The “ Beyoncé excrescence ” is substantial . The pop superstar made headlines of late when the surprisal release of her recent unmarried “ Formation ” unintentionallyboosted Red Lobster sales by 33 percent . In one of the more entertaining moments of the song , Beyoncé gives a NSFW shout - out to the blue - collarseafoodchain . The PG-13 interpretation : When her man bear witness her a good clock time , Beyoncé takes him to Red Lobster .
Red Lobster , for its part , was ecstatic . And not just for the increased sales . Even if Beyoncé ’s single did n’t drop overSuper Bowlweekend , Red Lobster would likely have cash in on unseasonably warm weather and a Lobsterfest publicity . Perhaps the greatest effect of Red Lobster ’s Beyoncé bump was something that no all - you - can - corrode furtherance could buy : relevancy .
Yes , for the first time ever,#RedLobsterbecame a curve theme on Twitter .
Red Lobster ’s social medium squad was so blinded by the Twitter spotlight that it took eight hours — that ’s 12 years in the Twitterverse — to nip a reception . And it was kind of lame .
But the company did attempt to cash in on its newfound ( and almost certainly short - lived ) pop culture relevancy , with a limited spill T - shirt reading , “ Someone think I ’m # Lobsterworthy . ”
So does Beyoncé ’s Red Lobster sales bump have any case law in popular music account ? We called upStorm Gloor , a professor of music and amusement manufacture cogitation at the University of Colorado Denver , to witness out . Gloor published a work in 2014analyzing the lyrics of every hit pop Song dynasty since 1960for clear references to products , brands , people and geographical location .
The closest thing Gloor could bump was the Busta Rhymes 2002 hit “ Pass the Courvoisier ” which reportedly provided a 20 - percent boost to sales of the top - shelf cognac . Run - DMC ’s 1986 breakout hit “ My Adidas ” was a similar blessing for the German - possess horseshoe sword , whose denude fond - ups and racing shell - toed kicks became the unofficial late-’80s pelvis - record hop uniform .
But name - dropping does n’t always render into grown sales . In 2004 , when rapping about Cristal was all the furore , its maker hadonly 3 percentof the U.S. import market for Champagne . ( Moet and Chandon had 41 percentage . ) And masses might whistle or rap about driving a $ 2 million Bugatti , but only12 of themare trade in the U.S. each year . When a production is highly expensive , how much of a sales bump could it really receive by greater brand recognition ?
Gloor sees the Beyoncé - Red Lobster second as shine a light on the brave new mankind of the euphony industry , in which music sale make up a shrink portion of a star ’s financial portfolio .
So what ’s the deal with Beyoncé ? Is she getting loose Cheddar Bay biscuits from Red Lobster ? Not probable . But it ’s a dandy example of how brand are playing the same societal medium marketing game , piggybacking on celebrities as brand ambassadors . Red Lobster lucked into its Twitter fame with a cheeky honorable mention from the worldly concern ’s most influential celebrity , but it ’s in the nonage . Most other brands are urgently trying to cram up relevance on social media , investing huge resource into getting their sword name on thetrending topics leaderboard .
During the 2014 Grammy Awards , Arby ’s extract off what was widely hailed as thetweet of the yearwhen it tauntingly asked Pharrell Williams , “ Hey @Pharrell , can we have our hat back ? ”
But what looked like a magnificent in - the - moment tweet was in reality the resultant of amassive marketing effortto win back the joint bitch chain ’s nucleus audience and make brand credit with youthful hoi polloi .
And the effort make up off . The chapeau tweet earned 83,085 retweets , 48,938 favorites and 6,000 Modern following for Arby ’s . Even well , Pharrell answer .
The Twitter telephone exchange was advert in grand of press articles , and Arby ’s extended the coverage bybuying Pharrell ’s hat on eBay for $ 44,100 , all of which conk out to Greek valerian . The result:2015 was Arby ’s best sale year ever .
Meanwhile , somewhere in Louisville , Kentucky , theLong John Silver ’s Twitter teamis urgently hop that Kanye West picks up a Pisces sandwich for Lent .
