Saatchi’s new “Stuart” is the stuff of brands
Saatchi gallery in London has made a splash with Stuart (short for Student Artist), a heavily trafficked online community where artists can post their portfolios and connect with other creatives. The site has become an instant magnet for young artists wanting to see and be seen. Started in May, 2006, Stuart has transformed the placid Saatchi gallery into a vibrant social place with 20,000 member artists.
Details in the New York Times article here.
Stuart is all about brand
Let’s kindly set “art” aside for a second and focus on brands. Stuart is all about brand. It represents a deep brand move by Saatchi to redefine the mission of “art gallery.” Stuart is transforming Saatchi from a conventional art gallery (and dealer) into a nexus of creativity, broadening its base, opening doors, bringing artists together, sinking deep roots into emerging artists, and tapping into the limitless energy of artists themselves to help Saatchi grow its brand in new directions.
From “gallery” to “community”
Stuart is how Saatchi is socializing its brand. Stuart is weaving the Saatchi brand presence into the social fabric of art and artists. It represents a brand transition from private gallery to social community. This is done not by “branding” Saatchi in conventional ways, but by unlocking the social context of art and providing a free, online “place” for artists to congregate under the Saatchi aegis. Through their interactions on the site, artists can support one another and jointly become a powerful indirect driver for the Saatchi brand.
The brand as “place”
Stuart means that Saatchi is designing a customer. becoming a brand platform, and using its brand as a collaboration in context. In contrast, other galleries suddenly look one-dimensional and stale. If Saatchi manages to cultivate Stuart and grow its users through increased interaction, it stands a chance of being the place for online artists to congregate and connect. This gives Saatchi a cachet and currency it could never achieve in a thousand conventional campaigns. Saatchi itself becomes the medium.
Network effects are brand effects
Of course, the technical barrier to entry for this type of brand innovation is not that high. It’s a socially-enabled website. The brand goal is to build out the network effects quickly so that your site becomes the definitive hub, a scaled-down eBay, MySpace or Facebook, but the prime segment player nonetheless. Do this right and your network effects can do double (and triple) duty as brand effects.
Through Stuart, Saatchi is building what may eventually be an insurmountable community lead in the creative arts market. One might ask: Where is the equivalent from AIGA? Where are the leading design schools? The leading design firms? Museums? If Saatchi snatches the wind from their sails, they may find it hard to catch up.
A brand lesson for all
The wider brand lesson from Stuart is that a brand can gain significant strength by enabling its base in new and different ways. Imagine your brand as a social force, not a top-down wrapper. Decouple your brand from your business silo. You can fly your brand over customer fields. Sometimes the most fertile field is not the same closed plot you and your competitors have been dutifully ploughing all these years.