Owen O’Connor, a high school senior from the Boston suburb Weymouth, remembered when
Golden State Warriors wing
Andrew Wiggins rode a wave of fan support of K-pop stars BTS to the All-Star starting lineup. As host of the “Banner 18” podcast, O’Connor wanted to find a way to get his Celtics to Indianapolis that was more effective than just talking about it. He had to put his money where his tweets were.
The Wiggins story inspired him to put together a similar campaign for
Jayson Tatum earlier this season, but Celtics fans told him White was the one who needed the support.
“Because of that, I went out and did the same because Taylor Swift is essentially (BTS) this year,” O’Connor told
The Athletic.
The 17-year-old scoured the internet for anything he could use to sell Swifties on the idea that White is a superfan, stumbling upon an image of a fake X post from White that simply read “Can’t wait to go to the next Taylor Swift concert in Boston!” O’Connor posted it to his account and the rest is history.
“Yeah, I’ve seen the Taylor Swift one. I did not say that. No,” Derrick White told
The Athletic with a laugh. “But if Taylor Swift came to Boston and I was in Boston, I would attend. I’ve heard it’s a great concert, so let’s see what the hype’s about.”
O’Connor’s post went viral. The campaign, replicated by other Celtics fans online, was taking off.
“The Taylor Swift effect is unlike anything I’ve ever seen with social influence,” said Brendan Kaminsky, founder of
bknown, a branding and social media agency. “For the fan that started this fake campaign for Derrick White, I actually applaud him for his creativity and effort. He realizes what a lot of us now do: The lines are so blurred on X, that you can (unfortunately) easily fool thousands and use it to your advantage.”
