Branding The Arts - Arts As A Business
The arts like
sports such as cricket, soccer golf e.t.c have immense potential to create opportunities and markets globally.
When you speak of sports such soccer, there are teams and names that have
become synonymous to the kind of sports. Almost everyone in the world will tell
you what Manchester United is, what
Liverpool is and who Ronaldo is. The same goes for golf and Tiger Woods,
COLGATE and Toothpaste, SURF and washing powder (NIKE; ADDIDAS,PUMA)
Such potential also exists and can be harnessed for the arts and in this particular instance Zimbabwean art through branding. Sophisticated as this term may sound, branding in the layman's language means making your product unique, unique in its quality, appearance, originality and its various attributes Its about standing-out, making a product that stands out. In brief, a brand is a product that always comes in mind to a consumer, no matter how many other similar products are on offer. It sets the pace and trends that are followed by imitators and competitors.
It is my conclusion therefore that yes indeed there are market opportunities for Zimbabwean arts, within the region and beyond, but however we need to identify these opportunities. In short we need to brand our artistic products and tailor them to the needs of these markets.
OPPORTUNITIES
Every market opportunity in every country or region has different needs and demands from us as creators of art. For instance what has made a name for a group or performer in Zimbabwe may not necessarily do so for the same performer or group on the international market. IYASA is known for the video ``banolila`` in Zimbabwe yet in Europe it is known for its traditional dance productions and children's plays. It is important to research these markets and find out if our products suit it. Is it a world cup tournament/ advertising campaign or a children's festival? Are we selling what we think is our best as artists, or we are selling what we know is best for our consumers and for specific markets.
I also believe that while these opportunities exist, we lack proper structures to be able to harness them. I have questioned if we are fully organized as individual artists, as arts groups, as arts organizations and as national bodies running the arts. Do we have business structures, will we live to see the day when there are specific clear cut roles in our structures such as performers, administrators, technicians, marketers and promoters.
As of today, an artist is a Jack of all trades, designing their costumes and even marketing their own products. Conclusively the current structures do not allow regional and international markets to work with us in confidence at professional levels.
INFORMATION
There is also lack of information due to lack of proper structures. The fact is that information is available every where particularly in this cyber age, we can be in touch with every part of the world and the truth of the matter is that there is something happening for the good of our product somewhere in the world every minute and everyday. The complication is that most of us are waiting for information to come to us from the top, maybe from the national arts council or any other organization we believe should be doing this for us. We are always busy producing and stocking our products in the rehearsal room, hoping and waiting that promoters, donors and opportunities will come to us. As groups and organizations, we don't go out of our way to seek these opportunities. We believe that our talent will bring us success. Here is food for thought. I believe that success is equal to 10% talent, 90% comprises hard work, marketing and a good attitude. In fact 90% is branding the very 10% talent.
NURTURING RELATIONSHIPS
As Zimbabwean groups and producers, we have not been total failures in creating opportunities globally and internationally. From the days of Bhundu boys, Black Umfolosi, IYASA and Insingizi, we have made our mark globally. Our weakness however has been our failure to nurture relations, contacts and information that we gather. We have a tendency as artistes to be selfish and hoard promoters, information and opportunities even in the case where our own product may not suit the need of the very market. We have also failed to be reliable, hence most promoters view us human traffickers. Groups have been known to disband during tours, seeking refugee status in various countries.
I feel that these opportunities should instead be used to spread wings, create relations to market our products on the international market. We should use every opportunity as the beginning of other opportunities. We must realize that we are ambassadors of other Zimbabwean products.
MEDIA
I am also of the opinion that our media needs to do more to assist us in exporting our products regionally and globally. We are currently in a serious dilemma in Zimbabwe because not even locals are keen on our local stations such as ZTV.South African media has overtaken us and in this instance it is the local artistes that suffer.We no longer have a platform to market ourselves even beyond our local neighbourhood
THE DIASPORA COMMUNITY AND ITS ROLE
When I look at the current global consumers of our products, I notice that there are two different groups. There is the typical indigenous audience and what I can term the Diaspora community that can be also defined as the Zimbabweans living abroad and whose population has vastly increased over the years. This in turn has given us an opportunity to market our products globally, this is because they are the people who already know most of our works and capabilities. Being far away from home and missing local arts, they are a ready market for us. Most of them are also ready to assist us market ourselves within those markets that they are familiar with.
There is also need to attract investors who will fund the export of our products to these regional and international markets with confidence for returns e.g. flights, insurance e.g. We must thrive to prove to investors, co-operate companies and individuals on what they stand to gain rather than lose by supporting our art. Some of these markets seek partners not dependants. Gone are the days where promoters and donors would want to give out resources for no clear cut returns. In most cases, it is also strategic to partner with local groups or promoters within those regional and international markets that we find our selves in, so as to attract the interest of the locals.
In Zimbabwe, it seems its one man for himself and God for us all. The time has come for us to start thinking and marketing our work collectively. We need productions of national resemblance, we need books and websites that summaries what Zimbabwe has to offer. We need to be bold enough to be able to market one another.
