Art Marketing Case Study: Drew Brophy

When we think about marketing our art, it's easy to get lost in generalities.  Today I found an artist who offers an excellent example of many principles of art marketing.

I was introduced to Drew Brophy by his wife Maria Brophy, who is part of the SmArtist TeleSummit.  I was intrigued when I heard that he painted on surfboards so I went to his website and found an artist passionate about surfing ... or maybe a surfer passionate about art.

Here are some of the specifics I noticed:

A tagline that builds credibility and speaks to the target audience:  "Making things look cool since 1971."  Surfing is one of the few "young" activities that seems to honor the elders in the field.  In some fields, mentioning the year 1971 would almost relegate you to the dustbin, but here, it's a badge of honor.  There's a secondary tagline of "Livin' the dream" with a picture of a surfer and a killer wave."

Understanding and speaking the language of your audience:  In addition to images that fit the subject ... bright colors, dragons, eyeballs ... Drew's words fit the subject and the audience.  Here's the opening of his artist statement:  

In high school Drew Brophy’s guidance counselor pulled him aside and sternly warned, “Drew, you can’t just surf and paint your whole life.”   He was crushed, because those were the only two things that he was good at.  He was determined to prove her wrong.

By proving her wrong, Drew connects with every frustrated teenage surfer ... even if they happen to be adults still remembering their younger days.

Using the technology relevant to the audience:  Drew's clientele is young and the media of the young is video.  Here's a video where Drew transforms a plain vanilla van into a surfer's dream machine ... all to the pounding beat of music that fits the target audience.

Cookies and Art

I grew up in a tiny town in Kansas, population 266, and went to an even tinier church which had an even tinier flow of cash into the coffers.  One weekend we had a bake sale and lined tables up in front of the church on the main street.  It was a feast of cakes, cookies and pies and the tables were womaned by eager and friendly church members.  Who stood there.  Traffic down main street was pretty much non-existent so there was no one to buy their lovingly prepared baked goods.

My friends and I had been enrolled in helping with the bake sale so we, too, stood there with nothing to do.  I'm not sure whose idea it was, but finally we got frustrated enough that each of us took as many cookies, pies, and cakes as we could carry and went walking door-to-door through the neighborhood ... and came back, time after time, empty handed.  The bake sale was a success and we had, inadvertently, learned a lesson about marketing.

Now, many years later and like many other artists, I'm trying to figure out the marketing side of art.  There seems to be a legion of us standing by our tables of lovingly baked goods on a road with too little traffic.  So the question is how to take our art to the people who would be interested in buying it.  It's not quite the same as taking cookies door-to-door but that may still be a metaphor to contemplate.

People like cookies and they know exactly which cookies they like, whether it's sugar cookies with sprinkles or chocolate-chunk-with-pecan cookies.  Most people are far less comfortable about art.  Many feel intimidated by art, unsure that what they like is "right."  They hesitate about buying art, afraid of making a bad decision, afraid of looking stupid, afraid of winding up with a black-velvet Elvis on their walls. (Personally, I loved black velvet art, but that's another story!)

And, of course, cookies are far more affordable than art.  They are small, inexpensive indulgences whereas art is often an investment, a commitment to beauty.

Perhaps last and least, cookies don't have to match the couch!  In a few minutes they're gone, leaving only a sweet memory.  We've been schooled to believe that art lasts forever, that it gets handed down to the next generation, that it has to stay on your wall even when you can't remember why you bought it ... because it's ART!

What if we thought about art in the same way we think about clothes?  Beautiful things to dress our homes, offices and studios.  Beauty that makes us feel beautiful, peaceful, enlivened, connected to the world.  And, when it stops "fitting," we pass it along to someone else and purchase the next experience of beauty.  Maybe we don't have to "collect" art; maybe it should be ok to just wear it, enjoy it, savor it and then let it go.

Food ... or should I say cookies ... for thought.

Squidoo to You, Too

No matter where you are, there is always something to learn, especially in the internet world.  Artist and art marketing coach, Sue Favinger Smith (author - Ancient Artist:  Developing an Art Career after 50)  sent me an invitation to her new Squidoo "lens," and I said "what?"

So, off I went to Squidoo and discovered something new, useful and fun ... that's a great combination.  Squidoo, for those of you who haven't come across it yet, is a cross between a micro blog on a specific topic and a game, with a little abundance mindset thrown in for good measure.

In the seemingly cold and neutral world of the internet, it's a challenge to come across as human ... Squidoo manages to do this with a dash of humor and a point system that's as engaging as a game of Tetris ... or maybe Farmville. Within minutes I was committed to writing my first "lens," with the topic being how artists can create a "Circle of Trust" in order to better market our art.  (You can see it at http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-create-a-circle-of-trust)

So far, this is an experiment.  The Squidoo folks make a lot of claims about readership and "royalties."  They have tied in financial mechanisms to theoretically help you make money with your information.  It's a familiar claim but they have enough new twists on it that I decided to jump in.  I think the mechanism for sharing small chunks of information is good, the process is fun and the results are unknown.  I'll report back in a few months.

About this image:  A Day at the Beach

It's official ... today the sun returns, the days grow longer and eventually warmer.  Soon we will be at the beach again.  I did this piece several years ago and just rediscovered it.