This Is Not a Brand
Posted on May 11, 2008
Filed Under What's New |
I’m going through an irregular but not infrequent rethink of how the gallery operates not least because by instinct I like to work on a project basis but also because I get involved with artists specifically because it seems to me they think in non-commercial ways and that happens to be a good antidote to the power of brands to persuade us to adopt values that can sink us financially and socially. I have a serious objection to the term brand because it really means persuading the public to buy into their own emotions through a product. That’s not to argue that products don’t arouse emotions but it is to say often it is not the product but the marketing strategy that we end up identifying with.
I happen to think that is unsustainable in the same way that I think leaving social and economic regulation to markets is unsustainable. The development of conversational marketing from its roots in the Cluetrain Manifesto is really a call to reintroduce the human element into commerce. My motivation for the gallery was the despair I felt whenever someone forced me to watch a PowerPoint presentation. I always used to think - I’d rather be looking at Polish theatre posters or a Van Gogh. It was that ability of marketing to force me in those days to look at bullet point lists that nearly drove me to despair.
So I’m thinking of re-naming the gallery This is Not A Brand in tribute to the power of art and creativity to stimulate our thinking away from what traditional marketing would like us to focus on, think and feel.
Here’s the new logo!
And here’s another version
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3 Responses to “This Is Not a Brand”
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hey haydn. this is definitely worth noting in light of your current thoughts….
I like this alot.
Hi Fellars
Thanks for the encouragement