Taylor Swift got engaged – and brands went wild. Here’s the funny, the clever, and the cringe

In case you haven't heard, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are officially engaged. This pop culture earthquake struck Tuesday, when the star couple shared their engagement photos – and attracted the greatest amount of reposts in Instagram history. For most of the planet, this was a moment of pure joy. But for some in the creative industries across social media platforms, it was a moment of sheer panic...

Let's be frank: when your social media manager is staring at 30 million likes and counting, the FOMO is real. The pressure to say something, anything, in these moments is immense. And by gosh, did some brands take that opportunity.

The need for speed

The speed was impressive. Companies from Pillsbury to Olipop to Starbucks were joining the viral conversation within minutes. We're talking actual minutes between Taylor's post ("Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married") and a tsunami of branded content flooding our feeds.

Some, thankfully, nailed it. Lego reimagined the couple as custom minifigs, calling their relationship the "greatest love story ever built". It was a perfect marriage of product integration and cultural moment. Lego's usually pretty good at this stuff, to be honest.

Wendy's, meanwhile, proved once more that they're the undisputed champions of chaotic brand energy with "CAN'T BELIEVE WE GOT TRAVIS SWIFT BEFORE GTA 6." And Pixar kept things classy, simply sharing an image from The Incredibles featuring Bob and Helen Parr on their wedding day.

But here's where things got messy. With thousands of brands are all jumping in with variations of the same joke, the impact became diluted faster than a weak cup of tea.

Chipotle posted burrito bowls labelled "English Teacher" and "Gym Teacher". Old Navy recreated Swift and Kelce's outfits with their own clothing line. Various soda brands simply Photoshopped their products into the engagement photos. I mean, come on guys.

Worse, some bordered on cringe. Auntie Anne's tweet "CAN I BE THE FLOWER GIRL?" read less like clever brand personality and more like your mate's divorced uncle trying too hard at a family gathering. Buffalo Wild Wings shouting "WE WILL CATER THE WEDDING" had similar energy – the marketing equivalent of raising your hand and saying "pick me!", but making it clear no one ever would.

More broadly, the more you scrolled, the more you saw the creative formula laid bare: cultural moment + product placement + Taylor lyric reference = viral content. Except when everyone's using the same formula, the magic disappears.

What actually worked

In contrast, the best responses shared some common DNA: they felt authentically connected to the brand's existing personality, rather than desperately grafted onto a trending topic (a good tip for connecting with Gen Z and beyond).

Krispy Kreme shared a fake employee memo about needing time off "to process, stream love songs and maybe eat a dozen Original Glazed to cope". This felt genuinely funny because it captured what many fans were thinking. Moreover, the brand backed it up with free doughnuts, showing they were willing to put money where their mouth was.

Starbucks poking fun at their Pumpkin Spice Latte launch being overshadowed ("are we supposed to keep talking about PSL like nothing happened???") worked too, because it acknowledged the absurdity of it all, while staying true to their conversational tone.

The brands that failed, though, were those who tried to force their way into the conversation without adding anything meaningful. Simply replacing Taylor and Travis with your products isn't creative; it's lazy Photoshop masquerading as cultural commentary. (They could learn something from these brands who historically nail their socials.)

The takeaway

So what have we learned? I'd argue there's a crucial lesson here about the difference between reacting and responding. Most brands yesterday were reacting: quick, formulaic content designed to catch algorithmic waves. Responding, however, requires understanding why a cultural moment matters to your audience, and what unique perspective your brand can offer.

The takeaway for brands is clear: resist the knee-jerk meme machine, and instead ask, “What can we say here that only we could say?” Or to put it another way: don’t try to steal the moment – elevate it. Otherwise, you risk being yet another forgettable guest at the biggest pop-culture event of the year.

Find out here how creatives are really feeling about social media in 2025. And then find out why we need to talk about Taylor's new website design.