Haloda! – Find Your True North

THE ARTIST AS PERSONAL BRAND

Thu, 07 Jan 2021 09:38:46 -0800

The 2011 Tretchikoff exhibition at the South African National Gallery is an interesting brand repositioning exercise. The ‘master of the fallen flower’ has posthumously been repositioned from the ‘King of Kitsch’ to ‘the people’s painter’. According to Andrew Lamprecht, the curator of Tretchikoff: The people’s painter, it is high time the artist got the critical recognition he deserves. In the June/July 2011 edition of Art Times he states that: “He (Tretchikoff) pioneered the idea of selling affordable copies of his works, enabling working class people to own art which they proudly displayed above their mantelpieces. Works such as Chinese Girl, The Dying Swan and Fighting Zebras have become a vital part of popular culture… He transformed the way that ordinary people relate to art, making it accessible and affordable in the form of mass-produced prints.”

Not everyone is convinced. Lloyd Pollak (also in the Art Times) feels that ‘Tretchi’s oeuvre is the distillation of camp, a form of art overstated to the point of self-parody. Susan Sontag summed up camp as “art that proposes itself seriously but cannot be taken altogether seriously because it is too much, too artificial, too affected, too exaggerated, too stylized.” Tretchi’s painting answers perfectly to this definition. Its corny excess and vulgarity provide wry, ironic amusement to the sophisticated spectator.’ But as a populist art brand how much does the average South African care about the opinion of the ‘sophisticated spectator’? For Joe Public the endorsement by Michaelis academics like Lamprecht probably matters less than the fact they can, for the first time, see Tretchi’s work at the National Gallery and that his work is summarized in Lamprecht’s

book. Eavesdropping on the comments of the exhibition visitors one could literally hear how minds towards Tretchikoff were changing – the result of a strategically-planned and cleverly executed public relations...Read More

WHAT IF BRAND BUILDING WAS CONCEIVED TODAY

Thu, 22 Jan 2015 03:31:00 -0800

The realities of today would dictate a different approach to brand building. There has been a marked shift in opinion – brand building is no longer regarded as a function categorised under marketing or communication. Instead, it is increasingly seen as a primary activity involving and defining the entire organisation, right from ideation to the design of business models and the implementation of strategies.

Although critics will argue that brands, as driving forces for consumption, can hardly claim complete selfless motivation, we believe a business imperative exists for the pursuit of brand building principles that serve society. The starting point is to implement a cohesive and sustainable brand-business design for the benefit of all stakeholders.

At first glance, this approach may appear contradictory to prevailing consumer opinion. A widespread HAVAS research project (2013) reported the views of consumers in 23 markets on some 700 brands – “we would not care if 72 percent of brands disappear over night.” Couple these views with the World Economic Forum’s reflection (2013) on the expectations of millennials (they represent a quarter of our world’s population, 18 to 32 year olds) and a compelling requirement arises to build brands that matter. The Forum report, ‘Engaging Tomorrow’s Consumer’, outlines a generation with strongly held values, a sense of duty to change the world and the view that brands need to add value to society. A pertinent example may be found in the launch and growth of the FearLess Revolution, a project of the Living Green Foundation that explores new, more meaningful relationships between people, brands and cultures. We note a dramatic shift is underway in the way business is seen to be done – a movement towards greater transparency, more collaboration, more democracy, and ultimately delivering more value.

Millennials are using these social networks to share their expectations and experiences...Read More