Brands paid Norwegian soccer star Erling Haaland to rep Nike cleats, Beats headphones and an iconic Chinese herbal tea. But it was his favorite hair tie pinning his long blond hair into his signature man bun that stirred a different kind of consumer frenzy: fans reaching for a functional, affordable item that felt like a direct link to the star himself.
World Cup watchers first noticed Haaland matched his Norwegian-made KKNEKKI elastics to the colors of Norway’s national kits – red with the team’s home look, black with the away shirt, and a red-white-blue KKNEKKI bundle for fans who want to wear the national colors. Haaland’s limited edition collection sold out.
KKNEKKI parent company Bon Dep’s marketing director Hedda Engelhardt Davidsen told Fortune that the company saw a “significant increase” in web traffic, retailer inquiries and consumer demand after Haaland wore the hair ties publicly, though the company declined to provide specific numbers.
That dynamic is increasingly valuable because most fans can’t afford big-ticket items that their favorite celebrities wear and use. However, fans can buy Haaland’s hair elastic, Taylor Swift’s casual dress, Roger Federer’s shoes, Travis Scott’s meal order or any other trace of the person they admire.
Rather than being about the product itself, the purchases provide the feeling of authentic proximity.
“When branded products are adorned by artists, athletes, or anyone that we totemize or hold to a high level, it imbues those branded products with even greater meaning,” Marcus Collins, a University of Michigan marketing professor who worked on McDonalds’ Travis Scott Meal and Budweiser’s Jay Z campaigns, told Fortune.
Taylor Swift offers a clean example of the same phenomenon, even without releasing limited-edition collections like Haaland. After Swift appeared in her Travis Kelce engagement photos wearing a striped Polo Ralph Lauren dress, the item quickly sold out across retailers and is still not in stock on the website.
“It was just a regular dress, but when Taylor Swift wore it, it is now imbued with more meaning based on what Taylor Swift means to you,” Collins said.
Bakeries and dessert shops have marketed Swift-themed cakes and other treats to fans, illustrating how celebrity meaning can spill into products that are several steps removed from the original image. Collins said that for people whose identities are more tightly tied to Swift, even “tertiary consumption things like a Taylor Swift-themed cake” can carry the same basic appeal.
Megan Sesil, manager of the New York City-based Padoca Bakery, told Fortune that while the bakery didn’t cater Swift’s wedding, its “Mini Taylor Wedding Cakes” sold out alongside prior Swift-themed cakes and cookies for her The Tortured Poets Department and The Life of a Showgirl albums.
The bakery’s Super Bowl-themed “Just Here for Taylor” cakes sold out in the first hour it opened, with a line outside the door.
“Every Taylor moment becomes an opportunity for our customers to gather, celebrate, exchange friendship bracelets and eat cake —and we’re honored to be a small part of that,” Sesil said over email.