The relationship between brands and artists in the Middle East isn’t always an easy one. Maddy Butcher offers some advice on how to make life easier for both parties
As anyone in agency life knows, creatives can be a cantankerous bunch when not everyone ‘sees the light’. For eight years, I was one of the grumpiest. I didn’t understand what a pain in the backside I truly was for our client servicing team until I switched to art full time and dealt with clients directly. With no buffer zone, I’m even less patient than everybody thought. And art and business are not easy bedfellows.
Brands have always sought to communicate to ‘cultural instigators’. And no, not just hipsters. We’re all instigators now – furiously sharing, swiping right, watching, listening, sharing again. The area where this causes the least potential damage for brands if done right, is when a brand authentically gets behind the best of emerging art and music. Cheaper than forking out for an established celebrity or sport, it offers the triple whammy of a brand appearing insightful, creative and authentic.
For art and music, there’s never been a better time to be in the Middle East. As if recent regional events didn’t give us all enough subject matter to draw from, Beirut, the United Arab Emirates and Cairo are veritable hotbeds, fostering regional talent like Yazan Halwani, attracting international artists such as Ruben Sanchez, Tarsila Schubert, Justin McMahon and Gary Yong to move here permanently, while SyaOne and Steffi Bow are projecting bold styles across the region and fostering the talent of emerging stars.
Full Wall Chaos is a collective of talented Filipina artists who are busier than ever, while Fathima Mohiuddin, Matt Ryder and Clare Napper are forging definitive new categories of their own. Dina Saadi and Noosh like Sploosh are applying their unique styles to intriguing and challenging subjects, while Bonz Telen, Melan Choly and Frez are some of the most modest Aerosol geniuses you’re likely to meet on a hot sweaty night in Jumeirah Village Circle.
The UAE’s underground music nights such as Dust, Groove on the Grass, Analog Room, Secret Circle and Deep Like are teeming with account executives from the PR, advertising and media sectors. A few musicians are even embedded in agencies by day, including Malikah, the queen of Arab hip-hop.
The question for international and local brands wishing to tap into this artistic talent is how do you infiltrate, promote and support with authenticity? How do you devise a campaign that doesn’t look like a shameless marketing ploy? How do you build something that’s made to last longer than the current marketing manager?
Some brands are making real waves. The Tiger Translate series was a huge creative success, while Adidas’s brand ambassadors are helping to build a loyal, regional fan-base. Red Bull is a definitive stage for B-Boys and Streetnights DXB has successfully fused food brands with art, music and dance. Hype magazine provides a trusted platform for both artists and musicians, Absolut lets me scrawl in glow-in-the-dark neon at a series of events, and Dubai’s Media One was unwittingly the venue that launched my art career, with the ‘Wall of Fame’ at Deck on 8.
These brands have taken the time to foster relationships, to be upfront with musicians and artists, to pay them, and keep them in the loop. Artists keep their side of the bargain by revising designs, completing pieces on time, promoting across their own channels and delivering their best work.
As an agency creative, I regularly tried to push the wares of some of the aforementioned artists – got their hopes up, expected help for free, and on occasion thought I was doing them a favour. It takes bravery for any brand to veer away from corporate guidelines, to trust and go with a unique style, movement, format, design, sound or event. As Infiniti Middle East and TBWA found, the risk is worth it, with projects like ‘Inspired Light’ and ‘Chromatic’ earning a few million unpaid, positive, genuine interactions in the last year.
The tips featured with this article are intended to make the process of relationships between brands and artists easier – and hopefully more fruitful. It’s worth it, but you need to mean it. As Gary Yong says: “Communication is key. Be straight up from the get-go. Mutual respect between the artists and clients is important.”
Do’s and Don’t’s
Do be aware that artists talk. The artists in Beirut and the UAE can be pretty tight. What you offer one artist may well be disclosed to another. While there is no ‘union’ per se, there is a concerted effort not to undercut, so it’s unwise to haggle too hard or compare prices.
Don’t suggest using publicity on your brand’s own social media channels as a form of barter. Social media is our biggest publicity source and, believe us, we’re on it. Appearing on a dog food page is not better than being paid.
Don’t barter. This is a biggie. You wouldn’t pay a plumber or food supplier with moisturiser, cans or hotel stays, so why try that with a musician or artist? And believe me – we’ll rant about it.
Do contribute. Art isn’t free. This shouldn’t even need saying, but if you’re expecting an artist’s time to join you in a meeting, create designs, tracks or illustrations, add to your presentation, that’s their time. You’ll start a mutually respectful relationship by respecting that from the start. It’s a living, not a hobby.
Do be wary of dealing with some ‘middle men’ who may or may not represent the artist. While groups like Tashkeel, Drawdeck and galleries like Street Art, Pro Art, The Mine and The Fridge provide much-needed supportive platforms, some folks can falsely claim to represent artists. If you’ve already spoken to the artists you want and then go back to a middle ‘manager’, not only will you be paying more as an agency or client, but upsetting the artists too.
Don’t treat artists like agency folks. Artists do not have access to an admin or HR department. They will not stay in the agency until midnight. You are not their only client and paperwork, hours of amending quotations and invoices is really not our forte.
Do communicate. If you don’t win the business, or the campaign gets killed, or they want a Saudi instead, let the artists you originally approached know the deal. Honesty always pays and a wall of silence will be remembered.
I asked some fellow artists what were some of the classic ‘requests’ and ‘suggestions’ they’d received. Clients, brands and agencies shall remain nameless, but here are some of them:
“It’s street art. It should be cheap.”
“We don’t want to hinder creativity. We want to give you freedom. Here’s a few guidelines… and a design brief, with subject matter, and style references. Yes we’ve seen your portfolio.”
“We want you to do our brand logo but in graffiti.”
“I like your style. Can you do this style?”
“So we have a canned foods manufacturer who wants to tap into street culture”
“We can’t tell you who the brand is, but they want between 20 and 50 murals, or between 20 and 50 paintings – we’re not sure which, so can you give me your typical rates.”
“We don’t have the budget for that. Do you know someone with a similar style who’s less expensive?”
“We’re looking for something edgy, underground, with funky colours. We don’t have a big budget but it will be great exposure for you. We will promote you on our social media channels* (*130 followers)
Maddy Butcher is a freelance artist based in Dubai
