The art of the brand [part 2]

Why would any corporate spend millions to get their logo on the jersey of a sports team (a logo that might get noticed, but is considered by the consumer as adjacent to the experience, not integral to it) when they can spend a fraction of that to become part of creating an arts event, production or festival that speaks directly to the heart of the consumer?

Doesn't add up

It doesn't add up, which is why extravagant sport sponsorships are barely tolerated in today's consumer-conscious media.

Part of the blame, it must be said, lies at the feet of the arts community itself. For years it has been battered into a position where it apologises for the sponsorship it seeks. And for the same period of time it has singularly failed to recognise why corporates sponsor anything - not to feel good about themselves (although the pictures do liven up an annual report) but rather to drive sales.

It's that simple.

And too few of those who seek sponsorship for their arts projects are prepared to recognise that and partner with corporates to help them reach their objectives.

Artists sometimes act as if marketing is a dirty word that will somehow tarnish their credibility. By the same token, sponsors make a hash of it when they get on the wrong side of the experience. As an audience is enjoying a moment of magic, the last thing they want is an intrusion or interruption. But they will respond warmly to a sponsor who brands an event with integrity, saying “Enjoy that? We did too, and we're glad we could make it possible.”

Secret sauce

That “being on the same side of the experience” is the secret sauce that makes the difference between an effective arts sponsorship and an intrusive one. Some SA corporates have gotten it right - witness Cell C's inner city art projects, Old Mutual's customised once-in-a-lifetime music events, and Exclusive Book's Homebru.

Others, which I won't go into here, have gotten it wrong, being the sponsorship world's equivalent of your daughter's brash boyfriend arriving drunk at a christening in a Bokke beanie. The difference is mature, intelligent activation that earns consumer respect, not disdain.

In part oneI established that the arts market is uncluttered and ripe for the sponsorship picking. If it weren't already self-evident, let's unpack the economics of the debate.

To put your company logo on the jersey of a top football club in South Africa will probably (conservatively) cost you R50 million over a couple of years. Then you need to activate the sponsorship and shout about it, which doubles the bill.

The question, then, is this. What could R100 million get you in the arts, and is it better than putting your logo on the jersey of a soccer team?

Own outright

The secret is that, for the cost of the hypothetical football team, you could own outright most, if not all, of the biggest arts events in South Africa, including the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown; KKNK in Oudtshoorn; Aardklop in Potchefstroom; Johannesburg's Dance Umbrella and the Cape Town International Jazz Festival .

And you would still have some change.

Then, with some smart (not expensive) activation around the event, you could find ways of touching and engaging hundreds of thousands of consumers. All of that, or your logo on a soccer jersey or golf shirt which may or may not get noticed by the fans?

Given that equation, I'm surprised that more financial directors aren't pushing their marketing directors out the door to brush up on the arts.

Before I get bullied in the playground next time I go to a marketing gathering, let me state clearly and unequivocally that there is a place for sports sponsorship in the marketing mix. Clever brands - such as Standard Bank - have known this for years.

Standard Bank realises that a well-rounded portfolio of sponsorships isn't just about cutting across a multitude of sporting codes and getting its logo on television, but rather about finding opportunities to touch South Africans whatever their passion, be it cricket, soccer, jazz or theatre. That's a mature mix, a powerful mix, and one that pays off for it in survey after survey and which puts it at the top of the leaderboard of iconic SA brands.

Magic thread

Another fine example of creating that magic thread between event and spectator is Vodacom's inspired “official supporter of South African supporters” campaign. In an instant, with a single clever line, it achieves that sense of “we're on the same side here”.

When you strike gold in the arts world, the rewards are exponentially huge relative to the cost. You become a stand-out brand in a focused, usually educated and probably affluent market. And, because it comes at a relatively lower cost, you can take a few more risks. You can spend on the “safe bets” - the big festivals and the big productions - and throw in a couple of gambles knowing that some of them will pay off - a production here, a tour there, wrapping your marketing spend up in a CSI cloak as you give a leg up to some of the hundreds of community groups who know how the arts can help them restore their dignity and pride, but don't have the resources to make it happen.

You can do all of that and not come close to the cost of that single soccer jersey.

And because you're spending carefully and astutely on something that virtually everyone agrees is vital to nation building and identity, chances are you'll keep your CEO off the front page of the papers...

At a fraction of the price of sport, and with potentially the same (if not greater) ability to move the jaded, brand-exhausted consumer along a “purchase now” trajectory, sponsoring the arts has become the smart marketers' godsend.

Ripe for the picking

Right now there are hundreds of arts projects ripe for the picking. They range from multi-discipline festivals (the big safe bets with considerable media muscle and public support) through to startup events with huge potential; theatre companies who perform 365 days a year in venues around the country; community theatre groups trying to make a go of it; individual productions that will help you dip a big toe into the arts space; and a multitude of music, jazz and other focused festivals that attract hundreds of thousands of your customers.

No SA brand serious about its future relevance can afford to leave the arts out of the mix. No SA brand serious about delivering shareholder value cannot seriously reconsider its spend on sport. And there are no excuses not to enter this, the most uncluttered of marketing spaces still available.

It is the most cost-effective marketing vehicle in tough economic times. It has the added benefit of not only being the most powerful weapon in a marketing toolbox, but of doing good at the same time. All compelling reasons to get on the bandwagon.