If there’s one thing Swifties are known for, it’s going on extravagant hunts for easter eggs surrounding Taylor Swift.
So when a new promotional experience popped up in Los Angeles earlier this month to promote “The End of an Era” docuseries and “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour: The Final Show,” both releasing on Disney+ on Dec. 12, fans of the pop star took to social media to discuss and dissect what it meant.
Here’s what we know about the setup:
The installation is located on 8760 Sunset Blvd in West Hollywood, California, near Dialogue Cafe and Book Soup Bookstore.
@garypotteris #taylorswifttok #taylornation #sunsetblvd @weho@WEHO TIMES #disneyedit
It features a cutout of Swift from behind, as if she were entering the Eras Tour stage for the “Fearless” portion of the concert with her guitar in hand and the bright lights of the crowd’s glowing wristbands surrounding her. On one of the sides of the promotional artwork, it’s a larger-than-life cutout of Swift during “The Tortured Poets Department” segment of the concert, which was not included when “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” concert film premiered because the album hadn’t been released yet. One of the highlights of the new concert film is that it will include the entire “The Tortured Poets Department” block of the show for fans who attended the tour earlier in its run before the new album was included.
What’s drawing speculation online is that lights are visible behind the building’s wrap, leading many to wonder if a stage is being set up for a potential concert. But these are likely meant to resemble concert stage lighting to grab more attention from cars and pedestrians who pass the advertisement.
The billboard is also branded with the Disney+ logo throughout, a giant lit-up sign above, and the title of the new Swift material premiering on Dec. 12.
So while fans might be eager to find a more meaningful connection with the advertisement, this is likely just a fun idea to get more eyes on the new pieces than a traditional billboard would.
In some ways, Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood is like the Times Square of Los Angeles when it comes to promotional billboards.
Netflix has a few billboards located near the Laurel Canyon Blvd. cross street that they use to take up real estate for new shows and movies, as well as their now social media-famed interchangeable marquee billboard, which they swap out from week to week with more playful phrases. The streaming service actually took it a step further in 2024, when it had Glen Powell replicate famous Los Angeles lawyer billboards that have become cultural icons in the city to promote his new film “Hit Man.”
@carolyn.burt Netflix is having fun with being mentioned during the Love Island USA Season 7 reunion. The streaming service updated their Sunset Blvd. billboard in Los Angeles to say “You have permission to replace ‘no’ with ‘I can’t. It’s Netflix.’” After contestant Huda said she couldn’t speak about her relationship status because of Netflix. #loveislandusa #loveisland #loveislandreunion #loveislandseason7 #netflix
In February, SNL took over an entire block for a promotional billboard to promote the 50th anniversary of the sketch show. In addition to giant cutouts of some of its most iconic characters, the billboard also included a replica of the stage area used for the opening monologue for fans to take photos from.
@hannuhhmalone LA’s hottest club is…. #SNL50 #snl #sunsetblvd #billboard #saturdaynightlive #billboards #stefon #thegrove
So perhaps there’s no deeper meaning to the Taylor Swift Eras Tour promotion in WeHo, and it’s just a creative experiential marketing campaign for fans to take photos with and hype on social media to create more online buzz, similar to her “The Life of a Showgirl” and “The Tortured Poets Department” pop-ups. Or maybe, it’s actually filled with easter eggs that we won’t know about until the docuseries and concert film premiere on Dec. 12 on Disney+.
@carolyn.burt Replying to @Rebecca Aguilar Here’s part two of Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department Spotify Library Installation at the Grove in Los Angeles on April 17, 2024. In total the line was about an hour and a half long. Fans will be able to get a photo print as well as a bookmark with all of the track lists. Swifties will also be quick to notice some potential Easter Eggs. If you want to see more detailed photos of potential clues visit DailyNews.com & @The SoCal Local #taylorswift #torturedpoetsdepartment #thetorturedpoetsdepartment #tsttpd #ttpdtimetable #thegrove #ttpd #taylorsversion #taylornation @Taylor Swift @Taylor Nation
