Brand building through art and Indian corporate world

Ancient as well as medieval monarchs, as is well-known, were the avid patrons of arts and culture to build some goodwill. Today, in keeping with the changing times, we perhaps need to substitute them with the corporate kings in the role of the patrons of the different forms of arts…

There has been a tradition of multinational corporations putting huge sums on arts and crafts. For instance, watchmaker Swatch is one of the major sponsors for the prestigious Venice Biennale. Financial institutions like UBS and Deutsche Bank patronize the art events on a regular basis. The Frankfurt headquarters of Deutsche Bank has close to 1,500 pieces of art on display. UBS has been a sponsor for Art Basel, Switzerland.

Generally speaking, the concept of art sponsorship is still at a nascent stage in India. But things are gradually changing. For example, as we have grasped in an earlier post, Infosys is already doing its bit in the domain of art by sponsoring an elaborate Indo-French art exhibition that looks to facilitate a cultural exchange for building relations between the nations and their people.

Infosys has sponsored the event, as it matches the company’s broad philosophy of cultural integration. According to the company, the aim is to boost the image further as a top Indian IT firm, though it not much to do with persisting negative sentiments prevailing about outsourcing, as the company does not face any such difficulties in France.

In a way, it’s a new way forward for any Indian corporate entity when it comes to brand building through art, some sort of a pilot, which is open to such ideas, although it would wait to see the effects created by the current show. According to renowned brand strategy specialist, Harish Bijoor, corporate India will pursue such initiatives more vigorously in the future.

Showcasing the country and its culture abroad gives a positive image to brand India as a whole. Whenever such a positive hue is given, a brand associated with it like Infosys, in this case is bound to gains. There’s bound to be a connect, one way or the other.