Art Collecting Is Good PR
/While public relations (PR) may not be a top reason corporations collect art, it’s one of the main benefits. In fact, more and more companies are adding art collection to their marketing, advertising and PR budgets.
When I watched a PBS documentary about the Medici's role as the godfathers of the Renaissance, it occurred to me that wherever there is power, there is art, and wherever ever there is art, there is power. Think about it: kings, queens, emperors, titans, and popes throughout millennia have harnessed the power of the arts to influence others, promote ambition, and change public opinion. Moreover, art patronage is good public relations for rulers...and corporations...
Courtesy of CEO Magazine
Corporate giving to artistic/cultural activities is correlated with advertising expenditures, while donations to educational, civic and health causes are not. Thus, support for culture and the arts is a means of directly promoting the firm, while giving to other causes fulfills the firm’s goals through alternative means.
—Journal of Cultural Economics
Sponsoring the City Center’s Fall for Dance program in New York, Time Warner “had its logo splashed on everything from 160,000 festival brochures to 150,000 regular-season brochures to 400 subway posters and 5,500 bus ads,” reported the New York Times, for a gift “in the six figures.”
Courtesy of New York City Center
City Center evidently didn’t mind the Time Warner logos on everything. In fact, it was their idea, to give Time Warner the “recognition they deserve.” And evidently Time Warner was happy with the arrangement, seeing a return on investment in the form of new audiences of varying ages and ethnic groups.
“[Corporate arts sponsorship is] becoming increasingly metrics-driven: you’ve got to show how your money has been leveraged and how that’s been to the benefit of your company,” Time Warner’s Lisa Quiroz said. “Ten years ago, you didn’t hear people talking about measuring the impact of your dollars.”
You do now.