Tag: Taylor Swift

Singapore – Multi-category classifieds and recommerce marketplace Carousell announced it will suspend the sale of Taylor Swift’s concert tickets on its platform across all six markets after seeing a rise in ticket scams. 

Carousell will be suspending ticket sales from February 23 to March 9, 2024, and will remove the existing listings on the platform by February 26. 

The recommerce platform knew there was trouble after it had seen a rise in ticket scams in the lead-up to many of Taylor Swift’s shows across her global tour, as well as Singapore being the only stop of the Eras Tour in Southeast Asia. 

While Carousell is aware that the majority of the ticket listings were genuine, they are also mindful of the unique case of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour and have made the one-off exception to adopt such an approach. 

For extra safety measures, especially given the nature of a consumer-to-consumer platform, Carousell will utilise a mix of AI detection and manual moderation to detect and remove listings.

The recommerce platform is also encouraging its users to help report any listings directly through the ‘Report Listing’ feature that’s available on both the web and the app. A manual moderation team will be reviewing the reports within 24 hours after they’ve been reported. 

Furthermore, to reinforce safer transactions in the ‘Tickets & Vouchers’ category, Carousell has made it mandatory since October 3, 2023, for all Singapore sellers to verify their identities via Singpass before being able to list in the category. Additionally, there will be advisories in the ‘Tickets & Vouchers’ category to educate users on how to transact safely. 

Carousell has swiftly apologised for any inconvenience and trouble their decisions may have caused. The platform emphasised that they are not stopping any genuine consumers from transacting but also urges everyone to do background checks before closing any deals. 

Scammers never go out of style, so the platform is also reminding buyers to be more cautious when purchasing tickets from third-party vendors who may be selling counterfeit or stolen tickets. 

For users who are looking to sell their tickets with genuine intent, Carousell strongly urges them to check and adhere to the reselling terms and conditions laid out by the official channels. 

Su Lin Tan, chief of staff at Carousell, said, “Selling concert tickets is not prohibited by our community guidelines, as we are an open and inclusive marketplace. However, this concert is unique in that we expect many overseas concertgoers who may not know how to adequately protect themselves from local scam tactics.” 

“Additionally, we realise that the two weeks leading up to the Eras tour shows are prime for scammers taking advantage of last-minute panic buying of concert tickets. Hence, we are stepping in to do our part to manage the situation on our platform and working very closely with the Singapore Police Force. We are monitoring the situation vigilantly and taking action against scammers,” she further explained. 

Singapore – Changi Airport Group (CAG) has organised a sing-along event in Jewel Changi Airport to bring together Swifties, Taylor Swift’s fans, in celebration of their wildest dreams ahead of the superstar’s upcoming concert in Singapore. 

The enchanting initiative, solely endorsed by CAG, is made in collaboration with local singer and avid Swiftie Joie Tan and local band 53A. It is free for all Swifties who would like to experience a night of fun under the starlight amidst the lush greenery of the iconic Forest Valley at Jewel Changi Airport. 

Expected to become the largest Swifties’ event in Singapore, fans can sing along to their idol’s biggest hits and commemorate the sparkling night with exclusive friendship bracelets from CAG. 

Prior to this, CAG had also put out a call on its social channels for Swifties to join and invite Taylor Swift to check out the new forest at Jewel by posting their videos and photos taken on the iconic spot and tagging the superstar on it. 

Kelvin Ng, vice president of corporate and marketing communications at CAG, said, “Through her songs, Taylor Swift has been connecting and touching fans all over the world. We wanted to create a chance for fans, both local and from the region, to come together and celebrate Taylor ahead of her Eras Tour in Singapore. With its verdant forest stretching across five storeys and beautiful views from any spot, we think the Shiseido Forest Valley in Jewel would be an enchanted venue for Swifties to mingle, have fun, and make the whole place shimmer.”

CAG will also be giving out deals to welcome tourists and local Swifties alike that are coming to Singapore for the sell-out concert. By simply showing their concert tickets, they can avail shopping and attraction vouchers and promo codes at participating stores in the airport. 

Australia – With popular singer-songwriter Taylor Swift announcing its ‘The Eras Tour’ world tour, social media mentioned about her have spiked across influencers and brands in Australia, following growing demand for tickets of said concert in the region. This was according to the latest data from influencer marketing platform HypeAuditor.

According to the data, there were 182 social media posts with mentions of the Anti-Hero on Instagram that were shared by a total of 133 influencers, reaching an audience of over 10.7 million people.

The data also noted two events in June that contributed to the social media mention spike. The first was on June 20 when the news broke that the megastar was bringing her ‘Eras Tour’ to Australia. This was then followed by an even bigger spike on June 28 when concert promoter Frontier Touring opened their pre-sale tickets, which saw more than 4 million eager fans across the country attempting to secure tickets.

In terms of social media engagement, social media posts about the American pop idol performed particularly well achieving an average engagement rate (ER) of 3.5% with a total of 477,242 likes and 9,598 comments throughout the month. Meanwhile, ER on Instagram shows how good the quality of the posts is and how well an account interacts with its followers.

Some of the top brands mentioning Taylor Swift include beauty brand Mecca Beauty, stationary brand Typo, retail chain Myer, media entities 7News and Guardian, and women-centric media Mamamia.

Alex Frolov, CEO and co-founder at HypeAuditor, said, “The hype around Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour has been building up globally for the past three months with Swifties sharing videos and photos of the show on social media reaching billions of people around the world. Globally there have been 22,951 posts on Instagram mentioning Taylor Swift, reaching 230 million people since the start of her international tour in March 2023.”

He added, “An ER of 3.5% is a reflection of the calibre of the singer’s fandom and how engaged Swifties are. Regardless of who is posting about Taylor Swift on social media, the posts are likely to generate likes and comments. It’s not surprising that brands have also been jumping on the bandwagon to increase their reach and engagement with their followers. It will not stop here. We expect more brands to milk the Taylor Swift mania with themed sales, promo codes, outfit suggestions, etc up until the Aussie shows in February 2023, as a way to increase their visibility and extend their reach.”