Market Lot for Antique Sales - Essay Example

1. Within the contemporary market for art, how efficient are the many sales outlets at disposing of this commodity? In your answer you may look at one or many conduits for the sale of art. Introduction: The sale of arts products could be studied and analysed within the context of marketing as done for any other product. This discussion would focus on whether marketing of arts and art related products could be different from marketing of other regular consumer goods. Meyer and Even (1998) considered the art market as having certain specificities which could be interpreted and explained differently within marketing theory perspectives. The role of artists in marketing and the prerequisites to marketing needed for successful sales of art objects are considered as important for sale of art objects. This analysis focuses on the various aspects of arts marketing and evaluates whether the different conduits for arts sales could be considered as efficient in their sales and marketing approach. Marketing Arts The sales outlets for marketing of art products largely depend on direct consumers, festival or exhibition visitors and also on sponsors. Olkonnen et al (2000) argue that there is little or no academic interest or research studies on the phenomenon of commercial sponsorship on arts, sports and media events. Sponsorship as a study of marketing management is largely defined by marketing mix and mass communication and Olkonnen et al claim that sponsorship could be better defined by applying the approach towards networking and interaction. Networking in marketing of arts focuses on understanding the dynamics of sponsorship as a method of networks and relationships and also interpersonal communication rather than sponsorship as a measure of effects on the audience or consumers. The art festival is one of the major marketing tools through which a large number of art enthusiasts could be assembled to focus on both the academic and the commercial aspects of art. Waterman (1998) writes that despite the prominence and ubiquity of such art festivals these festivals have not been studied or researched to an appropriate degree. These art festivals serve as a platform for new artists and also from a social perspective transform places and settings into environments thriving with the production and processing ad even consumption of the very essence of culture which seem to be available within a specific location. The way a particular culture in manifested and projected becomes very obvious in festivals and festivals play a major role in highlighting cultural aspects of art apart from being a major conduit for the sale and marketing of arts. Waterman (1998) goes a bit further in discussion the implications of these festivals and suggests that support for arts is a process used by elites to distance themselves from the other classes of society. Thus being a patron of arts marks out someone as member of refined or higher social class. However the changing nature of festivals is obvious as from being traditionally innovative and being controlled by artistic directors, these festivals are now increasingly controlled by marketing managers and agencies who have been transforming arts into an industry with a strong potential for marketing and attracting consumers at a large scale. Arts festivals are now seen as serving the dual purpose of marketing the arts products as also advertising the place in which such festivals are held and thus tend to attract sponsors and agencies that have many different marketing approaches and motivations. Waterman (1998) suggests that the concept of festival for arts and economics may be related to tensions between culture and cultural politics. Direct marketing of art objects is one of the more traditional and common ways of marketing and selling art products. Arnold and Tapp (2003) suggest that direct marketing is being increasingly used by non profit organisations to reach consumers, raise sales and revenues and improve long term consumer relationships. In case of selling of arts products, direct marketing is essential to establish long term patrons of art. The performance or sale of products due to direct marketing effects could be investigated to show how marketing affects sales or profits. The case taken up by Arnold and Tapp include a study of non profit art organisations and attributes of external integration, total marketing effort, managerial self-confidence and formalisation of the organisation have been found as some of the essential characteristics that seem to influence the direct marketing techniques used by the arts marketing firm. The study indicates that total marketing efforts are responsible for sales and fund raising revenues whereas direct marketing techniques help in increasing total revenues for ticket sales ad subscriptions. Direct marketing and sale is thus focused on attracting consumers who would buy products solely for the aesthetic or market value of the product rather than for other social reasons. Direct marketing, art festivals and sponsorships for marketing of art products are some of the ways and avenues through which art products could be sold, advertised and exhibited. It would be interesting to analyse the effectiveness of arts outlets and markets in disposing or selling or arts goods and antiques and where the processes and dynamics of marketing would fit into the sale of such articles. As we have pointed out to the three ways in which art products and antiques could be sold would be through regular shops as through direct marketing, festivals in which buying art objects would be related to cultural implications for being a participant in the festival and through sponsorships in which patronising is the main avenue through which the importance of art is projected. The importance of branding within art could be studied from the perspective of the artists and his relationship with his art as a brand or from a more cultural perspective and O’Reilly (2005) examines the relationship of culture and business with special reference to art and branding. O’Reilly suggests that the concept and study of arts marketing needs to consider issues of within cultural contexts and consider the meaning of art as reflected through consumption and culture. Branding is largely seen as a socio-cultural phenomenon and brands are seen as representing production and also consumption as well as driving the entire industry and consumption attitudes. Brands are thus constructed both in terms of a management agenda and also representing social values. Art objects as they are known and projected in recent times is also seem as a brand representing a specific cultural value and in many cases the artists himself represents the brand that he creates and the object is sold and identified buy this process of branding (also in Schroeder, 2005). Marketing and the entire process of buying and selling is not a neutral commercial process but involves cultural perceptions and even ideological orientations. In considering the sale of art objects and antiques, it would be important to determine the cultural value or brand of specific art objects. For example, buying Murano glass painting in Venice or a Picasso painting would have implications of cultural and artistic brand respectively. Considering the issues of marketing and the different avenues of sale of art products, it would be important to evaluate how effective or rational the arts markets are. Singer and Lynch (1997) tried to test whether the markets for fine arts are rational in terms of price determination and whether all critical and historical information are adequately used and whether enough analysis is done to substantiate the authenticity of works offered for sale at exhibitions or museums. Authentic paintings being usually concentrated in museums, the demand of substitutes for such paintings may not be too high. Singer and Lynch suggest that museums buy art products at a much higher rate that the market average and there seems to be reduced institutional risk in this entire buying process in contrast to collectors who often purchase art before the historical information could be complete. Thus the whole process of acquiring art involves with it other issues of collecting historical information which may not be available to most sales outlets or marketing avenues and thus the whole process of buying and selling art objects could become substantially inefficient if evaluated from the perspective of an art historian. Conclusion: Efficiency of sales and marketing of arts products could thus be related to several issues of marketing, cultural aspects of branding and financing options available as also the actual process of selling with the help of historical information available. The essay suggests that the selling of art has to focus on comprehensive art marketing moving beyond the process of ordinary object sales. Bibliography: Arnold M.J.; Tapp S.R. Direct marketing in non-profit services: investigating the case of the arts industry Journal of Services Marketing, Volume 17, Number 2, February 2003, pp. 141-160(20) Fillis I. Creative marketing and the art organisation: What can the artist offer? International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, Volume 7, Number 2, 1 May 2002, pp. 131-145(15) Helmick R. Virtues of verisimilitude in design and art Computers and Graphics, Volume 19, Number 4, July 1995, pp. 505-507(3) Stanford J.D. Economic Analysis Of The Droit De Suite– The Artists Resale Royalty Australian Economic Papers, Volume 42, Number 4, December 2003, pp. 386-398(13) Singer L.P.; Lynch G.a. Are Multiple Art Markets Rational? 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