Arts Marketing
Arts Marketing
Introduction
This essay will critically analyse the literature surrounding the concept of Arts Marketing, with reference mainly to the primary articles by Scheff & Kotler (1996), Butler (2000) and Fraser et al chapter extract.
Through out much of the literature, many authors present quite vague definitions and some avoid them altogether. If Arts Marketing does not have a clearly and widely accepted definition, the development of this field will be fragmented and of little use to arts organisations. Diggle (1986) presents a vague definition, ‘The primary aim of arts marketing is to bring an appropriate form of contact with the artist and in doing so arrive at the best financial performance that is compatible with the achievement of the aim’ However, this definition contains no mention of many of the key issues raised in the primary literature, which will be discussed now.
Some authors do define ‘the arts’ however is this enough? Since much of the literature demands a distinctive approach to “arts marketing”, it seems strange that definitions seem to concentrate on ‘the arts’ with the traditional definitions of marketing bundled in. Scheff and Kotler (1996) do not clearly define what they mean by ‘the arts’ or ‘arts marketing’, and so is difficult to put their argument in an appropriate critical context.
Fraser et al (2004) broadly define the arts, in terms of performing arts, jazz and popular music, drama, opera, theatre and film and visual arts. However, later in the argument they state that “it hardly seems to matter which particular art we are addressing.” This contradiction is one of many, limiting the contribution of this extract to the arts marketing discussion.
Butler (2000) does not provide definitions for terms and is not explicit in the aims of his article, however he does put the argument in context with the art industry as an important area for study in size with 1.8million people, 113,000 art organisations and its unusual characteristics for integrity and quality.
Scheff and Kotler (1996) highlight the existence of the arts paradox. They claim that a fundamental element of the arts is to challenge and provoke its audience with new and stimulating material, which is clearly not designed to meet all customers tastes. In contrast the marketing concept states that organisations of any kind should as their primary purpose satisfy consumers wants and needs profitably. So there is a clear division in direction between the two.
The issues with this paradox, is that the arts clearly needs customers to financially survive, however it cannot tailor its product to satisfy customer needs without compromising on quality. The logical solution seems that the modification of the arts must come from other areas of the marketing mix, in terms of Price, Place and Promotion, however much of the literature does not focus on these areas.
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