Art Collaboration Can Boost Brand Value

Last December, one of the world’s top 3 art fairs, Art Basel, was held in Miami. Miami designated the event week as Miami Art Week, and various events across the city attracted a great number of tourists.

Various luxury brands seized the moment and set up a wide array of promotional stages. Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Saint Laurent, Fendi, and so on successfully premiered collaboration works with various artists and staged exhibitions to introduce the artists.

Saint Laurent exhibition set up on Miami Beach. The beachfront gallery hosted 55 art pieces by Sho Shibuya. ©Saint Laurent

La Prairie, a cosmetics brand, built a pop-up beach club on Miami Beach where it showcased firming creams priced at $760 per 2 oz. and premium eye creams that cost $570 for less than an ounce among others. La Prairie filled the space with a dance performance by Wen-Chi Su, a Taiwanese artist/dancer. The performance stole many visitors heart by bringing up the images of its caviar line-up at the daybreak and the sunset.

La Prairie has continued collaboration with artists since 2017 for Art Basel that took place in various places such as Basel, Hong Kong, and Miami. It successfully boosted the brand value through them, and its luxury brand status is now strongly engraved in the public’s mind.

Wen-Chi Su’s performance ©La Prairie

La Prairie’s caviar cosmetics line-up ©La Prairie

Art Collaboration refers to a collaborative work between a brand and an artwork or designer, and it differs from Art Marketing where a designer is simply commissioned to create a design for the brand. Most importantly, Art Collaboration reflects the artist’s own thought and philosophy.

As it does not stop at simply borrowing images but add extra values to the brand, the brands can garner reputation and generate goodwill.

At the core of consumption pattern for the younger generation lies social justice. When making a purchase decision, consumers pick a product with more virtue if the price is comparable. When a part of profit is donated to a charitable organization or to support young artists, more and more people are willingly open their purses for the social causes.

Collaboration with artists or designers can also generate goodwill with consumers quickly. It is because the positive impression on the famous artwork can easily transfer to the sponsoring brands.

The art collaboration in the beauty industry is developing in various forms day by day. MAC, a part of the Estée Lauder Companies Inc., is a well-known for its lipsticks. On World AIDS Day (Dec. 1), MAC commemorated the late Keith Haring, a pop artist who died of HIV/AIDS in 1990 and left the Keith Haring Foundation that support education and research on AIDS. Until he died at 31, he was an artist and a social activist who strongly supported social causes such as human rights of homosexuals, anti-nuclear, anti-war, anti-racial discrimination, and education on AIDS.

VIVA GLAM X KEITH HARING ©MAC

MAC commemorated his art spirit with Viva Glam Collection in collaboration with Keith Haring Studio. Inspired by his signature primary color palette. the lipsticks come in red, blue and yellow hues.

MAC’s statement for the occasion contained the following message: “For our 27th anniversary, we’re thrilled to honor the late iconic artist Keith Haring and carry forward his mission of using his imagery to drive positive change for those most in need of support”.

The art collaboration between MAC and Keith Haring brought an opportunity for many fans to carry the cuteness of Keith Haring’s artwork in their handbags.

Often called the age of emotion, attempts to graft art onto product are happening in many fields. Through art, brands can boost their image and status, and artists can debut a noble type of artwork to the public.

However, misrepresentation of artists’ philosophy can be troublesome for brands. If the artwork is unjustifiably modified to meet the brands’ need, the cherished spiritual backbone of their arts can be damaged. As long as all aspects of the product development and the social contribution are fully discussed and communicated by both parties, art collaboration is sure to bring a great deal of positive impact on brand value.