even when the customers/fans don’t know it themselves. It is their genius. It makes them immediately relatable. They are everyone’s private driver. They are everyone’s beauty queen just a little out of reach, or the girl living next door. They know you, and you love that they do.
Haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate…I’m just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, I shake it off, I shake it off
And of course this brings us to our final point of similarity: success breeds haters, and both have more than their fair share. Whether it is “bad blood” with other (jealous) pop stars, or riots in the streets of Paris from the taxi drivers whose outdated service is being threatened, neither gets a free or easy path to success.
But that too is why we love them. They are not deterred by these haters. They know their fans, and know that their fans’ love and support far outweigh the haters’ petty complaints.
They suffer, and we know they do. And it is exactly because they both give everything to be our anything that they are so incredible at what they do.
*NOTE: Thank you Rod Witmond, VP of Marketing at rented., for inspiring this piece
Andrew McConnell is the CEO of rented.
Originally published at www.linkedin.com.
