Artists and advertising, where did the golden era go?
Artists and advertising, where did the golden era go?
Season 6, Issue 2, stop ragging on Arts degrees
Bonjour Mehketeer,
So the other day I had a rant on LinkedIn about an adaptation of Henri Matisse’s art style being used in an ad for weight loss injections aimed at women (here’s the post). Ads about weight loss? Whatever, a dime a dozen. An ad using a very identifiable art style, where the artist’s body of work doesn’t align with the message of the ad and the product? Unforgivable, let me throw a tantrum on social media.
That’s the inspiration behind this issue, a bit of a “history of artists working in advertising”, how it can go well, how it can go not so well, and why “artists” have largely been replaced with (or evolved into) “designers”.
I know not everyone is into art, but it really is representative of the society and time that it’s made in, and I think it’s neat and this is my house, my rules. Buckle up for some pretty pictures.
The defendant
Here’s the offending ad:
And here’s Blue Nude by Matisse, just in case you’re unfamiliar:
Matisse’s work was really a celebration of life, vitality, dance and movement, and really just enjoying yourself. Not very aligned with weight loss injections. It’s this context stripping that is the most disappointing for me.
If they had picked the work of an artist whose themes and body of work did align with the product and messaging, you’d see me congratulating them on a successful campaign filled with social commentary, pop culture awareness, or whatever it is.
In fact, here’s a list of ads that used artworks, including using the Last Supper table setting for a gambling ad, and another list of artworks used for covid ads including the virgin Mary wearing PPE gloves in prayer.
Another recent example of an artist’s themes directly contradicting the ad their art was used in is the Basquiat painting used in the Tiffany ad featuring Beyonce and Jay Z. Here’s an article with decent for and against arguments.
Artists who did work in advertising
Once upon a time (ok, like 1890 onward), a lot of artists did work in advertising. They worked in their own mediums, and produced posters, labels, advertisements, magazine covers, all kinds of things.
When I was in South Korea (one time, at band camp), we went to an Edward Hopper exhibition and they had a room displaying his commercial work, which was mostly magazine covers. Here’s some of his commercial work alongside his most famous work, Nighthawks (which the exhibition did not have, sad)
Side note, my favourite painting from the exhibition was Apartment Houses:
Other artists who did notable work in advertising are Salvador Dali (the man did a lot, including car ads even after he was famous, and he designed the Chupa Chups packaging), Keith Harring (worked on Lucky Strike cigarattes and even Absolut vodka), and Andy Warhol blurred the line between a piece of art and an ad for Disney, Apple, Chanel, Paramount Pictures, and Life Savers lollies.
More recently, artists working with brands is positioned more as “collaborations”. As artists have their own control over distribution to their fans or audience, there’s benefit for the brands to engage in more of the 1 + 1 = 3 narrative rather than a more transactional “we got a famous person to do this job”.
This ranges from high end to low end. I’m not that into fashion, but the Takashi Murakami x Louis Vuitton collection(s?) are iconic, and more recently Loewe x Ghibli (do we count individual Ghibli works as brand IP or art? Another discussion to be had)
On the smaller scale (and bringing it closer to home) we have collaborations like Furry Little Peach AKA Sha’an d’Anthes (Marrickville based illustrator/artist and author) working with Ala Moana Center and Brookfield Properties in Hawaii to design permanent murals:
And a few years ago she also worked with Sydney Water (I remember receiving the ads her work was featured in and getting excited!)
In the Basquiat article linked above, David Stark (who owns the rights to Basquiat’s art) is quoted as
“It’s not only accepted now, but these brand partnerships are expected in some way now. When I speak to artists about doing collaborations now, they’re very enthusiastic, whereas 10-15 years ago, they were very cautious about doing anything.”
Musicians are artists too!
True! And lately there have been heaps of brand x musician collaborations. Just recently, Linktree announced the first ever custom theme to promote Olivia Rodrigo’s album Guts, and who can forget the craze that was the BTS McDonald’s meal (and all the spin offs)
However, these all come across as corporate collaborations rather than the artist being invited to create something. The BlackPink x Starbucks drink had a launch video of the BlackPink girls drinking it and clearly not enjoying it and immediately putting the drink down after one sip rather than continuing to drink it (I really enjoy the schadenfreude in this).
It seems to be more popular in Asia that musicians release whole songs to promote a brand rather than just regular TV ads and bus stop posters:
Ano x McDonald’s (Japan)
IVE x Pepsi (Korea)
NewJeans x Coke (Korea) (P.S. the chorus just being a chant of “Coca Cola is delicious” is actually iconic marketing)
Art vs the algorithm
First of all, how dare you. Second of all, great question.
Would ads containing new, original works created by famous artists perform better than ads created by a modern day designer with advertising experience?
Personally I think they’d have different strengths. An artist would have a chance with a multi-channel, long-term campaign encompassing out-of-home elements that allowed them to be creative and truly eye catching. Meanwhile, an ad built for catching someone in the middle of doom scrolling or a well placed banner on a display network could catch someone procrastinating work at just the right time.
Good ads that perform aren’t necessarily creative, but creative ads might have a higher chance of stronger brand recall and positive sentiments towards a brand, so it’d depend on what you’re measuring. These are not metrics that tech companies are all that concerned about though, which is also why tech brands don’t do a lot of out-of-home or big, long-term campaigns.
How can I collab with an artist with a small budget?
Great, you’ve signed up for the crusade against the decline of fine art in the tech-bro run contemporary times. Welcome to the team. How could you incorporate original artworks into your marketing?
Find a small artist who is in some way related to you:
Location - same home town? Their location of residence is in a market you’re launching into?
Industry - if you’re a tech brand, look for someone who does futuristic work, if you’re a productivity app, find someone who incorporates themes of “work” into their work
Thematic alignment - more on the company values side of things, or brand imagery, e.g. if you’re Salesforce and have camping themes, find someone who does woodsy outdoors stuff
Find a small way to collaborate
When you think really small, there’s actually a lot there, and it’s mostly fun.
Make a set of gifs, something related to your product that your users might find funny or entertaining. Offer them as Slack custom emojis, or upload them to Giphy and use them on your Instagram stories.
Commission custom illustrations for big pieces of content - your annual report, a landing page you’re sending a lot of traffic to, a featured blog post that you want to be a “wow” piece. A cohesive illustration that perfectly matches the content is always an impressive level of polish to a piece of content.
Magazines do this a lot, an artist I really like and have featured here before (Clement Thoby) was recently commisioned by Le Monde France for a series of articles around philosphy festivals.
If you’re doing a rebrand, get them to jazz up your stock icons and do a custom set for you. Make sure you don’t just use these assets but highlight the artist in your “about us” or brand handbook.
Get out there and look at some art
We’re so lucky in Australia that we have amazing state-run art galleries (and our state libraries usually have art gallery sections too) that are free. If you haven’t been to one, or it’s been a while, go check one out!
My tips for visiting a gallery:
There is no right or wrong, good or bad. BUT you are still more than welcome to “like” and “not like” any piece of art.
Keep moving along until you find a piece you can’t stop looking at. Get closer to get, get further away from it, see if it changes your perspective or keeps your gaze locked on it - now you’ve found something you like!
Go at your own pace - which can be fast or slow. If someone is standing in front of something you want to take a look at, go look at other stuff first and come back when it’s free.
Don’t rush to try and find an explanation for why you like what you like, or why you don’t like something. Feel that sensation of “I like this” and be satisified with that.
For Sydney folks, my favourite piece in the Art Gallery of NSW is actually part of the permanent collection. I like it because it makes me think of a frog. That’s it. That’s why it’s my favourite painting in the whole gallery.
It’s called Construction in green by Ralph Balson, who is an Australian painter.
Instead of giving you links, I hope I’ve given you lots of artists to google, and an art date to organise. If you’re in Sydney I would for real do an art gallery meet up, let me know if you’re keen!
Ciao,
Kayla