Fancy a Red Bull?

Posted in arts & business, cultural branding, culture, music on January 25, 2010 by culturalbranding

If you happened to be walking down Tooley Street recently you will have seen a new resident in the ever expanding development that is More London: Red Bull. Having taken over one of the newly modernised buildings on the ‘road side’ of More London, Tooley Street Terrace, Red Bull has made an immediate impact on the area with a glass shop front displaying beautiful wooden floors, a flat screen tv or two and a fridge full of… yup. Red Bull. And why not?

Next door to this rather lovely office space the hoardings say ‘Red Bull Music Academy 2010’. How very exciting. This means, presumably, that the international Red Bull Music Academy will be very near the Arts & Business offices for its 2010 workshop terms (term one: 7th – 19th Feb; term two: 28th Feb – 12th March). Since 1998 the Red Bull Music Academy has been touring the world with workshops for aspiring musicians, and now they’re setting up home in London.

Running alongside the two terms of workshops from the likes of synth guru Bob Moog and Joy Division’s Peter Hook are three weeks of gigs in venues around the Capital – take your pick from The Sound of Lucrecia at the Old Blue Last (9th Feb), Goldie and Roots Manuva at The Roundhouse (17th Feb), and the brilliantly bonkers Animal Collective who are rumoured to be playing, to name just a couple of the nights on offer.

While they’re not workshopping with the UK’s bright young things, the Red Bull Academicians will be featured on Red Bull Academy Radio – and, of course, there’s a Red Bull Music Academy app coming to an iphone near you soon… is there anything they can’t do?

Laura Hollis-Ryan

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Jameson Cult Film Club – an authentic brand experience

Posted in Arts Intern Sept - Dec 2009, arts & business with tags , , , , , on December 10, 2009 by culturalbranding

Get your fright on with Jameson!

The Jameson Cult Film Club was a series of free film screenings at various atmospheric settings, such as the Clapham Grand, and the Union Chapel during Halloween week. Showing such classics like This is Spinal Tap, Halloween and Dracula, the audience were treated to a thrilling show surrounded by all the trappings of a classic horror setting. Experts or directors of the film introduced the screening, with actors on hand dressed up to creepy perfection whilst you sat with a free Jameson cocktail.

Chills in the Chapel – a series of horror film screenings – took this unique film experience to a new level. At The Dracula film screening the participants were offered garlands of garlic to ward off the ‘Vampires’ crawling around the venue.  Van Helsing was also on hand, but the creepy butler who welcomed the guests did little to put everyone at ease. There was terror at the screenings of Colin and Halloween, with zombie brides and horror icon Michael Myers skulking around on the stage. Jameson well and truly brought the horror experience to the consumer’s laps.

Nevertheless, the audience were in safe hands. Jameson whisky has been involved with cinema since 1988 when they started their own short film awards. Since then, they haven’t looked back, now sponsoring 20 film festivals around the world and becoming title sponsor of the prestigious Empire awards . Their quintessential goal has always been to bring the atmosphere and excitement of the cinema to as wide an audience range as possible. Their cult film blog expands on this, creating debate on issues of cult film that allows the audience to get involved with the event and the spirit of unique series of events such as the Jameson Film Club.

These are the kind of brand collaborations Arts & Business believe will increasingly happen in the future – and this is explored in the latest research Beyond Experience: culture, consumer & brand. Launched with flair on Tuesday night at the Cass Business School and co-authored by consumer marketing gurus Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore (authors of the Experience Economy and Authenticity), this looks at how culture can be placed at the heart of emerging commercial practice, exploring the changing nature of consumers, and their increasing need for authentic experiences and meaningful transformations.

Tell us what you think and join the discussion!

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Nissan Cubelist: Bespoke Quirkiness

Posted in Arts Intern Sept - Dec 2009, arts & business, cultural branding, culture, pop-up with tags , , , , on December 4, 2009 by culturalbranding

Car manufacturers have to think up increasingly interesting ways to advertise their product. It is no longer an option to ‘whizz-bang’ your consumers out of their pockets; creative measures need to be taken and Nissan has risen to the challenge admirably. Promoting the new Cube model, their products are now being showcased as design rather than mere consumer bits and bobs.

Touring across Europe, including Berlin and Paris, Nissan have set up pop-up shops, each hosting a mini festival celebrating design and Japanese culture. Events start from the 25th November and continue until the 3rd of January, and you’ll find the Cube shop at Boiler House in the east end of London. The main events will be ‘Design Inspirations’, a season of creative forums focussed around architecture, art, design, film, and fashion. This will be hosted by only the most fascinating of artists and designers, including Tony Kaye (designer of the Sgt. Pepper album cover) and Keith Khan, Chief Executive of Rich Mix and Head of Culture for the 2012 Olympics. There will be “an orchestra you cannot imagine” with, erm, cyber rabbits and Tokyoite evenings, where three classic Japanese films will be shown in a surreal and mad spectrum of colourful surroundings.

Now… there’s a hitch in the proceedings, albeit an exciting one. To be able to attend any of these super-cool events you need to either grab a member’s card from mysterious Cube drivers or register on the Cubelist. The site requires participation: there’s a 24-page questionnaire to ‘get to know you’ before you can be cleared to be a plus member (if you get cleared at all), and get discounts on the products in the online shop. This is bespoke marketing, designed to focus on the most suitable customers and reward them for their diligence.

This event is bound to brighten up everyone’s Christmas. Arts and Business is always impressed when brands put the effort into creating special events using the arts to bring people together, and produce eye-catching marvellous events at the same time.

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