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The whole notion of art sponsorship has been reinvented in recent years. For a long time seen as elitist and out-of-touch, specialists in the field have revisited the core proposition and looked at how art – in the broadest sense – can be leveraged against a client's marketing objectives.
The result has been an increase in the number of innovative art-based projects that contribute to community and educational goals. Clients like Persil and Yamaha have both managed to use arts as a platform to reach families through schools. Orange, winner of this year's Hollis Sponsorship Award in the arts category, has transformed the way we think about the sector – by building a high-profile marketing programme around films, mobile phones and free tickets.
But while all of this has been going on, what has been happening in the more traditional arts sector? Have the purveyors of exhibitions and performances also adapted to client needs? Or do they offer sponsors little more than a novelty champagne buffet in an unconventional venue?
Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) Rebecca Smith, Corporate Partnerships Manager says the idea that arts sponsorship is a soft investment is a thing of the past: "Corporate entertaining is often high on the agenda for our companies. But they also have marketing priorities that take in PR, retail and promotional opportunities. In every case, we are as flexible as possible to leverage the most value for each company."
“Clearly, a hot ticket exhibition in a classy venue can form the basis of a corporate hospitality junket. But a good sponsorship will also look at how you can influence multiple audiences both within the venue and beyond,” says Smith. "We work closely with all our sponsors to create a bespoke package for them. All sponsorship packages include a staff and CSR section with tickets, talks and education events on offer."
Banks have been some of the best exponents of arts sponsorship. Among recent V&A partners have been Nomura, Ernst & Young and Deloitte – which is currently backing Leonardo Da Vinci – Experience, Experiment and Design. In every case, says Smith, the client has found a way to integrate either staff, community or educational elements into their activity. "Deloitte has only just begun its sponsorship," says Smith. "But they already have Leonardo Family Days at the V&A planned for their staff. At their opening Gala Dinner, they had Andrew Marr interviewing Professor Martin Kemp on stage, discussing why Leonardo is relevant to a business audience."
The V&A is not the only venue to have worked with Deloitte. The National Portrait Gallery's head of corporate development Naomi Conway has just completed a three-year deal which gave Deloitte an open-ended relationship with the gallery's photographic works: "We decided not to link the Deloitte name to a specific exhibition so that we could come up with activities tailored around their requirements," says Conway. "More than ever, arts venues have to be able to deliver against clearly-defined corporate objectives."
Over and above corporate hospitality, for example, Deloitte made sure its staff had open access to the gallery. "We also gave the sponsorship a strong regional dimension through tours," says Conway, "Working in partnership with Deloitte in Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh was important because of the way their business is spread across the country."
The relationship has now ended but it's a blueprint that Conway believes could work for other companies. "We need companies that can fund original photographic work because that is the lifeblood of our gallery. But in return, we can offer a powerful platform with high visitor numbers and its own unique brand positioning."
Other banks to have worked in the arts arena include HSBC – which was shortlisted for the 2006 Hollis Sponsorship Award (Arts) after hooking up with the Tate Modern in 2005. In this case, HSBC wanted to articulate the internationalism of its brand by helping export a Henry Moore exhibition to Mexico and facilitating the import of a Frida Kahlo exhibition from Mexico to the UK. In doing so, the client demonstrated how arts sponsorship can be integrated into overall brand positioning (as evidenced by HSBC's ongoing TV campaign – the world's local bank).
A swift survey of the market suggests that clients in other sectors also recognise the broader potential of arts sponsorship as a way of communicating core messages about brand or product capabilities. A classic case study is BT's relationship with the Tate Modern's website – through which the telecom company has showcased its leadership in broadband. But BT hasn't stopped there. Its 2005 sponsorship of the Philharmonia climaxed with a pioneering interactive webcast of a live classical event.
The strength of both partnerships is the way they feed back into BT's core business activity. And other blue chip brands have also found ways to link their own brand positioning to core creative themes. BP, for example, sponsored the British Museum exhibition 'Mummy: the inside story' which uses cutting edge technology to allow visitors to see beneath the wrappings of the museum's world-famous Egyptian collection. While BP plus ancient Egypt may not look like an obvious fit, the use of technology makes it a strong example of how a matter of historical interest can be harnessed by a company seeking to inspire people in the area of science. As such, it is also a surreptitious nod in the direction of TV entertainment – where digital technology has reinvigorated the field of historic storytelling.
Of course, banks, BT and BP are obvious bedfellows for the arts (BP, for the record, has also just renewed its relationship with the National Portrait Gallery's Portrait Award until 2011; JP Morgan is another valued backer). But there have also been interesting incursions from non-traditional sectors. PlayStation, for example, is currently sponsoring a lighting and sound installation at the V&A while Apple is sponsoring a section called the Twilight Friday Late. Even more impressive has been the run of arts sponsorships entered into by leading players from fashion.
The National Portrait Gallery, for example, has Burberry as title sponsor for its forthcoming David Hockney Exhibition – a relationship which is certain to generate a significant PR buzz since both parties are celebrating 150th anniversaries this year. In 2007, the fashion link continues when GAP joins forces with the NPG in its first ever arts-based sponsorship. Back at the V&A, meanwhile, Danish shoe company Ecco has signed a three-year partnership with the V&A to support a fashion exhibition each year – starting with New York Fashion Now in April 2007.
Miss Selfridge also stepped up to the plate as title sponsor of the V&A's 60s Fashion display (6 June 2006 – 25 February 2007). The sponsorship was in celebration of the company's 40th birthday and a party will take place at the V&A this October to mark the occasion. According to Smith, "Miss Selfridge is also running an on-site competition on the V&A's website offering a chance to win a trip to London and a shopping spree at Miss Selfridge worth £250. Miss Selfridge and the V&A also produced several merchandise products which are being stocked in the V&A's shop and Miss Selfridge stores in London. Staff were invited to a private tour of the display with the Curators."
Another good example of how this kind of link up can be exploited was Habitat's recent sponsorship of the V&A exhibition Modernism: Designing a New World 1914-1939. Rather than just backing the relationship with cold, hard cash, Habitat exploited the synergy between its brand and the exhibition by opening three of its London stores to a mini-review of modernism. For the duration of the exhibition, Habitat-hosted events explained modernism's influence on contemporary life through in-store talks, film screenings, book signings, food tastings, interior design workshops and architecture tours.
V&A curators, lecturers and other experts were drafted in to support the programme – which had three key benefits for Habitat. The first was to enhance its customers' shopping experience through a neat piece of retail theatre. The second was to reinforce Habitat's position as a leading interiors brand. The third was to offer Habitat staff the opportunity to attend V&A events – in the hope that the knowledge they acquired would be beneficial in their day-to-day work.
A further sign of Habitat's commitment to the cause was the decision to produce a co-branded range of V&A/Habitat rugs and posters – promoted with in-store graphics and a marketing campaign. "The partnership was fortunate enough to be granted New Partners funding from Arts & Business," says Smith. "This enabled us to take the Modernism message to the High Street. Among other things, we also ran an in-store children's drop-in workshop, where kids were able to create their own Modernist-inspired poster with the help of members of the V&A.”
The above examples primarily show how sponsorship outreach programmes can be attached to temporary exhibitions and, in some case, linked to client anniversaries. But increasingly, arts bodies are looking at whether it makes sense to build partnerships around naming rights, parts of buildings or specified time periods. "In most cases, corporate sponsorship will be targeted for our temporary exhibitions programme (leaving trusts and individuals for capital projects)," says Smith. "However, Samsung and Toshiba have permanent galleries and we are open in principle to opportunities such as website sponsorship. We usually look at a company's guidelines to see if an approach in one of these areas may work."
On top of all this, it's important to realise that there is a bright and dynamic artistic community outside London. Recent years have seen the likes of Manchester Airport, AstraZeneca, Shell, the RAC, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Denby Pottery and Capital One Bank establish links with regional arts enterprises. From The Lowry in Manchester to The Sage in Gateshead, top-class regional venues offer high-profile but affordable options for both local sponsors and national corporations with a number of satellite offices.
Of course, liking the arts is not enough to make most hard-nosed finance directors sign a cheque. Evidence of effectiveness is as important here as in any area of the sponsorship sector. So does the science behind arts sponsorship stand up?
Yes, says Angela Diakopoulou at Marketlink Research, who has previously won a Hollis Award for her work on Unilever's high-profile sponsorship at the Tate Modern. "It is possible to provide some very strong quantitative and qualitative data regarding arts sponsorship. The real problem is not that research can't be done – but that many sponsors still don't think about doing bespoke research. They're often happy to make do with the basic audience data that is supplied by the arts organisation itself – such as annual visitor numbers or PR column inches."
According to Diakopoulou, signing up to a comprehensive research programme from the outset can have a number of clear benefits (apart from helping justify the investment to the board). "The first is that it forces sponsors to have clear objectives – because if you don't set objectives, you don't know what to research. The second is that it can help you shape a sponsorship if it extends over a period of time."
The third is that it makes arts sponsors view their investment in a more subtle way: "Research can show the way in which arts sponsorship affects the corporate psyche of a brand in a positive way. Too many first-time sponsors get caught up with worrying about the size of their logo on a poster when there is more at stake."
This can be very therapeutic for sponsors because of the media's habit of failing to give them accreditation when mentioning an exhibition or performance. "Sponsors like to see their name in print," says Diakopoulou, "But arts sponsorship can still be very effective even if media exposure is taken out of the equation."
Articles written by Hollis correspondent Andy Fry.
If you would like to send in news or comment, please email rosie@hollis-publishing.com.
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