Linking arts with brands is great PR

Last November the elephants came to Singapore on the auspicious date of 11.11.11. For two months, these 162 colourful elephants, painted or decorated in vibrant creativity by artists and celebrities, made quite an impact especially along Orchard Road, Marina Bay and at the Singapore Zoo.

In recent years, the vibrancy of the arts and economic growth in Asia has made the linking of arts with brands a major PR platform and more clients are willing to put aside a budget for this channel of communications

As a major sponsor of the Singapore Elephant Parade, ABN-AMRO was also able to combine their association with the arts and their strong commitment to conservation.

In collaboration with Sotheby’s, the elephants were auctioned off in mid-January fetching over SD1.7million and part of that amount went to the Asian Elephant Foundation.

Tangs, the retail department store had also partnered by selling the merchandise of miniature elephant replicas and donating a portion to the fund.

The Elephant Parade has been designated the world’s largest outdoor art exhibition for the conservation of Asian elephants and organisers chose Singapore as the first Asia stop outside Europe because of the country’s vibrancy in the arts.

In past years, Singapore, already well-known for its conservation initiatives, has successfully promoted the city as a regional arts hub. The year 2011 saw a string of well-received arts and culture projects and exhibitions.

The popular Singapore Biennale 2011 far exceeded attendance expectations and the launch of the Art Stage, the Arts Festival and the hosting of the 2nd Singapore Affordable Art Fair were also strongly supported.

City branding and positioning
Increasingly, cities and countries like Singapore and Hong Kong are playing the cultural card to help in their positioning and competition with each other.

While Hollywood and Broadway have long played that role for the USA, and France has historically allocated budgets for cultural outreach, an increasing number of centres are investing heavily in cultural infrastructure with urbanism very much a part of the scene, as when an architectural feature makes its mark on a city and helps build its brand.

In China, Guangzhou called in Zaha Hadid, the world’s most celebrated architect, to launch the innovative Guangzhou Opera House and her unique Innovation Tower in Hong Kong will be completed in 2012.

Similarly, Beijing commissioned Herzog & de Meuron for its Olympic stadium and Rem Koolhaas for its CCTV building. In the past few years Singapore has transformed its skyline with the Singapore Flyer, the majestic Marina Bay Sands and the almost completed Gardens by the Bay’s horticultural domes.

The Gardens by the Bay is yet another part of Singapore’s strategy to transform Singapore into A City in a Garden.

Alternative to sports sponsorship
Over the past decade I have witnessed how linking arts with brands in Asia has taken hold. A memorable example was back in 2001 when The Three Tenors, Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras performed at the Forbidden City in Beijing.

Having the Three Tenors at this amazing venue was a major coup and a defining moment for China’s opening up to the outside world. One of our clients, Audi, was a major sponsor. Instead of following the norm at that time of sponsoring sports events like golf or tennis, Audi had recognised that arts and culture is not only a great platform for promotion, but one that can build emotional bonds with its stakeholders and consumers.

They continued with a string of arts and culture sponsorships which became an integral part of their communication strategy.

Integration of luxury and art
Luxury brands have long realized the art value of their products, often including celebrity-related activities for their high-net-worth consumers. Cartier has positioned its jewellery several times as art pieces by displaying them in museums across Asia, ensuring that the brand is linked to the best things in life.

Recently, Hermès' Festival of Crafts arrived in Singapore as the first Asian stop after the US and Europe, to demonstrate the level of craftsmanship involved in their luxury products. Hermès had fine- tuned the integration of luxury and art, making it their own without losing the creator’s distinct creativity, from their Jean Birkin bags to their latest graffiti scarves by artist Kongo.

In China they have helped create a new local brand called Shang Xia, using local inspirations and craftsmanship for their designs. Hermès is a great example of a brand that thinks of future generations and pushes the boundaries to match.

In 2011, a number of luxury watch brands have exhibited their time pieces in arts settings in Singapore, such as the Biennial Jewellery Time by Cortina, displaying 300 jewellery timepieces from 14 luxury brands, the ‘Writing Time’ exhibition of historic chronographs by prestigious Musée international d’horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds and Montblanc; and Girard-Perregaux’s 220th anniversary exhibition at the Art and Science museum.

The hospitality side of these events adds to a closer connection between the brand and its consumers.

Leveraging different channels of communications
Different clients in different sectors have different messages to communicate and want different channels of communications to be leveraged. The arts and culture scene, through its diversity, can achieve this, reaching out to different target audiences through media, hospitality programmes or direct involvement.

Sponsorship could be a rock concert, a classical evening of opera or dance, a contemporary art exhibition, a cutting edge technological artistic show or perhaps a more personal touch with a renowned artist’s master class or a celebrity endorsement, all of them achieving specific goals.

People can be passionate about arts and culture and it is a unique way to connect the brand to consumers. It is also a medium that can communicate values or messages that other mediums cannot. The values of the corporation need to match with the aspirations and interests of its stakeholders, and the artistic medium can be a bridge to bring these together.

To have personal engagement with something memorable, companies or countries need to touch people’s hearts and emotions with a message that resonates beyond words. When a business embraces the arts besides its core offerings, it raises it to a different level in people’s eyes.

A successful partnership in linking arts with brands especially with a CSR initiative goes beyond publicity or brand awareness. It creates a culture, develops people engagement, raises creativity, retains and attracts staff as well as building stronger bonds and positioning with their stakeholders.  

Jean Michel Dumont, Chairman, Ruder Finn Asia