The Value Of Art In Commerce. A Key Investment Or A Luxury Expense?
The disadvantage of being a formerly colonised country, if you can call it that, given developmental trajectories and our affinity for western ‘sweets’, is that we remained tethered in many ways; psychologically and otherwise. Though we are separate and independent we are still to an extent intertwined. Nowhere in the world is the term Global Village more felt as a reality than in the former colonies. Our education, entertainment and numerous other influences in general culture are loosely identical; save for immediate communal culture. When I wrote the book, Riding The Consumer, the references I searched for validation of the general universality of my ‘very local’ thoughts, ideas and experiences reaffirmed this globalisation. The general issues affecting the creative business, both locally and across the globe, seemed to have been copied and pasted.
However, there will always be a difference, and so I approach some of the content, as this article develops, cautiously from a global perspective, but, very confidently from my local perspective; although I am certain that it will resonate very deep into and throughout the borderless metaverse.
Over the last few decades, I have run a ‘couple’ of businesses. These have been very small businesses, but, being the owner and CEO, I have experienced first hand, consequences and responsibilities at that level. So, generally I can to a significant extent, empathise with the corporate CEO. Barring the size of financial and organisational responsibility, conceptually our struggle for survival and for growth has been loosely identical.
The bottom line, is to a CEO, what a concrete floor is to a tightrope acrobat. So, every decision is weighed ultimately with that concrete floor in mind. A miscalculation even a tiny one could prove fatal.
It is well understood that with the CEOs green light any project will sail through, any proposal will be approved, but, there is one caveat; and that is; the CEO must fully understand what he is looking at and the nature of it’s significance and how that could possibly affect her bottom line. Without proper understanding, very little passes and does so with very minimal resource allocation; mostly funded from petty cash. The creative industry providing marketing collateral and related services has always struggled and been the first to be curtailed at the slightest sign of discomfort and has seen opportunities and budgets tumble over the years, for this very reason of lack of proper appreciation. The book Riding The Consumer aims at promoting a better understanding…