Hey folks! Welcome to Edition #73 of The SEG3 Report.

Today’s edition spotlights Hershey’s partnership with the New Heights podcast, and how they reacted to create a cultural marketing moment around Taylor Swift’s appearance.

Also covered: Interscope Records bring Lady Gaga to Dress to Impress for two-week integration, and the crossover between fashion, gaming and music + Supercell launch of AI Innovation Labs, and how you can apply to build next-generation gaming experiences.

Without further ado:

Contents: Edition #73

• Reese’s, New Heights, and a Swift Surprise: Culture Marketing in action

• Interscope Records launch two-week Lady Gaga integration in Dress to Impress

• Supercell launch AI Innovation Labs

Reese’s, New Heights, and a Swift Surprise: Culture Marketing in action

Hershey launched a rapid-response marketing campaign through its partnership with the New Heights podcast, following Taylor Swift’s surprise appearance on the show last week. As the podcast’s official candy sponsor, Reese’s introduced a “Taylor’s Version” activation in under 24 hours, highlighting its Reese’s × Oreo collaboration. The campaign spanned TikTok, refreshed packaging, social media, a YouTube masthead, and connected TV, with TikTok clips surpassing 500,000 views.

Why should you care?

TL;DR: Taylor Swift’s New Heights cameo pulled 407M+ views, and Hershey’s used it to slide Reese’s into the conversation. Instead of product placement, they dropped clever “orange-era” Reese’s × Oreo concept designs, amplified across socials, PR and a YouTube takeover, all in under 24 hours. As Hershey’s Vinny Rinaldi put it: speed without strategy is just noise. Quick reactions drive attention, but really lasting impact comes when product, digital and life experiences come together as one.

In full: Taylor Swift’s appearance on the New Heights podcast has been the rage the last week. 407 million collective views (and counting).

And whilst it’s extremely interesting that she chose to announce her new album through a podcast (that’s for another newsletter!), the bit that caught my eye was how a partner of the New Heights, Hershey’s, leveraged that relationship to put their brand, Reese’s, firmly in the conversation around the appearance & album launch.

Now, we often talk about culture marketing, real-time marketing, and how to have long-term strategy, but be flexible enough to be able to react to cultural moments that can amplify your brand story. But finding that balance is tricky.

So, how did Hershey’s manage it?

Well, rather than trying to use their partnership to jam Reese’s into this episode through advertising, product placement or call-outs, they built on something already in motion - their newly launched Oreo x Reese’s collab. They built the campaign through an “orange-era” lens to tap into Swift’s album news, with creative that felt authentic to the moment while breathing life back into the existing product story.

From there it spread by:

• Socials: The "orange era" campaign generated over 500K+ TikTok views almost instantly.
  

• PR: Same-day product packaging designs that caused a stir.
  

• Community Management: Real-time engagement across all partner channels to respond to the furore.
  

• Paid Media: Last-minute YouTube masthead placements and 48-hour streaming campaigns so anyone opening the app that day got hit with Reese’s orange-era takeover before they even clicked play on Swift’s podcast.

And perhaps the most impressive part of it all? The speed at which it came together; less than 24 hours!

But as Vinny Rinaldi - VP of Media & Marketing Technology at Hershey’s put it:

Speed Without Strategy Is Just Noise

Which is the point. Internet culture moves fast (i.e. Ibiza final boss is funny last week, already cringe now). Chasing relevance without the right story to warrant your involvement is just a recipe for disaster…

And Vinny’s quote reminded me of something a guest on an upcoming epsiode of The Speakeasy (ICYMI: Episode 1 with Lisa Willett from Roblox dropped last week - watch/listen here!) said, which is that the best culture marketing moments usually connect three “experiences” at once - these being:

• A product experience

• A digital experience

• A life experience

Hershey’s move here was digital-first, and rightly so given Swift’s podcast moment was always going to be short-lived. It’s not advisable to build a new product line or IRL pop-up for a cultural flashpoint that fades in a week.

Instead, they smartly used it as a reason to reignite their Oreo x Reese’s story - making that news culturally relevant again without forcing themselves into the story.

However, when the cultural story has a longer tail (as they so often do around ongoing passion points in sports, film & TV and games), that’s when layering all three experiences really matters. A product that leans into and honours the cultural moment, a life experience that fans can share together, and a digital experience that enhances and adds to that life experience is where the magic happens.

Because quick reactions might get you into the conversation; but connecting product, digital and life experiences is how you own it.

Interscope Records launch Lady Gaga integration in Dress to Impress

Lady Gaga will headline a two week-long event in Roblox’s fashion game Dress to Impress. The collaboration introduces new “Mayhem”-themed maps, outfits, and accessories inspired by Gaga’s 2025 album. Players can enter an exclusive outfit competition judged virtually by Gaga, with in-game meet-and-greet opportunities for select winners.

Why should you care?

TL;DR: Interscope Records and Lady Gaga are launching her new album on Roblox with a Dress to Impress takeover - with runway challenges, free collectibles and even Gaga herself as a virtual judge. With 8B+ visits and an older-skewing audience, DTI has become a hub for music–fashion crossovers. And in a world where monocultures are dead, Roblox is giving artists a stage where fans can turn album launches into their own.

In full: Yes, another album being launched - but this time, not on a podcast. On Roblox.

Interscope Records have teamed up with Dress to Impress (DTI), one of Roblox’s most popular experiences, to bring Lady Gaga into the game with a full Mayhem-themed takeover. Players can strut their stuff in Gaga-inspired challenges, including a brand new “Zombieboy” runway showdown, dress their avatars in outfits pulled from her Mayhem Ball era, and even have their looks judged by Gaga herself in a virtual competition.

And, of course, there are freebies, with limited-time accessories and fits nodding to some of her most iconic looks from the years.

It’s a big integration, but Dress to Impress is a powerhouse. Over 8 billion lifetime visits and close to 135k CCU’s as of right now, it’s become the home for many crossovers between music and fashion, with the team from Atlantic Records bringing Charli XCX’s “Brat” to DTI last summer.

Other female music crossovers on the platform have seen Chappell Roan launch her own avatar items, and Olivia Rodrigo launch a branded experience, Party!!! at Olivia’s place, which had 3.36M lifetime visits.

The uniqueness of DTI is that it differs slightly from other Roblox games, with its player base skewing older: 63% over 13 (with 43% over 18), compared to 51% in the wider Roblox community, and that lines up nicely with Gaga’s traditionally older Gen Z audience.

But whilst Lady Gaga has been known for her music - her unique style has always been central to her identity. Bringing that into a platform where 84% of Gen Z users say their physical style has been inspired by their avatar’s style (per Roblox’s Fashion & Beauty Expression report) feels like a great fit.

And as we discussed at SEG3 London this past summer, music and fashion used to live inside monocultures; MTV premieres, tour looks, magazine covers etc. Everyone tuned into the same channel at the same time. But monocultures are dead. Audiences are fragmented - scattered across feeds, platforms, and games.

So the question isn’t “how do you reach everyone?” - it’s “how do you find your tribes?”.

That’s what Interscope and Gaga are attempting to do here. They’re not chasing the masses, they’re stepping into a space where fans (and players that value fashion and individuality - much like Gaga’s DNA) already gather, play and express themselves through style.

And that’s why Roblox is becoming such an attractive stage for artists & labels - because it’s not just about launching a new album, it’s about letting fans make those launches their own.

Supercell launch AI Innovation Labs

Supercell has introduced its AI Innovation Lab - a bespoke, 11-week program designed to leverage Supercell’s infrastructure, expertise and team to help incubate, prototype and launch next-generation gaming experiences. The first lab will take place in San Francisco, starting on September 22.

Why should you care?

In full: Supercell, creators of some of the most iconic mobile game IP (Clash of Clans, Clash Royale etc) are throwing their weight - and infrastucture, team and expertise - behind start-ups using AI to produce next-generation gaming experiences.

With so much talk about the potential impact of GenAI in game development, it’s not particularly a surprise to see Supercell leading the charge. Their whole model is built for this. For those of you unfamiliar, Supercell operates in a ‘cell’ structure. Each game team works separately, giving them to autonomy and flexibility to test, move quickly and launch new products & experiences without the baggage and process that big teams presents.

Now they’re taking that same philosophy to experimenting with AI, which sounds enticing.

So if you’re building something at the intersection of AI & Gaming, we’d recommend checking it out 👇

In other news this week:

• Nvidia, Discord & Epic Games team up for instant game demos: read here.

• The Block hosts Sofi Tukker performance on Roblox: read here.

• Manchester City, Etihad & Trickshot partner to leverage player tracking data and skeletal tracking technology for Beyond Borders campaign: read here.

• Mythical Games add Borussia Dortmund to FIFA Rivals: read here.

• IBM report finds sports fans demanding more dynamic digital content powered by AI: read here.

• The Gang & PGA Tour release Ultimate Golf Simulator update: read here.

• IBM & US Tennis Association roll out AI-powered fan experiences: read here.

• SCOR on Sweet & Winners Alliance launch Sixer Smash cricket game: read here.

• PFL partners with Futureverse to launch ‘PFL Rewards’: read here.

• OneFootball partner with Mysten Labs’ Walrus for decentralised content management & storage: read here.

• Americas Cup boats to carry celebrities onboard from 2027: read here.

• McDonald’s relaunch McDonaldsland, with Fortnite experience launched: read here.

• Uptop partners with LSU Athletics for rewards program, Geaux Rewards: read here.

• Arsenal FC announce partnership with crypto exchange, BitPanda: read here.

• How MLS are driving next-gen fandom: read here.

• YBVR launch Xtadium in UK: read here.

• Voldex partner with Lamborghini for Fenomeno launch: read here.

• Super League brings HI-CHEW back to Fortnite: read here.

• BLAST announce long-term partnership with Singapore Tourism Board: read here.

Working on anything cool, or have a press release you would like us to cover? Send it in for the chance for it to be covered in next week’s edition!

That’s all for now everyone - thanks again for reading the latest edition of The SEG3 Report, and if you found it of interest, please do consider sharing with a friend!