“Hold the future in your hand with Sony.â€
There I was last night breaking one of my own golden rules from 18 Tips To Be The Great Artist Of Your Dreams – watching television! Well in my defense I can say two things:
– It was a sci-fi program and that’s different to regular television – isn’t it?
– As a kid my family always taught me to follow the path of moderation in all things – that means a little television right?
In any case, during an ad break I saw something that completely surprised me – a television ad for a fine artist. I am obviously not an avid TV watcher so it’s totally possible that this has been going on for years, but I have never ever thought of artists advertising on TV. It just never occurred to me. The next thing that crossed my mind was, “I wonder if it works?”
Because I was multitasking at the time I didn’t catch the artist’s name or website address. (Guess I’ll have to watch more television in the quest for art marketing research). I would love to call him and ask him how it was working for him.
I am in the Los Angeles area so it’s quite possible that this is some unusual art marketing strategy that works here and nowhere else in the universe. There are plenty of other strange things happening here so this one would be in good company!
In any case, I would love to hear your feedback on this. Have you ever seen TV ads for fine artists or tried them out yourself? What do you think about the concept?
My gut feeling is that it probably doesn’t work that well – but then I’m not a big TV person – except for last night that is….
My guess is that it would depend on a few things.
1. The demographic of people who are watching the show.
Some shows attract people who do not have extra money to spend or who do not have an appreciation for art. My guess is that a fine arts commercial during Jerry Springer may not attract many customers. Where a fine art commercial during Boston Legal which had one of the highest-wage earning demographics of many TV shows could attract fine art buyers.
which brings me to my next one.
2. What type of art are you selling?
Now, that Jerry Springer TV ad may sell lots of art if that art is on products that are $3.95 each, raunchy, and on T-shirts or something of that nature.
So, it seems like it could be effective if the right research and preparation was done. Like all marketing – research your market, target it. Got raunchy/beautiful/abstract art? Wonderful! SOMEONE will love it!
I remember there used to be TV commercials for "starving artist" art auctions. Where you could buy original oil paintings for $29.95 each! Icky commercials. I visualize the "Wealthy artist auction" commercials. Where the paintings are on sale this weekend for only $38,000.00!" 🙂
May you experience many money miracles today!
Christine Marsh
http://www.christinemarsh.com
Everything in moderation, including moderation itself, right?
I imagine that even though this isn't the traditional medium used to advertise art, good marketing is good marketing. If the commercial was good at selling the art, it will probably work.
I've never seen artists advertising on TV. But I like the fact that someone is trying it. It's good to test thing and measure results rather than assuming something does or doesn't work. This guy might me on to something. Let us know if you see his name or website address again – we are officially giving you permission to watch the tube for marketing research 🙂
Thanks for the thought-provoking question.
Miriam
Ahhhh…Daniel, you have slipped!! Wasn't one of the "18 rules" no television?? I am glad to know that you are human as well! I am also in the LA area and do confess to occasional TV watching (uh…for creative research fo course!) and have never seen an artist ad. Thinking about this, I am not sure I would take the artist very seriously. It sounds cheesy, like those guys that want to sell you their "easy painting technique kits" that anyone can master with 3 simple colors and the special blending brush (who, of course, are probably laughing all the way to the bank so who am I to comment?!). Well, you can't say the TV ad artist is sitting at home waiting for someone to knock on his studio door, so good luck to him!
Thanks everyone for the comments and the permission slip to watch more television! I actually love good movies but I do find TV programming a bit strange. I remember when I was a kid (quite a while ago) that TV was more like watching movies, but these days I feel like I am being marketed to all the time, even during the programming. Maybe that's why they call it "programming" – never thought of that!
Anyway, don't get scared off – I'm no conspiracy theorist 🙂 And I do love cinema and watch a lot of DVDs too.
I figure that artist (the one with the TV add) was probably exasperated with his regular marketing and trying something new. I'll keep an eye out though and call him if I ever see the ad again.
Thanks again for the thoughts and feedback.
Hey Christine. Your comment got flagged as spam 🙁 So, I just noticed it and approved it. Sorry about that – not sure why – maybe because you had $$ in there. Who knows how these software algorithms figure this out! Anyway you should be good for any future comments now.
Thanks for the feedback – great thoughts.