Branding: The Tiger and the Gate Crashers – Blog post by Paul Brent
If anyone has experience in branding and especially building a brand based on an individual and lifestyle, especially in art licensing, Paul Brent is the go-to guy! Paul will be sharing his in-depth knowledge on the subject of branding, to be unveiled at ArtLicensingInfo.com in early 2010. For now, here are some timely thoughts from Paul and lessons to be learned from recent current events.
Well, it seems that today’s news is constantly bringing us examples of how branding works. Licensing artists can all learn from current events how not to build a brand and how to destroy one. The White House gate crashers have sought recognition and brand building by succeeding in their audacious attempt to attend a White House reception. Their brand is now firmly entrenched in the public’s mind. We can only hope that they have a plan for how this will help them secure their place in reality TV or result in jail time.
Licensing artists can learn that audacious acts need to be well planned and researched. Sometimes the risk is warranted other times it can backfire. In the early 90’s I was working with an individual who had a trained Florida panther and who was doing educational presentations with the panther to bring attention to their plight. I painted a portrait of the panther and arranged to have the panther appear in my booth at two trade shows. I did have to clear this with show management and the facilities management. The panther behaved and we were certainly recognized at those shows. Everyone in attendance knew there was a panther on the floor. If the panther had misbehaved the whole gamble could have misfired. Luckily the panther and trainer lived up to expectations and built my name recognition at a time when I needed something spectacular for people to remember me. So when planning an occurrence of this type be sure to think out all of the possible rewards and drawbacks before proceeding. I am not sure that the gate crashers were this astute.
Tiger Woods gives us another lesson in brand management. I have often said that you are your brand in art licensing. In Tiger’s case that extends into marriage partners, family and sexual partners. His brand was built to match his sport where family values predominate in a conservative, business leader demographic of fans. It is too bad he did not live up to his fabricated image and has damaged, possibly irreversibly, one of the greatest brands of all times.
While few licensing artists achieve the celebrity of Tiger, we all must insure that what we promote about ourselves rings true. I once knew a talented artist who painted what would sell but dismissed her work to people who know her, belittling her work and making negative comments about her customers who bought it. While I never heard of that getting back to her customers I think it could have been a potential time bomb for her career in art licensing.
It is far safer to stick with a truthful image of yourself and your art and not risk the pitfalls of negative press. Some of the most negative comments I hear about artists from manufacturers are late delivery, difficulty in contract negations and relentless control issues concerning quality and color. Developing a good working relationship and being reasonable, not a pushover, is going to serve a licensing artist well especially over the years as design directors and manufacturers licensing directors change jobs in the industry. We have many times made lasting friends with individuals who then bring us along as they change jobs and we certainly enjoy the referrals they give to others within the industry.
So just because you are not in the media’s eye, you, too, can learn from our newsworthy celebrities about how to achieve success in art licensing.
– Paul Brent, www.AskPaulBrent.com
I don’t know about you, but I have no desire to be in the media’s eye in the way that Tiger or the Gate Crashers are! Thank you Paul for letting me share your insights on the blog. If you are interested in learning more about building your brand, be sure to watch the blog or eNewsletter for more information about Paul’s upcoming “branding project”. For now, it’s * TOP SECRET *!
Here’s to your branding success!
– Tara
Cool Software Discoveries 2009: 1Password
I decided it would defeat the purpose of securing my sites and passwords if I did my own demo of this amazing software… (ok, so maybe my whole family is coming for an early Christmas and I am running out of time to blog, let alone create a video!)
1Password from Agile Solutions has changed my life and my sense of security. I used to use 3-4 passwords across dozens of websites… not so good. And if anyone broke into my house and found the notebook with the lists of sites, user names and passwords, well, it would be all over but the crying!
Not anymore! I couldn’t remember my passwords if I tried. They mean nothing, they look like complete gobbledy-gook. And I couldn’t be more pleased!
Here’s a video introducing you to the program. They just released version 3 that allows Mac users to have read-only access to their info on a PC too… but it isn’t a PC only application. (Sorry PC owners, you are missing out! Hopefully there is something equally as easy and cool for you too!) They have an app that sync’s your 1Password to your iPhone too, so you won’t be lost without access while on the go.
This is one of my favorite finds of 2009! Maybe it will be yours too!
– Tara
disclosure: I have no relationship with this company and am not compensated if you choose to buy it. I just love it and want you all to be more secure online too.
Cool Software Discoveries 2009: Apture Blog Plug-in
While sitting in the food area of BlogWorld in October, fighting overwhelm and trying to decide what I was going to do next, this nice young man in a well designed t-shirt sat down with me. Being shy as I am (not!) I commented on his t-shirt and asked what he did…
He explained that he worked for this company called “Apture” that has a free plug-in for blogs and did I have a minute to see what it could do? (He also gave me a t-shirt – sweet! My 16 year old son is also a fan and now spreads the word through the halls of his high school.)
Here is how it works… (watch the video to see me create these links & also have a few issues… we all have them, right?) Tara Reed Paul Brent Jill Seale Cheryl Hodgson Suzanne Cruise
So, if you think this would add value to your blog, you too can add this feature at www.Apture.com.
Here’s to your creative & computer savvy success!
– Tara
P.S. I figured out why a few snippet links wouldn’t work – hit the comma before “com” instead of the dot… ooops!
disclosure: I have no vested interest in telling you about this, I just think it is really cool!
Put in "Twitter Time Out" for Excessive Tweeting! Really!
Oh yeah! This is a badge of honor if ever I created one myself. Let me explain…
I’m a bit chatty… I was never the girl to get in trouble for talking in class, oh no! I was a very well-behaved student. This is the first time that I can remember getting “in trouble” – we’ll call it “Twitter Trouble” for ‘talking’.
It was “The Big Call” with Alex Mandossian and the pre-kick-off party of sorts for the 2009-2010 Teleseminar Secrets season. Last year was the first time I took the class and it has changed my business. (go to TaraRecommendsAlex.com here for those details)
What was so cool was that not only did I learn all these amazing skills for my business, but I could interact and ‘meet’ other students on Twitter as long as I used the #tss hash tag. (That’s how I could find them.)
Well on December 3rd, I was having a great time talking to everyone! Such a great time apparently, that I was told I was shut down for “Excessive Tweeting” and to “check back in a few hours”. HUH? Sounds like social discrimination! Just because I’m a fast tweeter with a circle of friends I’m done!
At first, it was quite stressful. But I had an alternate account – as @MarianSparks said, “no one puts baby in a corner!” and Twitter can try and put me in time out but it wasn’t going to stick! 
Now I’m so enjoying sharing the story! I’m beaming with pride! This is fabulous! I think one other person got put in time out too – I’ll have to confirm that with @NewThoughts.
I decided to make a badge, start a club and revel in my ability to out-tweet Twitter. (the rule, it seems, is no more than 150 tweets an hour…)
Feel free to DM me on Twitter if you ever get put in “Twitter Time Out” – you can put the badge on your website or blog and if you ask nice, I’ll send you a button. I’ll also put you on the list of club members.
Here’s to connecting and turning lemons into lemonade! (The lemon being “Twitter Time Out” and lemonade being my “club”)
EXCESSIVE TWEET CLUB ROSTER
@ArtistTaraReed (founding member)
@NewThoughts
@KimBeasley
And here’s a video of my dad’s reaction to my mischief…
The Art Licensing Trade Show Season is about to begin…
It’s that time of year again folks! I want to mount my virtual horse and ride through the cyber-streets shouting like Paul Revere, “The art licensing trade shows are coming! The art licensing trade shows are coming!”
SO… are you going?
Here’s what is coming up and links to the sites:
Atlanta Gift Show – License & Design Section Jan. 8 – 12, 2010 Atlanta, GA
CHA – License & Design January 24 – 27, 2010 Anaheim, CA
SURTEX May 16 – 18, 2010 New York, NY
Licensing Expo June 8-10, 2010 Las Vegas, NV
All four of these shows are catering to artists who license their art, at different times, in different ways and different locations. Only you can decide which will be the best fit for you and your business.
I am sticking with SURTEX again this year (this will be my 6th year here, 7th year exhibiting anywhere) and as I sent off my second payment installment this week I reflected on how scary year 1 was.
I had no idea if what I was doing was the right thing to do. There weren’t any blogs (that I’m aware of) to turn to for help. My friend and I just ponied up cash, took our best guess and jumped in.
Did I make back the money I spent from deals I got at that first show? Absolutely not. But I went into it with the intention to be committed to investing in exhibiting for at least 2-3 years before deciding if I’d continue or stop. (Obviously I’ve continued.)
I’ve learned a thing or two along the way…
Like, don’t put so much on the walls of your booth that a person can’t see the trees for the forest. Bigger is better. The goal of your walls is to get manufacturers to pause so you can strike up a conversation.
And don’t eat or talk on your cell phone in your booth if at all possible. And if you HAVE to, duck and hide and eat quickly!
If you are exhibiting at a show and want to learn more detailed information to make your investment in exhibiting pay off, check out my eBook and the Trade Show Tactics teleseminar replay from a live call I did last year. The cost is minimal compared to the cost of a booth and travel – I’m told it’s well worth every penny! But just like the shows, only you can decide if it is for you… CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION.
Here’s to a successful and low-stress show season!
– Tara
Font Geeks have fun too!
Ah Jill Seale! She is one funny gal and this morning she gave me the first smile on my very tired face (it was SO WINDY in Portland last night that I did more tossing and turning than snoozing)…
She sent me an email that simply said, “Enjoy this. From a friend of a friend.” Then there was a link to a YouTube video.
Well my blog posts have been so informative lately I decided it was time for a little fun. Enjoy this little type-face parody of the song “Poker Face”. Intel has an ad campaign saying “Our jokes aren’t like your jokes” and I’d say that rings true for the font world as well based on this. ENJOY!
– Tara
P.S. If you want to learn more about Jill Seale, check out these websites: www.JillSeale.com and www.MomScouts.blogspot.com
Want to learn from Jill Seale? Head to www.AskJillSeale.com and grab your free copy of her “Ask” call from September.
P.P.S. If you want some “Font FAQs” – grab your copy of the April 15th “Ask” call where I had Joyce Lukaczer of FontSite.com talk about the ins and outs of fonts and typeface, including some of the legalities of using fonts in art for licensing. CLICK HERE
Is it possible to license the work of a deceased artist?
I got an email last week from a person looking for information about licensing their mother’s artwork. Before taking their money for a coaching session, I wanted to see if I thought I could help them.
When I went to the website I found two things:
1. Gorgeous watercolors that took my breath away.
2. I discovered that the mother was no longer with us.
Well… that changes things a bit. I didn’t think it would be easy to license work from an artist who can’t make changes, additions, etc. but decided to get a second opinion from Suzanne Cruise before replying.
Her reply confirmed my initial reaction:
Representing the work of a popular artist who died in 2000, I can vouch for the fact that this is a difficult situation. While there are several deceased artists whose work continues to be popular (Andy Warhol comes to mind) these situations are often the exception, not the rule. For many artists who are gone from our midst, the manufacturers know there will be no new art unless the Licensing agency has a top notch designer who can endlessly rework the art, a costly endeavor. Manufacturers tend to pass on a license like this.
Reworking art to make it appear current takes a lot more creative thinking than people realize, which means a ton of money spent w/ no guarantee it will be repaid, much less realizing a profit from the artwork and the work needed to refresh it.
The problem w/ deceased artists’ art is that manufacturers spend so much time, money and effort getting the art/product out there and selling, if the art/product becomes popular, the returns on the investment from someone who has died are finite. Manufacturers need to invest in something that will hopefully build over a long period of time, making them boatloads of money for a long period of time. This is just the first hurdle.
The second one is that this particular artists’ style and technique is very gallery/fine art looking, which has a fairly limited appeal to product manufacturers. I am not saying that gallery/fine art cannot be licensed but my experience with gallery art is that there are only so many places to go with it. It is too much of a niche look to hope to make enough money to justify all the efforts put forth to get the work licensed.
Suzanne
As you know, I often talk about how there are many, many ways to earn income with art, licensing being just one. So I emailed the person back and said that he would be better served to look into other avenues. My goal and the goal of all the experts on the Art Licensing Info team is to help you decide if licensing is a good fit and in this case, it would be a hard fit for small returns.
I wanted to write about this for two reasons:
1. If one person has a question, there are usually others who are wondering as well.
2. I wanted to remind you of what a great source of knowledge Suzanne Cruise is and encourage you to sign up and listen in to her call on December 16th.
SO… to learn more about art licensing, finding and working with agents and more, go to www.AskSuzanneCruise.com and register today. The call is on Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at 5:30 pm PST / 8:30 pm EST and is free if you listen live.
Here’s to your creative success!
– Tara (& Suzanne)
NOW is the time to get your copy of “I’d Rather Be in the Studio”
Yes, I’m talking about this book again. But with good reason…
1) I really like it and think it is a great resource for any artist wanting to make a business out of their passion and
B) Alyson is having one hum-dinger of a sale! (thru 12/17)
Not only will you get the book for $24.95, but you will also receive 7 other valuable bonuses and no – they aren’t Swans-A-Swimming.
So… grab one for yourself. Check an artist off your holiday list and give them a gift that will be motivate them to greatness… go check it out now.
Here’s to your creative success & saving money in the process!
– Tara
P.S. While you are at it, if you have any hard-to-shop-for women on your list, my friend Mary Foley has a new book out that’s sure to please – “How to Live Like Your Nail Color – Even if You Have Naked Nails” – here’s the link to check that out as well. CLICK HERE*
*disclosure: Although I never recommend anything I don’t know and like, these are affiliate links and I will earn a referral commission if you choose to make a purchase.
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