Brand Refreshment in the Art World

In an industry as varied and visually driven as the art world, maintaining a fresh and relevant brand can be hard to do. As artists, galleries, museums and art institutions strive to captivate the audiences of an ever-evolving and fast-paced digital era, brand refreshment becomes a vital tool to not only sustain your engagement and increase growth and sales, but stand out. 

Brand growth, enhancement and alignment is one of our key considerations here at Artfundi, as is sharing what we’ve had the opportunity to learn and develop. In this guide, we’ll break down some useful tips, practical steps and other helpful titbits for refreshing your brand.

Step 1: Conducting a Brand Audit

A Brand Audit is a comprehensive examination of your brand's current position in the market compared to your competitors, and a review of the effectiveness in how you communicate your message. They are usually done annually, or when you’re at a crucial stage in your journey. 

Brand Audits help identify the current perception of your brand and areas for improvement, strengthen alignment of brand elements and effectiveness in communicating your message, provide a clear picture of your brand's strengths and weaknesses, and helps you determine what resonates with your audience and what doesn't. Overall, a very useful tool to guide your brand refreshment strategy!

It’s best to do the housekeeping before you throw the party, so we recommend conducting a Brand Audit be the first thing you do. Review your current brand elements, including your logo, website, social media presence, and marketing materials, and identify what’s working and what’s not by collecting feedback from your audience through surveys, direct conversations and customer feedback forms. Additionally, monitoring social media mentions and analysing website analytics can provide valuable insights. 

According to a study by Lucidpress, consistent branding can increase revenue by up to 33%, showing just how important it is to ensure your brand and all elements are cohesive and effective, and it’s especially vital to a visual market like ours. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York periodically reviews its branding, and by regularly assessing their visual identity and audience engagement strategies it maintains its leading position in the art world as it’s always relevant and appealing to new and loyal patrons.

Questions to Ask:

What elements of my brand are most and least effective?

How do my audience and stakeholders perceive my brand?

Step 2: Identifying Your Brand’s Core Values

Brand core values are fundamental beliefs and principles that guide your brand's actions, behaviour, and decision-making. They’re at the heart of who your brand is, and communicating them authentically helps build powerful connections and foster trust with your audience.

A brand without well-established and aligned core values will struggle to communicate who they are at their core. They guide your brand’s messaging and actions, making it easier to connect with your audience on a deeper level and providing a foundation for decision-making that helps maintain consistency across all brand touchpoints. Doing this makes sure that all branding efforts are rooted in what you stand for, and helps create a strong, authentic identity that not only resonates with your audience, but the essence of who you are. 

After you conduct a Brand Audit, take some time to reflect on your mission, vision, and goals. We recommend having a brainstorming session with your team to revise these foundations and make sure they’re current, up-to-date, and resonate with your ideal target audience. A great idea is to write down three to five core values that you want to emphasize in your refreshed brand and who these would appeal to most. Take note of how similar or different they are to your existing ones, as this can give you an idea of how your brand has shifted and where key changes might need to be made.

A survey by Cone Communications found that 87% of consumers will purchase a product because a company advocated for an issue they cared about, highlighting the importance of making sure your brand values align with your model audience - but it’s crucial to stay aligned with what you care about, too. A good example is the elusive Banksy, who maintains a strong brand identity centred around social commentary and rebellion against the status quo, and by staying true to these core values has built a powerful and resonant brand that transcends the traditional art market, while always appealing to those that are right for him.

Questions to Ask:

What are the key principles that define my brand?

How do these values align with my audience’s values?

Step 3: Refreshing Your Visual Identity

Your visual identity consists of components that work together to create a unified and appealing brand image. 

A strong Visual Identity includes key elements such as a distinctive logo, cohesive colour palette, carefully selected typography, and relevant imagery and graphics. These elements paired with comprehensive layout, design and brand guidelines means a consistent and enhanced visual appeal of your brand, increasing your brand recognition and visibility, and attracting new audiences while re-engaging existing ones in a fresh and exciting way.

As with your Core Values, refreshing your Visual Identity means your brand’s look and feel will always be current, visually appealing and relevant. It’s a great idea to do this after each Brand Audit, as you’ll bring all your findings into a cohesive system. Have ongoing sessions with your team, and make a point to view your Visual Identity from your audiences' perspective, paying careful attention to the appeal of your logo, colour palette, and typography. Research from RebootOnline showed that signature colour can increase brand recognition by 80%, so even seemingly minor details matter. Scope your competition for reference, and work with a professional designer or agency to get the look you’re after if you don’t have a resource in-house.

Brand refreshment isn’t only vital for new brands trying to get noticed in this increasingly oversaturated era. Long-established Tate - which launched its first new Visual Identity shortly before the announcement of the Tate Modern in 1994 - enlisted design agency North in 2015 to refresh its iconic branding. Read about how North navigated this high-level project and what was important to keep in mind, here.

Questions to Ask:

Does my current visual identity reflect my brand values and appeal to my target audience?

What changes can enhance the visual appeal and coherence of my brand?

Step 4: Enhancing Your Online Presence

Your online presence encompasses all the ways your brand appears and interacts on the internet, including your website, social media profiles, email newsletters, and online advertisements. 

Internet users accounted for 67.1 percent of the total global population as of April 2024 - that’s a whopping  5.44 billion user worldwide! This will only continue to grow, and with such a massive potential market so easily available to us from any space, enhancing your online presence is crucial to increase your brands’ accessibility and engagement in this digital space. A strong online presence enhances user experience, increases brand visibility, and can drive traffic and sales, while also helping build a community around your brand and facilitating direct communication with your audience.

Your website is probably the most critical first stop when revamping your online presence, as it’s where you want your audience to end up. Take a look at your existing site and user experience, identifying where it can be improved and where, and how,  your refreshed brand elements can come in. Pay particular attention to consistency, readability and load times - according to Google, 53% of mobile users will leave a website if it takes longer than three seconds to load, highlighting the necessity of a fast, user-friendly website. As with your Brand Audit, you can collect feedback by using surveys, direct conversations and customer feedback forms. 

Once you’ve started updating your website, the next step is to reflect those changes on your social media platforms. Make sure your Visual Identity, Core Values, and messaging are being communicated consistently, and that your online platforms are mobile-friendly and optimized for search engines. 

We have an exciting case study on the importance of enhancing your online presence to share with you soon - keep your eyes on our socials to learn more!

Questions to Ask:

Is my website user-friendly and visually appealing?

Are my social media profiles consistent with my brand’s visual identity and messaging?

Step 5: Crafting Compelling Content

Content refers to any material produced and shared to convey information, tell a story, or engage an audience, and includes written articles, blog posts, social media posts and updates, animations and videos, podcasts, infographics, email newsletters, and more.

Crafting compelling and authentically aligned content engages your audience, helps tell your brand’s story, and keeps your audience informed and entertained, while establishing your brand as a thought leader. It can also act as a valuable tool for insights into your audience engagement and success, and builds trust with your community. It’s important to make a routine of this, though, as it’s only by doing it regularly that you can successfully boost your brand’s visibility, drive traffic to your website, and increase audience engagement. 

Having a well-developed and planned content strategy that includes regular and scheduled blogs, social media posts, and email newsletters is a key tool for your brand to have, as your audience can be sure they will receive regular communications and updates from you. With the amount of content available to use at any given moment, standing out is vital, and your content should be engaging, informative, and aligned with your brand’s voice and values. Incorporating storytelling through various forms of content can bolster a deeper connection with your audience, and we have found when working with our clients that using content together - such as a blog on your website with a supporting social post on your social platforms - can yield amazing results. 

Institutions like The Brooklyn Museum often leverage blogs in tandem with social media platforms to share behind-the-scenes stories, artist interviews, and educational content and a report by HubSpot found companies that blog have 97% more links to their website, highlighting the power of content marketing in driving traffic and engagement. 

Questions to Ask:

What topics and formats resonate most with my audience?

How can I align my content with my brand’s voice and values?

Step 6: Engaging with Your Audience

Audience engagement refers to the interactions between your brand and your audience, and includes any activity that allows your audience to participate, provide feedback, and feel involved with your brand. Good Audience Engagement can promote a deeper connection with your audience and build a sense of community and loyalty, as it makes them feel more personally connected to your brand.

Word-of-mouth and repeat interactions are still massive sales drivers, and many of us know that converting a first-time visitor into a customer is challenging at best. Direct engagement fosters deeper relationships with your audience, encouraging repeat interactions and word-of-mouth promotion, and also provides valuable feedback that can inform your brand strategy. A study by Semrush found that 90% of people are much more likely to trust a recommended brand (even from strangers), and another by Estaban Kolsky found that 72% of consumers will share their good experience with others, showing just how powerful they can be.

Social media is a great place to start as it’s so widely used and accessible. You can cultivate engagement by interacting with your social media audiences, responding to comments and messages, and hosting live events or Q&A sessions. Sprout Social found that 70% of consumers feel more connected to brands whose CEO is active on social media, suggesting that adding a level of personableness can really enhance brand loyalty, so considering putting a face to your brand. Artist Ai Weiwei is known for his active presence on social media, where he engages directly with his followers and discusses his work and social issues, which has helped build a loyal global following and a strong personal brand that is massively influential. 

Just don’t forget to respond to show appreciation for your audience’s support and feedback!

Questions to Ask:

How can I make my audience feel more involved with my brand?

What platforms and methods are most effective for engaging with my audience?

Step 7: Collaborating with Influencers and Partners

These kinds of collaborations involve working with individual influencers - people with large and engaged audiences on social media or other platforms - or organisational partners -  other businesses, brands, or institutions that share similar values or target audiences - that have a significant following or influence in your industry, and collaborations can include joint projects, co-branded events, guest blogging, social media post collaborations and takeovers, and product partnerships. 

These strategic partnerships can boost your brand’s visibility, increase credibility, and provide new content and marketing opportunities for your brand, while fostering a sense of community and mutual support and expanding your brand’s reach and credibility, allowing you to tap into new audiences and leverage the influence of trusted figures in the industry. 

The Influencer Marketing Hub’s Benchmark Report 2024 found that 85% of marketers find working with an influencer helps with customer acquisition, and have also reported that businesses earn $5.20 for every $1 spent on influencer marketing, demonstrating the high potential growth and ROI of these collaborations, but as with everything, it’s important to do it authentically. Conduct thorough research on who’s available to you, any budget you may have (this will increase the more high-level you go!),  and if they’re right for your brand, making sure to choose collaborators who share your brand values and can authentically promote you to their audience.

There are many successful examples of collaborations with influencers and partners in our industry, but some notable examples are the 2017 Jeff Koons and Snapchat partnership where augmented reality was utilised to place his iconic sculptures in the physical world, appealing to both art and tech enthusiasts, or the 2003 limited edition collaboration handbags by Takashi Murakami and Louis Vuitton which featured his distinctive, colourful designs and appealed to a younger, more diverse audience. 

Questions to Ask:

Which influencers and partners align with my brand values and audience?

How can I create mutually beneficial partnerships?

Step 8: Launching a Targeted Marketing Campaign

A targeted marketing campaign involves creating a series of strategic, focused marketing efforts aimed at a specific audience, and can include various channels and tactics such as social media advertising, email marketing, content marketing, influencer partnerships, and more. The goal is to deliver a cohesive message that resonates with your target audience and authentically communicates your brand, encourages engagement, and drives desired actions.

A well-executed marketing campaign can generate significant buzz, attracting new audiences and re-engaging existing ones - all helpful factors for driving traction and sales. It also provides measurable metrics that can inform future marketing efforts, giving you helpful guidance on where you can adapt. The purpose of a Brand Refreshment is to drive awareness, engagement, and conversions. Launching with a targeted marketing campaign that uses all your Brand Refreshment process findings and showcases your refreshed brand in a cohesive, aligned and exciting way can do just that, and really set the tone going forward.

Going through all these steps would be pointless if you didn’t make use of your findings, so it’s important to design a marketing campaign that incorporates all discoveries from the previous steps and highlights your refreshed brand appropriately. This should cover everything from visual designs to methods and tone of communication, and it’s a great idea to use a mix of digital advertising, email marketing, and PR efforts that leverage multiple channels - a study by HubSpot found that businesses using multiple marketing channels can achieve a 24% increase in conversion rates compared to using a single channel, and according to eMarketer, global digital ad spending is expected to reach over $455 billion in 2023, reflecting the increasing importance of multiple platform digital marketing. Track the campaign’s performance using data and insights to see what is and isn’t working and tailor your campaign to suit for maximum impact. 

The Getty Museum in Los Angeles successfully launched a targeted marketing campaign when they revamped their brand to be more digitally savvy and interactive using a combination of social media campaigns, influencer partnerships, and engaging online content to promote their new brand image. The campaign included a viral social media challenge that invited followers to recreate famous artworks using household items, significantly boosting their online presence and engagement.

Questions to Ask:

Who is my target audience, and what channels do they use?

What are the key messages and goals of my campaign?

Staying relevant and captivating in this fast-paced digital world requires a continuous commitment to refining and refreshing your brand. By thoroughly following the steps in this article, you can position your brand for sustained success and growth, but remember that it’s not just about change for the sake of change, but about staying true to your vision while adapting to the needs and wants of your audience. 

How can we help you?

There’s been exciting growth happening here at Artfundi, and we now have an agency that can help you and your brand!

We’ve taken what we’ve learnt over the years to develop a comprehensive package - the ABC (Audience Builder Content) System - that takes your brand through all the steps necessary to get the most out of your brand's growth journey, starting with our in-house brand auditing and sales strategy system, to developing a consistent and comprehensive design and visual identity 'brand bible', website, content (blog, podcasts, newsletters, social media) and more - all handled for you by our dedicated and talented Artfundi Digital agency team!  

Contact us to find out how to work with us.

Banner image: Maple from Momoyogusa–Flowers of a Hundred Generations (ca. 1909–1910) by Kamisaka Sekka