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Spotlight On... The Arts
The Arts Sponsorship sector doesn't attract the kind of big money that flows into sport, popular music and media. But areas like theatre, opera, museums, art galleries and cultural festivals still have a key role to play for a wide range of brands.
At the most general level, the sector’s leading institutions are able to attract significant levels of traffic across the course of the year. They may not pull in the kind of crowds generated by the English Premier League or The X Factor, but the 6.4 million who visited the British Museum in 2016 is still a substantial number for brands to play with. When you also factor in the National Gallery’s 6.3m visitors, the Tate Modern’s 5.8m, the Southbank Centre’s 3.9m, the V&A’s 3 million and the National Portrait Gallery’s 1.9m, then it becomes clear that there is a significant opportunity for brand exposure around the arts.
The story doesn't end there. With the emergence of low cost digital streaming technology, these world-class sites are able to reach out beyond their bricks and mortar bases. Whether it’s the live cinema screening of King Lear from the National Theatre or #OperaPassion Day, a V&A, Royal Opera House and BBC-backed live streaming initiative, the opportunity to engage with audiences at home and abroad has been transformed.
In 2016, one of the UK Sponsorship Awards Arts Category finalists was the Samsung/RSC partnership RE:Shakespeare. This centred on an app for Android devices designed to inspire students about Shakespeare, both in and out of the classroom. The app used videos and games to bring Shakespeare's work to life in different ways. In the past, telco BT partnered with the Tate Museum’s online platform while Credit Suisse worked with The National Gallery on an app that allowed the public to view an imagined recreation of Leonardo da Vinci’s studio.
Of course, brands seeking b2c exposure don’t have to support an entire year’s worth of artistic endeavour – they can also back specific exhibitions or events. Among last year’s UK Sponsorship Awards Arts Category finalists, for example, were Levi’s and the V&A for You Say You Want A Revolution?, an exploration of the late 1960s. The year before that, the winning campaign was Alexander McQueen; Savage Beauty, in partnership with Swarovski (also entered by the V&A Museum).
This kind of bespoke activity enables tighter targeting of visitors and also provides a way for brands to get into arts sponsorship at a lower cost. In a comprehensive survey of the sector, The Guardian illustrated the flexibility of arts sponsorship by highlighting the fact that packages can range in price from as little as £12,000 to £500,000+ - with a series of significant price brackets in between. The lower price will buy usable assets like private tours, queue jumping passes and discounts while the higher price suggests a year-round partnership with prominent branding onsite, online and in marketing material (posters, etc). The prices in between cover situations where a sponsor decides to back a specific exhibition, performance or installation – either because it is a good fit or because the timing works well.
So what are the reasons for brands to target audiences using the arts? Well, the first thing to say is that it’s not just about raw headcount. The arts tend to attract specific demographic clusters that may be hard to reach through other channels. Free events at museums, for example, are a magnet for families; while big-ticket cultural events skew towards upmarket audiences – with either money or influence. In addition to this, the nature of the arts is such that it can be used to build positive attitudes among consumers by linking the sponsor’s brand with innovation, culture and creativity.
Arts organisations also often have excellent outreach activities. This can provide the platform for businesses to connect with local communities in a meaningful and effective way. Brands that incorporate the arts into their CSR strategies can strengthen their reputations for good corporate citizenship.
The arts provide a legitimate and credible platform for communicating with schools and are also a platform for engagement with high value business partners or stakeholders where a one-to-one or one-to-few relationship is required. They are also a great way to engage with staff and help them establish new skills and mindsets. They have the ability to take people out of their comfort zones and place them in contexts that enable them to explore new perspectives and ways of seeing themselves and their business. Arts initiatives can also shine a spotlight on the profile of a business and help explore issues through the prism of creativity and social intelligence.
An additional benefit is that arts organisations tend to be pretty flexible about the nature of their interaction with brands – meaning that it is possible to create immersive activities that go beyond tickets and tours. In terms of corporate hospitality, the FT ran a story in 2015 that began like this: “How about dinner on the stage of the latest production of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), surrounded by sets and props? Or perhaps a walk-on part in a film? Otherwise, you could meet some of the world’s most talented orchestral players or have a gallery named after you. These are among incentives offered to potential sponsors, both corporate and individual, by theatres, orchestras, museums and other arts institutions.
In an age of austerity, the challenge for organisations is to be all the more creative in wooing patrons.”
The point is that arts institutions have some of the world’s most amazing talent and venues at their disposal – so it makes sense to use it. Creative thinking by arts organisations and their brand partners can play into a range of education, CSR and corporate hospitality strategies.
Reinforcing a point made earlier in this piece, the UK’s leading cultural institutions are global brands with global ambitions – a point that some sponsors have recognised. For example, 2016 saw the RSC embark on an international tour – supported by financial services group JPMorgan. Not only did the tour introduce the RSC to China, Hong Kong and the US, it was an opportunity for JPMorgan to open some interesting doors.
At the same time the arts are a great way to drill down into the nations and regions of the UK. While London tends to dominate the art sector’s headlines, Manchester's new £110m Factory arts centre is one example of how the arts sector is blossoming outside the capital. Due to open in 2020, Manchester Council leader Sir Richard Leese said Factory will be “a complete game-changer” for the city and will “make Manchester and the wider region a genuine cultural counterbalance to London.”
Still in Manchester, Manchester Airports Group has been a long-term backer of the arts. In 2014, it ploughed £340,000 into arts sponsorship – backing venues such as Bridgewater Hall, The Lowry and The Royal Exchange. The money also benefited organisations on the outer rim of Manchester such as Bury Met, Bolton Octagon, Oldham Coliseum and Wigan Jazz.
The strength of the relationship between Manchester business and the arts is replicated in other hubs such as Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Birmingham (not to mention the eclectic array of arts festivals up and down the British Isles).
Earlier this year, for example, at the 30th Arts & Business Scotland Awards, winning campaigns included Check-It Scaffold Services’ partnership with Scottish Ballet on Swan Lake. There were also awards for Glasgow City Council and Arts Pistol, for successfully collaborating on a project to find an enterprising solution to the issue of graffiti in Glasgow’s city centre; and The National Theatre of Scotland and Deloitte, which collaborated on Granite – the largest cultural project ever undertaken in Aberdeen. This project introduced the Aberdeen community to theatre, raising awareness of the history and fabric of the city. Still in Scotland, Scottish gin distillery Edinburgh Gin recently came on board as presenting sponsor of Hogmanay’s Ceilidh, working in partnership with event organisers Underbelly.
Sometimes these regional opportunities are linked to high-profile events. This year, for example, Hull has been the UK’s City of Culture, an opportunity for brands to take part in a celebration that has received a lot of attention in the media. For 2021, contenders to be named as City of Culture include Coventry, Paisley, Stoke on Trent, Sunderland and Swansea.
In addition to all of the above, it’s worth noting that the arts still have a lot of support within the traditional media. The national newspapers carry an increasing amount of video in their arts sections – offering an opportunity for brands to tap into the cultural zeitgeist. The BBC, meanwhile, is the biggest provider of UK arts content in the UK. Clearly there are limitations on what sponsors can do in this area – but there’s nothing to prevent a brand backing an event that then secures BBC coverage. Sky Arts is also an important platform for arts coverage and performance – making it of interest to sponsors.
Worth noting also is that Sky Arts is a sponsor in its own right. Recently it became the headline sponsor for National Theatre Live in the UK, supporting shows like Hedda Gabler. “We believe art should be for everyone, everywhere, and we want to expand boundaries,” said Sky Arts director, Phil Edgar-Jones, “bringing the best of the arts to the widest audience. We are delighted to be partnering with NT Live and look forward to expanding our collaboration over the coming months.”
Proof of the arts sector’s appeal is the range of the sector’s partnerships. While BP’s huge investment in the arts has grabbed most of the headlines over the last year or two, the other finalists in the 2017 UKSA Arts Category (aside from the afore-mentioned Levi’s) included HTC Vive, Hasbro, Phillips (the auctioneers) and Hilton – the winner for its partnership with Underbelly Festival. In 2016, the roll call included Swarovski, Ray-Ban, AXA PPP Health, Samsung and Linklaters. The latter supported the British Library’s Magna Carta 800 exhibition.
Finance, automotive, alcohol and fashion brands are all big backers of the sector – examples including Hyundai, which signed an 11 year partnership with the Tate in 2014, and Travelex, which has made an enormous impact on the arts through its cheap ticket partnership with the National Theatre. Some brands have been long-standing supporters of the arts sector, an example being Societe Generale bank which has worked with the the V&A museum for more than a decade.
This year, expanding the pool further, The National Portrait Gallery embarked on a major collaboration with London’s children’s hospitals having secured three-year funding from real estate company Delancey. The new funding means the Gallery can increase its commitment to access to the arts in London’s children’s hospitals. Last year, the National Portrait Gallery gave 3000 young people in four of London’s children’s hospitals a specially commissioned activity book of portraits and illustrations inspired by popular writers such as Roald Dahl, J.K. Rowling, Douglas Adams and Malorie Blackman.
Perhaps surprisingly given the range of opportunities within the arts, brand sponsorship is not the biggest source of private revenue coming into the sector. In a report for the Arts Council of England, MTM found that just £96 million of the sector’s £480 million in private income came from businesses – far less than the £245 million provided by individuals and the £139 million provided by trusts and foundations. What’s more the business figure is in decline, dropping from £144 million in 2012/13 to £124 million in 2013/14 and £96 million in 2014/15.
One possible explanation for this is that there are few naming rights deals in the UK arts sector. In the US, where these are more prevalent, IEG estimates that the US arts sponsorship market is worth US$927 million and had been growing since 2010. Another possible factor is that many arts organisations don't have sufficient in-house staff to put together compelling sponsorship propositions and have tended to concentrate more of their resources of targeting individual benefactors.
It’s possible that this emphasis on private benefactors is a mistake, given all of the additional benefits that a sponsor can bring outside cash. That said, there’s no question that proactive brands should see the erosion of business interest in the arts as an opportunity to established a leadership position, engaging with a sector that is willing and able to deliver highly-effective, creative and innovative 360 degree partnerships.
Further Reading: Try taking a look at the following sources:
http://www.sponsorship-awards.co.uk/art-doing-business.
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/mar/02/arts-corporate-sponsorship-tate-british-museum
https://www.ft.com/content/4657bf78-8eaf-11e5-8be4-3506bf20cc2b
http://www.prweek.com/article/1356989/brands-arts-why-sponsorship-no-longer-enough
https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-new-era-of-corporate-art-sponsorship
The UK Sponsorship Awards is the leading awards event for Arts Sponsorship. For companies interested in entering the 2018 edition, follow this link for more details:
