Borkowski Media Trends: Has Musk's Support Moved Trump's Needle? & MORE

PLUS Travis Kelce's 'Leaked Breakup PR Plan'

Has Elon Musk’s Endorsement Moved Trumps’s Needle?

Elon Musk officially endorsed Donald Trump on 13 July, since when there has been much debate about the impact of his support.

Any single endorsement was inevitably going to be eclipsed by President Biden stepping aside and VP Kamala Harris taking over the Democratic nomination.

But Musk’s support of Trump has been full-throated, chiefly on X (née Twitter) from their interview on 13 August, to constant posts supporting Trump or lambasting the Democrats and Kamala Harris – including nearly a dozen in the past 48 hours at time of writing.

Musk has nearly 200m followers on X but he’s also gerrymandered the algorithm so that every user of the platform – including an estimated 100m Americans- is exposed to his content.

So, is Musk moving the needle? The polls offer one view, but for a PR perspective we used Meltwater data to analyse media and social sentiment towards Musk, Trump, and Harris since Musk’s endorsement.

Musk and Trump have been mentioned together 2.2m times in this period, and 76.3% of non-neutral mentions are negative.

Nearly a quarter of this coverage (539k mentions) came the day of Trump and Musk’s X stream on 13 August, but even such a public charm offensive only momentarily shifted sentiment by about 2%.

Since 13 July Trump has been mentioned independently 59.9m times, so Musk’s endorsement only accounts for 3.67% of his media and socials coverage.

Mentions of Trump alone are also proportionately more positive (12.3%) than in conjunction with Musk (11.9%).

On the flipside, Trump’s coverage is marginally more negative when separated from Musk’s endorsement, with 79% of non-neutral mentions negative.

Musk may have had a miniscule impact in reducing negativity towards Trump, but his endorsement generated proportionately less positive coverage than Trump on his own, making his overall impact negligible.

But did Musk’s endorsement at least put a scratch on Democrat momentum?

On 13 July Trump’s opponent was a fragile and beleaguered Joe Biden. Within 10 days it was a well-prepared, energised Kamala Harris.

As we detailed in a previous post on Meltwater data, Trump’s advantage over Harris going into this fight was share-of-voice. But Harris has since overhauled him with 72.8m mentions – 21.5% more than Trump.

Harris also has a higher proportion of positive non-neutral coverage in this time frame – 22.9% vs Trump’s 21% (13.3% overall vs 12.3% for Trump).

This gap might not seem huge, but taking into account Harris’ higher share-of-voice it equates to significantly more media and socials support; Harris’ 9.7m positive mentions are 31% higher than Trump’s in this period.

However, Harris’ negative mentions are also 13.4% higher than Trump’s, despite being proportionately lower; 32.6m vs Trump’s 28.75m.

From 22 July, the NYT’s poll tracker shows a 6-point swing in Harris’ favour nationally and growing support in every swing state. These polls also suggest that Musk’s endorsement of Trump had zero impact, supporting our conclusive reading of the Meltwater data: Musk is not (yet) a major factor in the outcome of this election.

Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce Breakup Rumours: Leaked Contract Sparks PR Debate

After a recent leaked of what is alleged to be a PR strategy outlining a plan for the breakup between Taylor Swift and her boyfriend Travis Kelce, tabloids have been buzzing with speculation. Could this really signal the end for America’s sweetheart and her football star boyfriend?

The PR firm Full Scope, cited in the document, quickly responded, stating the strategy was absolutely fake, and they plan to take legal action against whoever was responsible for the image. However, Taylor Swift took matters into her own hands, sending a clear message intended to shut down the ‘PRelationship’ rumours.

The leaked document, which claimed to detail steps for managing Kelce’s reputation in the event of a split between the power couple, has been deemed a fabrication. However, it reignited the debate: are Taylor and Travis just a PR couple?

It’s not uncommon for celebrity relationships to spark rumours of strategic branding or promotion. Taylor Swift, with her image as the all-American girl next door, is currently promoting her record-breaking Eras tour, while Travis Kelce’s fame has surged after winning the Super Bowl with the Kansas City Chiefs. Some argue that both stars could be using their relationship to amplify their individual brands.

Before dating Travis, Taylor had faced similar questions throughout her history of high-profile relationships, with critics accusing her of using these relationships as material for her music. But those rumours faded when she entered her “fairytale” relationship with the star football player.

The leaked PR plan brings attention to how meticulously planned celebrity branding is today. PRs, especially those handling celebrity clients, do genuinely prepare for every scenario—including managing public breakups. Whether or not the document is real, it raises the possibility in the public consciousness that such conversations may have already happened. Celebrities, however ‘relatable’ their brand, operate in a different reality, especially those like Taylor and Travis, who have become major cultural icons.

When a couple as high-profile as Taylor and Travis potentially breaks up, there’s bound to be carefully crafted messaging around it. Both need to protect their personal brands in every situation.

Taylor Swift responded to the breakup rumours in classic style: she was photographed attending the Chiefs’ first NFL game last night, putting the gossip to rest with her presence alone. The time-honoured strategy of a picture speaking a thousand words.