The all-pervasive twenty-first century celebrity culture has become so ingrained in all of us over the past decade and a half that it is almost incumbent upon the marketers of most mass-market products to tie-up with a celeb of some description to even stand a chance of getting noticed in the increasingly crowded world of consumer-oriented products and services on offer. Of course, when it comes to modern day celebrities, they don’t come much bigger than Grammy winning country music sensation, Taylor Swift, who apparently has over 227 million followers on all social media combined. Her legions of followers simply cannot seem to get enough of her music, fashion and lately it seems, her fragrances like Wonderstruck, Wonderstruck Enchanted and Taylor by Taylor Swift.
With millions of young teens and tweens lapping up her every word on social media, it was only a matter of time before somebody tried to cash in on her immense popularity by releasing a game that carries her name. That’s exactly what seems to be happening now, as a San Francisco, California-based mobile gaming company called Glu Mobile, on Wednesday, announced a tie-up with the singer to release a mobile game based on “her unique creativity”. While details regarding the game are in short supply, the company promised that the game, to be launched later this year, will provide a “highly-differentiated mobile gaming experience” to anyone choosing to give it a go. The CEO of Glu, Mr. Niccolo De Massi, also promised to deliver “never before seen gameplay elements” as part of the upcoming game.
For those out of the loop, Glu Mobile Inc. has already launched a number of successful software titles around celebrities like reality star Ms. Kim Kardashian, celebrity chef Mr. Gordon Ramsey, 90s’ teen pop sensation Ms. Britney Spears, singer and reality talent show judge, Ms. Nicky Minaj, and recently, British pop music superstar, Ms. Katy Perry. Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, however, continues to remain the single most successful offering from the company by an order of magnitude, seeing as the game has reportedly grossed about $146 million in revenues since its launch. Most of Glu’s other titles are also believed to be doing alright, but the company will be hoping that Ms. Swift will be able to bring it the same sort of luck that Ms. Kardashian has with her game.