Marketing Urban Art: A Case Analysis of the Exchange Project Submitted in partial fulfillment of the Master of Science degree in Arts Administration Philip Asbury Candidate for Master’s in Arts Administration Drexel University June 2009 i Table of Contents Section Page Abstract i Problem Statement 1 Literature and Background 3 Definitions 7 Procedure 10 Limitations 10 Body-Marketing Urban Art: The Exchange Project 12 Figure1: List of Participating Artists 18 Case Study: The Exchange Project and Tour 19 Summary 29 Conclusion 33 Bibliography 36 ii Abstract The Exchange is an interactive project that promotes a sharing of stylistic influences amongst a select group of urban artists. The project is web-based but it also mounted a four city tour in 2007. As scholarly research is very limited in the genre, this study was an attempt to gather the few existing sources, general information, and first hand knowledge of the author, a participant in the Exchange. The result is a look at the best practices in marketing urban art. The financial details of the Exchange were unable to be included. The author recommends that urban artists partner with organizations that share a similar mission and to focus on viral marketing. i Problem Statement Urban art is a new genre of art that is still in its developing stages. Though the market for urban art is growing rapidly, how to market urban art work has largely gone unstudied and undocumented. This study will document the Exchange, a collaborative visual art project involving 13 international “urban artists”. In this process, special attention will be focused on the marketing tools and strategies employed by the Exchange as well as their effectiveness. This study is important to the field as it will provide information that can be used to develop audiences, implement a viral marketing strategy, choose mutually beneficial business partners and generally capitalize on marketing opportunities specific to the frontier of urban art. To accomplish these goals, I will examine the Exchange project with emphasis on its national tour. General practices in urban art will be researched, focusing on the following areas: how exhibitions are financed, corporate sponsored exhibitions and tours, and exhibition/tour specifics such as theme, number of artists, venue etc. These factors will be presented and examined in attempt to find an ideal way to promote urban artists and urban art exhibitions in a way that benefits the artists and culture at large, while using the Exchange as a point of reference. Information will be gathered from existing scholarly research on urban art, scholarly research on the marketing of art in general, available promotional materials from urban art events and first-hand information from the author, a participant in the Exchange. The expectation is that with this case study we will learn the best practices in marketing urban art to not only its core audience but the art going public at large. With the wide variety of tools and technologies used, the marketing of the Exchange provides a key event in urban art from which to examine the practice of urban 1 art marketing. The reader will learn about the successes and failures of the Exchange and how other organizations/ individual artists can learn from its operation. 2 Literature Review Urban artists, urban art exhibitions, and urban art tours are not a new thing. Until 30 years ago urban art was unacceptable to galleries and museums, not to mention to a society that, in large, was still outraged by it (The World 2008). Since the 1970’s birth of New York train graffiti, a phenomenon that spawned many disciplines currently known as urban art, the interest, scope, and talent of urban artists has grown exponentially. Today there is a growing interest and marketplace for urban art (The World 2008). Bonhams, a UK-based auctioneer of art and antiques, and market leader in urban art sales, calls the genre fresh, exciting, and edgy while boasting the ability to sell a shocking 99% of work at urban art exhibitions for unprecedented amounts (The World 2008). Despite this growth in the significance of urban art, there is still very little professional or scholarly literature for artists about how to better engage audiences. The information that does exist is either largely limited to the frenzy around specific artists in the genre, too broad, in that it does not deal with urban art as its own genre, or tends to focus on individual companies or events promoting urban artists. Even in these standard works, however, there are very few available sources. Generally speaking, urban arts marketing would follow the principles of niche marketing for the arts. Greenway (2008), Lindsay (2007) and Addis (2007) cite communication as a key in this end. Greenway contends that use of technology in the form of websites, message boards, blogs and email blasts, are crucial tools in keeping tabs on target audiences. They can serve as resources before and after in-person exposure to artwork. Audiences can learn about an artist and help generate interest in his or her art work even before attending a show or event (Greenway 2008). Friedman (2007) and Parker (2007) tell us that before this type of communication can be made and maintained 3 on a regular basis “experts” in a given genre have to be located and made ambassadors of a given product or artist. In other words, they recommend a type of tastemaker-centered viral marketing with the understanding that consumers have the power to spread a positive or negative image of a product purely through their own communication (Addis 2007). Where more general marketing practices are concerned, direct mail, telemarketing, print flyers and advertisements can also be employed (Kerrigan 2004). This information is very helpful but lacks specifics about where and how to locate the appropriate audiences for urban art. In order to implement their marketing plans and operate, urban artists and organizations need funds. Both Danby and Nayar (2008) explain that corporate support is necessary to lift the profile of the arts in general, but that the relationships between artists and corporations are often based on specific events that are highly visible to the public. Therefore, corporations enter into these relationships with the intention of gaining financially through visible association. Bedoya (1998) approves of corporate support but advocates for the employment of a range of sources to support the arts. Both (Sorenson 2007) and (Nayar 2008) discuss the potentially negative effects of corporate profit- earning motivations with regards to exhibition sponsorship. Bedoya continues, saying that “the danger, quite simply, is the transformation of arts institutions into the Goodyear blimp.”(Bedoya 1998) Urban arts organizations employ both for-profit and non-profit models. In some cases “cause” marketing models can be employed to raise funds and awareness about a product. Cause marketing is the action through which a company, non-profit organization, or similar entity, markets an image, product, service, or message for mutual benefit of both the entity and the cause (Marconi 2002). Klotz-Guest (2008) suggests that 4 organizations, principally non-profits, can only benefit from cause related marketing if they prepare themselves. Promotional efforts must be rooted in the “cause” organization’s mission (Klotz-Guest 2008). Klotz-Guest and Fritz (2008) emphasize communication of product/organizational strengths and the constant communication with patrons to monitor the quality of products sold. Martin, on the other hand, contends that consumers seem to be losing interest in cause marketing campaigns that link products to social causes. Corporations have employed urban artists for “guerrilla advertising”, or hired them to create advertisements and logos in urban environments as a means to gain street credibility, for quite some time (Lucas/Dorrian 2006) but these tactics are not well documented. There are however, several examples of well-documented smaller projects in which urban artists gained support from commercial entities, e.g. the billboard project “La rue aux artistes,” or “Street of Artists”, which was funded and managed by Viacom (Garouste 2004). Red Bull and Scion, a subsidiary of Toyota, present some of the larger scale efforts to incorporate urban art and artists into corporate marketing plans. Since 1997, Red Bull has held 8 “Art of Can Exhibitions” in The United States and Europe. These exhibits are open to anyone but on average 40-60 artists are chosen to show in each exhibit. The events are advertised in urban centers and offer varying amounts of prize money. Additionally, Red Bull hosts Artbeat, “an international innovation platform for young, non-museal art, that is ‘street art’” which targets younger art lovers (Staff, 2006). As a relatively new subsidiary of Toyota, Scion has received both praise and scrutiny for its efforts to court young people with urban art (Rechtin 2007). While Shafrir (2005) and Rechtin (2005) both focus on the nuances of selling Scion cars, their discussions of product placement (showrooms next to clothing retailer Urban Outfitters 5 and use of viral marketing through event and exhibition sponsorship) are transferable to the sale of urban art as they cater to a young, urban demographic. There is, however, no analysis of how the urban art subculture is affected by Scion sponsored events. The majority of other documentation only serves to publicize their events and spread awareness about its products. These communications are numerous but very brief. Scion also coordinates the Scion Installation Tour, a traveling urban art exhibition in the United States. Scholarly research on this tour and others that will be discussed later is virtually nonexistent. The only available information consists of websites and electronic promotional materials. Kennedy (2009), Baker (2008), Hoban (2008), and Love (2008) all site British Urban artist Banksy as a current leader in the international urban art industry.