The Bu$ine$$ of Culture: 10 tipz to transform your culture marketing strategy

We’re working hard with our clients to spread the good word about culture marketing and how to add real (measurable) value to businesses, brands and wider society.?

How to build a brand in culture is now a million dollar question.... so we thought we'd share some hot off the press insights via our new platform The Bu$ine$$ of Culture - a series built to provide an opportunity for conversation, thought leadership and direction around how to ethically and responsibly work in culture to drive commercial output, whilst supporting the arts.??

The Bu$ine$$ of Culture has been built to provide a platform for conversation, thought leadership and clear direction around how to ethically work in culture to drive commercial output, whilst supporting the arts. Culture marketing is now a business. And as such we promise to provide a platform for cultural innovators and an opportunity for brands, and our wider community of culture heads, to develop a detailed understanding of the ins and outs of culture marketing. At the heart of what we do at Warm Street is inclusion (it’s one of our core values). And as such we are working to provide access to all Bu$ine$$ of Culture material free of charge to all and anyone who wants it.?

Kicking off in May 2022, we hosted our first IRL event at the fully restored The House of KOKO members club in Camden. We welcomed so many razor sharp minds from the world of music, events, brands and of course a few of the Warm Street massive to share our thinking on strategy, measurement and best practice. We heard first hand from the founders at Keep Hush, Days Like This (DLT) and Strawberries and Creem festival about the dos and don’ts of brand collaboration. And we were also lucky enough to host a panel with former Red Bull culture head Claire Ruddock alongside producer PRGRSHN, plus contribution from Ralph Daniel who handles legal and procurement at Warm Street.

Below we’ve selected some nuggets for you to gain a better understanding of how to put culture at the heart of your marketing strategy, and more importantly how to support underground cultures sensitively and in a credible way.

10 ways to make your culture marketing lit ??

1. Know what you stand for

“Brands that WIN, are the brands that know what they stand for. [Many brands] don’t know who they are. But they know what products they sell. But what do you stand for? That’s what you need to build it on.”

Claire Ruddock , ex Head of Culture at Red Bull UK??

?? ?? Nuff said?? ??

2. Keep it real

Knowing who you are (which will define what you want to get out of culture, how you engage with it, and communicate your brand values) are all secrets to working in culture and working with cultural partners more effectively. Cultural partners are values led - so you have to be too.

“The audience is getting smarter by the day and they can really smell when something isn’t organic. I can see it from mailers and Instagram. Spend time on both sides making something feel really organic and authentic for the right reasons…”

Preye Crooks , co-founder Strawberries and Creem

3. Define your objective upfront

Setting a clear objective ahead of commissioning cultural collaborations is paramount - are you building long term influential advocates, or are you after impressions and reach? The two are better segmented as two strategies.

At Warm Street, we try to balance campaign thinking alongside long term cultural engagement work. We know that a campaign with short term goals and lots of paid investment will get you the quick spike in activity and some tasty reach numbers against a key business objective, and to share with ya bo$$, but unless it’s consistent and underpinned with an always on approach it will not build long term advocates.

Consistency is key.

When building campaigns in the cultural sector, advocacy is the treasure trove you are seeking.

“If you just want reach, put up a billboard or run a Facebook ad. You have come to Keep Hush because you want to listen to us and learn how to build value and brand advocates amongst people that are really influential, whether they’re artists or the music head in their friendship group.”

Freddy Masters co-founder at Keep Hush

5. Bring your community in

The biggest and best brands in culture have changed their model from monologue - to dialogue. Following wider societal trends of collectivism and decentralisation the community want the space and ability to personalise their favourite brands. Those who love culture have opinions, work out how your brand can leverage them.

Find culture partners (or talent) who prioritise outreach and meaningful connection with the communities they serve.

It'll hit different

“We have built a brand [Keep Hush] by communicating with people and that’s why Keep Hush is still relevant. We make people feel involved and like it’s their party - because they pick the line-up. This level of involvement and engagement is quite key for us… Half of my job is literally asking people on IG stories like ‘who should we book?’. Putting polls on IG and speaking to people at events. Often people in the audience are people we’re going to book for line ups. So there’s an element if you get involved there is an opportunity for you at some point in the journey.”

Ludovica Guerrieri - Freelance Partnerships at Keep Hush

6. Collaboration and creativity is key

Collaboration is at the heart of every great partnership ??????????

As the culture marketing industry matures, things have shifted. From an industry that was protectionist in nature, with brands marking out their lines in the sand - were starting to see a flurry of amazing brand to brand collaborations. A culture partnership doesn’t have to be limited to brand x amazing community. Perhaps there’s a like-minded brand you can go create magic with.

“The same way you’ll see artists getting together on features and doing remixes …you’re going to see more brands collaborating with each other, like Gucci and Balenciaga and Gucci and ADIDAS...”

PRGRSHN, music producer and A&R

7. Brand fit vs brand money

It’s the ultimate quandary - do you let a brand into your world - the money might be good, but is the fit right??

With fans increasingly switched on to platforms or artists going for a money play - artists and platforms know they have to have the right fit to drive the best results. So taking the time to understand each other is key to work out what their audience wants to see.

“It’s not a conversation where a brand says there is 'x' amount of money and we’ll brand you all over the festival. We worked as an independent festival for six years, and so saw the benefits of bespoke and unique collaborations with brands, and in many ways it allowed us to stay competitive with the bigger festivals in the market. We have kept that mindset ever since, and find it has a far more lasting impact on the consumer.”

Preye Crooks , Founder of Strawberries & Creem festival

8. If you can… give back

The world is in a bad place - let’s help consumers out in some way - they’re ultimately your audience, it’s not always about the reach. The people that are doing it well are the brands who are doing it for others. There's value in exchange between audience and brand, listen to them. Audiences are looking for brands to play an active role in partnerships and social change.

“Doing the right thing may mean the brand will take a hit. But if you want to be authentic you should be willing to take that hit. Go into it with your eyes open. Be prepared to have some uncomfortable conversations. Be held accountable. Artists are now looking behind the scenes. Understand that it will be unpredictable. Be upfront and put in your contracts if there are things that people can’t say…. We are doing business - so everyone needs to be protected.”

Claire Ruddock , ex Head of Culture at Red Bull UK??

9. Stay true to who you are

Quite often we witness brands totally change how they operate in culture with each marketing director. Stay true to who you are at every part of your journey. DLT stayed true to their values and have kept their brand clear, clean and? well understood.

“We try to keep our core values and always remember the vision we had at the beginning.”

Michael Amusan , Days Like This Founder

10. Uplight and Collaborate

When audiences care, audiences share.?

They advocate. They get behind it. This increases ROI for the brand.? We know that purpose cuts through. Work with your partner to figure out ways to uplift and accelerate their audience’s goals and passions.

“Days Like This is a community. If you want to buy into that community you’ve got to give back to it for the audience to say ‘this brand did a great thing for us, we want to support them now’.”

Michael Amusan , Days Like This Founder

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The BU$INE$$ OF CULTURE

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