Myths, Art and Marketing
In the art world...
there is a marketplace which is used for a primitive practice called
trading. Where those with goods chase those with money and those with money
chase those with goods, until they catch each other. Unfortunately, it is not always so, sometime
those with goods search in vain for those with money and vice versa. Some magic is needed, to bring the two
together...Professionals call this magic ’MARKETING’. - Michael McDonald
Many people have
asked, is marketing advertising or is it selling?
Let’s examine the association between these two communication functions objectively.
Advertising which is the public promotion
of something such as a product, service, business, or event in order to attract
or increase interest in it - is only one part of the ‘promotion’ factor in
the marketing. Even though advertising is vital in the success of any public
campaign and must be taken into account in any career strategy - it’s not
marketing!
Let’s objectively address the correlation
between the marketplace and the inclusion of artwork from a historical
perspective. The art market is not a twentieth century intervention
driven by dealers and gallery owners to manipulate artists. History indicates the art market originated over
five-hundred years ago in the coastal town of Antwerp Belgium. During that era
many artists peddled ready-made pieces hoping to attract and sell to passersby.
However, as the demand for artistic objects became more complex, there was the
growth of intermediaries (a.k.a. art merchants) who became the link between
artists and benefactors. In the art world mediators are the industry orators of
artistic value and produce most the marketing activities around the globe.
There have been numerous authors claiming marketing clashed
with the various philosophies of art and the values of artists:
So what do we know about marketing?
Modern marketing originated during the 1900’s as a
normative management discipline. The term ‘marketing’ in some circles refers to
a form of communication; however, ‘marketing’ is a lot more extensive than the
general definition stipulated in typical dictionaries. The major role of the marketing
function is to identify the environment, characterize the population and narrow
the communication perimeter which associates with the specific market. The
explicit information obtained from such processes help fuel the subsequent stages
to produce the segment specific promotional and advertising campaigns. The construct
of any campaign or endeavor is interdependent on understanding the details
divulge from the marketing process such as the needs and wants of consumers,
capacity to offer the product or services and the selection of channels in the
form buyers expect.
Marketing is a critical function that defines the language, environment
and channel needed to articulate a product offering as well as communicating
its value to a certain market of buyers. As a function, marketing is a multiple
staged management process. The
implementation can be implemented before, during or after the product is
produced. The marketplace and marketing coincide with premise - success
is based on understand the needs and wants of consumers and providing them with
the products or services profitably.
[1] E.A. Honig 1998, ‘Painting and the Market in Early Modern Antwerp, London: Yale University Press.
[2] E. C Hrischman 1983, ‘Aesthetics, ideologies and the limits of the marketing concept’, Journal of Marketing.
[3] G. S. Day and D.B. Montgomery 1999, ‘Charting new directions for marketing,’ Journal of Marketing.
Marketing,
relative to the trade of artwork provides a coherent framework which assist
mediators (art marketers) of artwork or artistic talent to formulate the
courses of action to achieve their objectives. The marketing process is
designed to structure the information gathering efforts needed to support the
decision-making process. As a result, the facts uncovered is vital for
formulating (sales approach or promotional campaign) effective strategies to
score with the right audience. Scientifically stated, ‘Marketing is the bridge
needed to understanding consumers and communicating with them via the
marketplace.”
Like any other industry the marketplace has its critics.
There have been numerous authors claiming marketing clashed
with the various philosophies of art and the values of artists:
1) According to those writers marketing is considered by
some artists as “troubled, irrelevant, with an over-reliant on rules. The
assertions are based on the premise, creativity is an experimental journey correspondingly,
should the process of marketing.
(a) Based on those claims, the process of understanding how
the marketplace operates is considered troublesome, the interest of buyers is
irrelevant and the contingent on the rules of the free market system is not appropriate
when it comes to the diffusion of artwork.
(2) In some artistic circles the “Marketing’s formula-based
thinking focused too much on selling products rather than creating markets.
(a) Even though selling is one use of the marketing function,
the main task is gathering information needed to understand the marketplace so
the artist can formulate a plan of action to effectively engage the targeted
participants.
(i) The information ascertained from a comprehensive
marketing effort can be used for creating strategies, identifying markets, cultivating
suppliers, understanding the local culture, finding funding resources and
exploiting opportunities in existing markets as well.
(3) Other authors have implied the ‘marketing
concept” does not match the behavior and philosophy of a narrow group of artists
because of those people personal values and the social norms, which allegedly impact
the artistic creative process. In addition, in their
view the marketing concept somehow interferes with creative production of
today‘s artists.
(a) Those implications falsely assert that a philosophy of focusing on customer’s needs somehow disturb the artist ability to think artistically, and such interferes with creative production of the artist.
(i) Which also implied that most artists are easily distracted.
(a) Those implications falsely assert that a philosophy of focusing on customer’s needs somehow disturb the artist ability to think artistically, and such interferes with creative production of the artist.
(i) Which also implied that most artists are easily distracted.
Modern marketing originated during the 1900’s as a
normative management discipline. The term ‘marketing’ in some circles refers to
a form of communication; however, ‘marketing’ is a lot more extensive than the
general definition stipulated in typical dictionaries. The major role of the marketing
function is to identify the environment, characterize the population and narrow
the communication perimeter which associates with the specific market. The
explicit information obtained from such processes help fuel the subsequent stages
to produce the segment specific promotional and advertising campaigns. The construct
of any campaign or endeavor is interdependent on understanding the details
divulge from the marketing process such as the needs and wants of consumers,
capacity to offer the product or services and the selection of channels in the
form buyers expect.
Marketing is a critical function that defines the language, environment
and channel needed to articulate a product offering as well as communicating
its value to a certain market of buyers. As a function, marketing is a multiple
staged management process. The
implementation can be implemented before, during or after the product is
produced. The marketplace and marketing coincide with premise - success
is based on understand the needs and wants of consumers and providing them with
the products or services profitably. [1] E.A. Honig 1998, ‘Painting and the Market in Early Modern Antwerp, London: Yale University Press.
[2] E. C Hrischman 1983, ‘Aesthetics, ideologies and the limits of the marketing concept’, Journal of Marketing.
[3] G. S. Day and D.B. Montgomery 1999, ‘Charting new directions for marketing,’ Journal of Marketing.
GAN specialized in providing career and business
solutions to participants at all levels and business operation within the art
industry. Our extensive international experience is supported by a global
footprint.
Global Art Network is a Louisiana based enterprise with offices in Baltimore MD, Cleveland OH, Boston MA, Seattle WA, Orlando FL and San Diego CA. GAN operate in 100 art metro areas and 31 countries. No matter which ever continent you are on we can assist you in reaching realistic goals.
Global Art Network is a Louisiana based enterprise with offices in Baltimore MD, Cleveland OH, Boston MA, Seattle WA, Orlando FL and San Diego CA. GAN operate in 100 art metro areas and 31 countries. No matter which ever continent you are on we can assist you in reaching realistic goals.
Comments