Where can artistic collabs lead us? In what way could they propose a new horizon in a saturated marketing environment? Because, indeed, “art allows an elevation”, beyond influences.
Why should you engage in a collab with an artist, rather than with another brand?
The artistic collab responds to a logic quite different from the commercial logic. This specific way of working allows it to target much wider horizons of realization, be they temporal or emotional, towards the consumer. This famous step aside, this risk-taking that some brands dare to take by embarking on this adventure, proposes to create something new and sincere: a true identity/personality.
1. Beware of false friends: notoriety is not identity!
The artistic collaboration doesn’t sell notoriety, but proposes a much more in-depth work: the creation of a new brand DNA. A strong identity, a unique personality, which can be deployed over the long term. It’s precisely this personality, original and singular, that can create what brands are looking for so much: desirability. The consumer will be able to identify with the brand, explore and discover something new that will arouse his curiosity and desire.
Within the context of the collab, it is not a question of using the artist to exploit his/her image and potential notoriety, but of working with him/her to create a companionship of image. This is why at Collab Factory, we do not work with deceased artists and franchised works.
In the same vein, don’t hesitate to work with an emerging artist or one that is not well known by the general public, because it is precisely this originality that will make the strength of the collab: finding universes that the consumer will be able to discover thanks to the brand, without which they would not have had this chance. Did you know that? Before their inevitable collab, Perrier did not know Murakami…
2. The Power of sincerity
The artistic collab works with the artist, without using his image in a unilateral way. In this context, the artist can create freely, ideally benefiting from a card where all the power of his creativity can be expressed.
The artist’s voice is sincere, his passion is true and art doesn’t lie. If the brand gives this work a free hand, it is a sincere, passionate and strong creation that can be created, where the brand and the artist can fully express their personality. This is how we know if a collab is successful: when we recognize the two parties involved in the result.
The consumer will not be mistaken: sincerity in marketing is too rare not to be appreciated. An honest artistic creation makes the consumer feel valued, taken seriously, and allows the brand to build a relationship of trust with them.
3. We speak to an audience rather than to consumers
Because an artistic collaboration is also a strong position regarding the brand’s consumer. The consumer is not considered as an object, but as a subject: the consumer is a looker before being a consumer.
Artistic collaboration is a way to diffuse art in all its forms to the greatest number of people, using various channels. Each support is good to give the voice to the artists.
Understanding the consumer as a viewer above all, to whom we propose/offer something, is to value him, and create a strong relationship ready to endure!
4. Live the experience of creation
Artistic collaboration is the guarantee of a unique experience: the creative process of an artist, to be immersed in his universe and to learn. The philosopher John Locke theorized that experience is the source of all knowledge.
The experience, within the context of an artistic collaboration, allows us to understand both the artist’s and the brand’s intentions: it takes the consumer on a journey towards awareness of the brand’s issues. For example, Collab Factory designed a custom event for the Innocent brand, creating a consumer pathway to communicate their commitment and reduce their ecological footprint. Creating interaction with the public means involving them in the design of the collaboration.
The artistic collab remains the best way to differentiate, to renew itself permanently, by betting on an infallible creativity which will add a supplement of soul to the brand by sublimating its values.
