The Evolution and Development of Arts Marketing Research

Ian Fillis is Senior Lecturer at Stirling Management School, University of Stirling. His research interests include small business marketing, the relationship between marketing, management, art and creativity, alternative research methodologies such as metaphor and biography, international and export marketing, and e-business. He has published in outlets such as the Journal of Marketing Management, European Journal of Marketing, International Small Business Journal, the International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing and the International Journal of Arts Management. As well as contributing to edited volumes, he has also written several research monographs.

The Evolution and Development of Arts Marketing Research

Dr Ian Fillis

Senior Lecturer Stirling Management School University of Stirling Stirling FK9 4LA Scotland, UK i.r.fillis@stir.ac.uk Tel: 01786 467392 Fax: 01786 464745

Citation: Fillis, I (2011) The evolution and development of arts marketing research Arts Marketing:

An International Journal, 1(1), 11-25

Biography: Ian Fillis is Senior Lecturer at Stirling Management School, University of

Stirling His research interests include small business marketing, the relationship between marketing, management, art and creativity, alternative research methodologies such as metaphor and biography, international and export marketing, and e-business He has published in outlets such as the Journal of Marketing Management, European Journal of Marketing, International Small Business Journal, the International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing and the International Journal of Arts Management As well as contributing to edited volumes, he has also written several research monographs

The Evolution and Development of Arts Marketing Research Abstract:

Purpose: To carry out a longitudinal review of arts marketing research

Design/methodology/approach: This paper looks back at the origins of arts marketing

research, identifying the initial areas of interest and traces its development as a recognised

research domain

Findings: Arts marketing research has evolved from being an application of marketing using

long held principles into a discipline where critical and creative approaches are now being used to generate more meaningful and actionable arts marketing theory

Research limitations: Although arts marketing research has developed in terms of rigour,

depth and reach, there is still much unexplored potential to be realised

Practical implications: This review shows that effective arts marketing consists of a balance

of addressing artistic needs and customer expectations The marketing involved must acknowledge the merits of artistic philosophy, while also addressing the commercial realities

of today’s arts world

Originality/value: Only a very small number of assessments of the state of arts marketing

knowledge have been carried out This paper develops both a longitudinal analysis of the origins and growth of this knowledge and provides suggestions for future research

Paper type: General review

Keywords: arts marketing, creativity, entrepreneurship, market creation, market orientation

Introduction: Early Arts Marketing Research

This paper evaluates the growing domain of arts marketing research It should not be viewed solely as a review of the literature on arts marketing but also as a personal perspective on the domain itself The paper also considers future arts marketing research directions I have been researching arts marketing since 1993 when I was completing my Masters thesis at the University of Ulster At that time, the majority of work was North American in origin, with activities elsewhere in their infancy (Diggle 1976; Raymond and Greyser 1978; Diggle 1984; Skinner 1985; Yorke and Jones 1987; Bradford 1991; Cooper and Tower 1993) Marketing had already been applied widely across profit and non-profit sectors in the United States of

America for many decades (Kotler 1969; Hunt 1976; Shapiro 1973; Kotler and Andreasen 1991; Kotler and Scheff 1997) The main concern which I identified then was the perception that the arts should exist as an individual entity without any involvement from the business world I believed that one of the tasks of marketing was to help break down this barrier The focus of my research, the use of marketing’s promotional mix in the visual arts, indicated a growth in the search for sponsorship and other sources of funding, although this was much more sophisticated in North America (Walton 1988; Otker 1988; Priestley 1992) There was

an emphasis on direct marketing activities (Miles 1993; Hubbard and Little 1988) and a reliance on public relations, publicity and other promotional tools (Kotler and Mindak 1978; Kitchen and White 1992) Customer and visitor analysis was in its infancy, mainly concentrating on the performing arts (Ryans and Weinberg 1978; Andreasen and Belk 1980) Arts retailing and merchandising was more advanced in North America, although outlets such

as museum and gallery shops, cafes and restaurants were growing in the UK (Skloot 1983)

Over a twenty year period, Thomas and Cutler (1993) identified only thirty one articles in mainstream marketing journals on the arts Issues explored included audience analysis and segmentation, the marketing mix, marketing planning and policy issues Bates (1983) investigated the market mechanisms surrounding international sales for oil paintings, concluding that there was a lack of research and poor statistical information Today, this information is instantly available on the internet, with longitudinal sales records for individual artists practicing a range of art forms Holbrook (1980) was surprised by the lack

of studies of high involvement artistic consumption compared with low involvement behaviour There was no evidence of arts organisations embracing a marketing philosophy due to a fear of perceived complex administrative requirements, anti-management sentiment, not wishing to upset the status quo and the desire to keep a small but satisfied audience

There was also no indication of the need for a form of marketing which acknowledged the specific requirements of the industry Instead, the implementation of aspects of mainstream marketing was prevalent

There was evidence of the use of product placement in the performing arts (Lister 1993) and the advertising of exhibitions on lager bottle labels (Gabb 1988) These practices are now much more prevalent and now include the promotion of individual artists Arts organisations operated under different conditions to that experienced by commercial companies (Adizes 1975) but today’s business realities have impacted heavily on the arts and profitability has become a necessity for many Two factors influencing the ability to operate in a free market are teleological differences such as the financial handicaps inherent in the pursuit of artistic goals, and technological differences in the methods of production Attitudes towards marketing can both hinder and facilitate commercialisation Artistic goals are concerned with the aesthetic growth of the artist and the audience, while business goals are economic, materialistic and growth oriented Innovation in the arts is often concerned with exploration for its own sake while in business it leads to opportunities in increasing profits The nature of risk is also different, with artistic risk often aligned to the creativity, ideas and design of the artwork rather than any commercial connection

Defining Arts Marketing:

The arts, culture, arts management and arts marketing are interconnected The arts are shaped

by intellectual achievement and reflect the belief systems of a society The modern culture industry deals with consumers’ needs within industrial, political, economic and global settings (Horkheimer and Adorno 1972) The way in which culture is expressed is determined

by the systems of production and the dissemination of cultural messages in the form of

products or services Artistic products can be viewed as signifiers of a country’s culture The arts consist of artefacts, images or performances which contain rich, complex, direct and symbolic meanings They can be in the form of a creative production involving aesthetic value resulting from a particular skill and use of imagination However, there is no commonly agreed definition of the arts due to the subjective evaluations made by the artist, critic, audience and other actors (Penrose 1990) They can be viewed as an open concept and as an empirically based entity (Berleant 1964) The arts stimulate the human senses, mind and spirit Thinking in an arts-based way facilitates understanding of human activity and philosophy by visualising the relationship between the self and society on a number of levels, from informal personalised interactions to formalised relationships between individuals and institutions (Levinson 1979)

A contemporary interpretation of arts marketing should acknowledge its foundations in the application of the marketing mix but it needs to move forward on its own terms, based around the interplay of market orientation and market creation within a much wider domain than originally determined Fields such as popular and classical music, theatre, film, dance, opera, jazz, visual art, museum and gallery marketing, audience development and societal arts marketing now contribute to improved insight into consumer behaviour, branding and aesthetics in the wider world Creativity and entrepreneurship now help shape a form of arts marketing which has the power to contribute not only to the arts but also to marketing within and outside the creative industries Those working in arts marketing now need to assess the required balance of artistic and business risks in order to achieve their goals The future for both marketing and art within this relationship should be to perform a more critical role in helping to shape more effective practices which align to the needs of the artist, audience and wider society

Evrard and Colbert (2000) position arts marketing within arts management They note the legitimacy of arts management at practitioner and academic levels, strengthened by the establishment of the AIMAC international conference in 1991 Arts management involves the promotion of appreciation of the arts, arts managerial knowledge and skills through education (Rentschler and Shilbury 2008) Its remit now reaches beyond arts policy, cultural economics and cultural intervention into other sectors (Colbert 2003) Arts management theory and practice has its roots in business, leisure and aesthetics which, in turn, have their origins in sociology, economics and social psychology The International Journal of Arts Management was founded in 1998 and the International Association for Arts and Cultural Management in 2000 Evrard and Colbert identify a crisis in the definition of art which has implications for its wider meaning, practice and consumption (Brown and Patterson 2000; Dickie 2000; Holbrook 1998) Its growth as a global commodity, however, can be viewed as

an opportunity for marketing research Arts management can be informed by other managerial practices but it can also inform managerial domains elsewhere

The value dimension of marketing here is associated with utilitarian, functional aspects of art and hedonic, symbolic dimensions The role of the consumer and the audience is obviously important when considering arts marketing practice but customer and market creation are equally valid The notion of the arts consumer needs to be reinterpreted to include the self as producer (Cowen and Tabarrok 2000) Determining what is meant by the domain of arts marketing is becoming more difficult as we integrate the arts with culture, leisure, entertainment and a variety of business disciplines (Colbert et al 2001)

Defining what we mean by art is a more fundamental issue Referring to art as an industry has stimulated considerable debate, with some seeing it as no more than an industrial product, while others view it semiotically where the art work possesses an aesthetic sign which is culturally defined (Anderson 1991; Barrere and Santagata 1999) Panofsky (1940) distinguishes between practical objects which do not demand to be aesthetically consumed, and works of art which do Both types of product are communication carriers and it is difficult to determine precisely when a communication carrier or utilitarian object becomes art We not only need to define what we mean by art and the arts but also the relationship between artistic goods, the art market, arts management and economic management Clancy

et al (1994) segment the arts into Hiarts including plays, opera musicals and concerts, Pop as film, rock, pop and jazz music, Exper as art exhibitions, contemporary dance, literature and poetry and Trad as traditional music and folk dance

The Growth of the Arts Marketing Discipline:

The launch of Arts Marketing: An International Journal provides the opportunity to build on

existing knowledge of arts marketing and move forward using a range of creative methodologies which mirror those found in arts marketing practice Other journals which publish papers in arts marketing include The International Journal of Arts Management and the Journal of Arts Management, Law and Society Recent research in these and other outlets include a focus on consumer behaviour and customer retention (Burgeon-Renault 2000; Hume et al 2007; Kubacki et al 2007; Slack et al 2008; Grappi and Montanari 2009), fan funded record labels (Chaney 2009), museum value (Scott 2008), branding (d’Astous et al 2005; Baumgarth 2008), creativity (Fillis and Rentschler 2005), arts market research (Walshe 1993), arts experiences (Radbourne et al 2008; White et al 2009) and the changing climate

of museum and performing arts marketing (McLean 1997; Kotler and Kotler1998;Rentschler

1998; Mottner and Ford 2008) Other areas include gender and equality issues (Rentschler 2007), market orientation (Sorjonen 2008), measuring service quality (Hume et al 2006; Kubacki 2008a; Raajpoot et al 2010), visitor motivation (Slater 2007), direct marketing (Rentschler and Wood 2001; Arnold and Tapp 2003), art networks (Jyrama 2002) and the internet as a promotional and transaction tool (Clarke and Flaherty 2002; Quesenberry et al 2006; Benghozi and Benhamou 2010) There is also a focus on arts marketing strategy (Colbert 2009), internationalisation and international comparisons (Kubacki 2008b; Fillis and Lee 2011), relationship marketing (Conway and Whitelock 2007; Rentschler and Radbourne 2008), the impact of cultural policy and government funding (Lee 2005; Kirchner et al 2007), experiential marketing (Petkus 2004), sponsorship (Rowley and Williams 2008; Thomas et al 2009), public relations (McDonald and Harrison 2002) and the construction of visual arts marketing theory (Fillis 2004a) The growing role of arts management research in general is identified by Rentschler and Shilbury (2008) who assess the impact of arts management journals, mirroring that found in marketing and management research

A key catalyst in the furthering of arts marketing research was the successful ESRC seminar series Rethinking Arts Marketing which subsequently resulted in special issues of journals such as Consumption Markets and Culture, the European Journal of Marketing and the Journal of Marketing Management and an edited book, Marketing the Arts Topics investigated include the consumption of symphony orchestra music (O’Sullivan 2009), art versus market orientation (Harrison 2009), art and branding (Schroeder 2010), new audience development (Osborne and Rentschler 2010), technology and museum experience (Vom Lehn 2010), the impact of art on marketing (Fillis 2009), the reaction to inauthentic artefacts (Hede and Thyne 2010) and member schemes and involvement (Slater and Armstrong 2010)

This group of researchers is at the heart of much successful arts marketing research and will continue to produce innovative arts marketing research for many years

Arts Marketing Research Directions:

Bradshaw (2010) reviews some of the relevant arts marketing literature in order to reconsider its methodologies and the relationships between art and marketing He identifies a growing body of work urging arts marketers to continue to adopt long accepted marketing principles

in order to satisfy their customers (Bernstein 2006; Hill et al 2003; Kerrigan et al 2004) Bradshaw notes the multi-directional impact of arts marketing, from positivist interpretations

to more creative revisualisations where art and literary theory can be used to inform marketing This position also sits comfortably with my own thinking on the meaning, practice and contributions of arts marketing, marketing in art and art in marketing (Fillis 2009) He divides his review into sections on the consumption of art and the connection with aesthetics and the simultaneous production and consumption of art (Venkatesh and Meamber 2008), marketing as art (Brown 1996), art as marketing (Schroeder and Borgerson 2002) and marketing interpreting art (Holbrook and Grayson 1986) Bradshaw adopts a consumption focus while I concentrate more on the role of the artist and the organisation in shaping arts marketing, marketing theory and small business theory The interface between art and marketing continues to expand Macaulay and Dennis (2006), for example, develop a connection between jazz and marketing philosophy, while Dennis and Macaulay (2003) utilise the metaphor of jazz improvisation to develop an alternative understanding of marketing planning

Arts marketing and attitudes towards market orientation:

Marketing has been described as troubled, irrelevant, over-reliant on rules and formula-based thinking and focused on selling products rather than creating markets (Bennett and Cooper

1981; Day and Montgomery 1999).Interest in measuring market orientation has grown since the 1980s (Saxe and Weitz 1982; Narver and Slater 1990; Gebhardt et al 2006) and this has now spread to the non profit organisation (Alvarez et al 2002; Duque-Zuluaga and Schneider 2008) The growing body of arts marketing research continues to identify the need for more specific arts related marketing frameworks Many marketing researchers now embrace the arts as a fertile data source for other domains of marketing

The role of creativity and entrepreneurship:

Both Belfiore and Bennett (2008) and Hirschman (1983) believe that the marketing concept does not match the behaviour and philosophy of the artist because of the personal values and the social norms which impact on the creative process Instead of creating products in response to consumer demand, creators of aesthetic products often derive something which flows from the self It is then up to the consumer to either accept or reject it

Creativity shaped by entrepreneurial thinking also has an impact (Colbert 2003; Fillis 2000; Fillis 2002a; Fillis 2002b; Fillis 2004b; Fillis and Rentschler 2006; Rentschler 2007) Chartrand (1990), for example, views the artist as a risk taking entrepreneur who is unwilling

to conform to organisational thinking This interpretation matches my own conceptualisation

of the artist as owner/manager of a micro-business where there are a number of shared opportunities and barriers to growth Meyer and Even (1998:273-274) suggest that product-centred entrepreneurial creativity is really what occurs:

…the artist does not find products for the customer, but seeks customers for his products…art becomes a traded good once it is brought to the marketplace which, however, may not be the objective during the process of creation…the contemporary artist would assume the role of a financially dependent innovator and entrepreneur…

The role of aesthetics:

Artists create mainly to express their subjective conceptions of beauty, emotion or some other aesthetic ideal (Becker 1982; Holbrook 1981) Aesthetic creativity is the central influence in the process, rather than any response to customer demand (Holbrook and Zirlin 1983; Hirschman 1983) This creative self fulfilment results in intrinsic satisfaction, in addition to any functional utility or technical competence Hirschman distinguishes between artistic and commercial creativity, since the values of the individual will ultimately determine creative orientation These differences can be compared similarly to the philosophies of ‘art for art’s sake’ versus’ art for business sake’ (Fillis 2006a) Hirschman (1983) considers the implications of adopting a product-centred marketing approach where self-oriented creativity dominates behaviour Self-oriented artists create to communicate a personal vision with a view to acquiring peer approval and the potential for niche or mass audience appeal By creating something which vividly expresses their values and emotions, the audience might then be persuaded to accept their perspective The marketing concept can then be altered to incorporate self-oriented creativity and a wider variety of audiences where the artist/creator is seen as the initial consumer, with exchange relationships occurring internally

Interpretation and evaluation of the arts:

Reception of an artwork is intertwined with interpretation and realisation (Eco 1977) and is distinct from other types of products and services:

The usual separation of manufacturer and consumer is…not applicable to artworks It is replaced by a unique form of collaboration…that…includes all those involved in activities – from the inception of an idea to the public reception thereof – carried out according to a certain pattern of rules and practices – mutually attuned to the production, distribution and reception of works of art (Meyer and Even 1998:271)

Harrison (2009) evaluates the difficulties which art has with fitting into a business world dominated by instrumental rationality and a dominance of managerialism, leaving little room for creative expression One of the main reasons behind adopting corporate business models

is the requirement by their funders to report back their achieved outcomes in a rationalist manner through reports and other outlets This business-like approach also impacts on how the organisation develops its creative activities (Arts Victoria 2006) A consequence is the clash of business and arts languages and their underpinning philosophies where profitability and artistic creativity often seem distant concepts Harrison (2009) identifies a key difference between arts marketing and marketing in other sectors Interpretation and evaluation of the arts tends to be an emotionally subjective experience, while elsewhere the product is presented to like minded consumers who are expected to perceive and behave in neatly defined ways This position aligns to my own perspective on arts marketing and its relation, small business marketing, where situation specific, subjectivist approaches to doing marketing far outweigh general, objective marketing practices Arts marketing research needs

to embrace both hard and soft dimensions of evaluation The creation of an art work involves many creative inputs and its success will be judged in both qualitative and quantitative terms, depending on who is doing the evaluating

Limitations of the marketing concept:

The continued application of long held marketing assumptions to arts marketing has perpetuated the theory versus practice gap There has been an increasing call for more critical thinking concerning how successful the marketing concept is in explaining actual behaviour

of the organisation and the consumer, with Schroeder (1997; 2000) and Brown and Patterson (2000) drawing on the art world to illustrate how the gap may be narrowed Many artists hold philosophical and practical difficulties with the notion of a market (Anderson 1991) but the need to make a living often outweighs any attempt to adopt an art for art’s sake philosophy