The art of branding - lessons from visual artists

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of the field of visual arts marketing in the development of wider branding theory and practice. Drawing on examples from visual artists and the art mechanism that connects them, our paper reveals how artists and art professionals foster various types of capital (social, cultural, symbolic) as a way of developing a brand name, ensuring longevity in the field, and gaining financial value on the market. Design/methodology/approach As a conceptual paper, we draw on a range of published works as well as examples from the world of visual arts in order to provide fresh theoretical insight into how branding in the arts may be applied to other industries. Findings Our key findings are the importance of the consideration of the development and nurturing of social and cultural capital in developing brand identity. Additionally, visual art brands are required to be innovative and dynamic, and lessons learned regarding these processes have relevance for mainstream brands. We also found that creativity is often collective and that looking to methods for developing work in the visual arts can be utilised by brand managers more broadly in the age of social media and user generated content. Originality/value This paper follows on the developing body of work, which indicates what mainstream business can learn from looking at the visual arts. We highlight the collective nature of creativity in building the art brand as well as the importance of non-economic measures of value in the realm of branding.