Case Studies – Sponsorship
Case Study: UBS Openings: Tate Modern Collection
UBS Openings: The Long Weekend, Tate Modern, 2008
© Tate
Background
For the first time since Tate Modern opened in 2000, all 48 of its galleries were re-hung around an entirely new concept. This was made possible thanks to a significant three-year partnership between Tate Modern and UBS.
Objectives
Tate and UBS share a vision to open up art. Together we have created UBS Openings, a dynamic and wide-reaching programme focused on the Collection at Tate Modern.
Partnership
The full programme features the re-hang, UBS Openings: Tate Modern Collection, an annual cultural festival, UBS Openings: The Long Weekend , regular live events, UBS Openings: Saturday Live, and an exciting range of activities for families in UBS Openings: Family Zone. As part of the re-hang at Tate Modern, Tate curators have selected significant works from The UBS Art Collection to form a series of three six-month long annual art displays.
Successes
During the first two years of the UBS sponsorship Tate saw a great increase in visitors to family activities and the growth of one of the world's most renowned live art festivals in UBS Openings: The Long Weekend.
Case Study: The Unilever Series
Background
The Unilever Series is a series of commissions by leading artists to create works for one of the world's most exciting and iconic spaces: Tate Modern's vast Turbine Hall. The sponsorship began in 2000, when the gallery opened, and has been renewed twice – the latest contract running until 2012.
Objectives
Although Unilever's consumer brands are well known, the organisation wanted a sponsorship that could help to build its corporate brand, and position it as a creative and innovative company, with the following aims:
- To demonstrate and communicate the Unilever corporate mission, ‘to add vitality to life', through linking Unilever to creativity which is key to growing the business.
- To have the opportunity to form new relationships and to deepen existing relationships with opinion formers and makers.
- To continue to build Unilever's long-standing commitment to the arts (the history of which dates back over 75 years to the founder, Lord Leverhulme) and corporate responsibility.
Partnership
Installations so far have included the popular Louise Bourgeois' I Do, I Undo and I Redo in 2000, Olafur Elliason's The Weather Project in 2003-4 and Carsten Holler's Test Site in 2006-7.
- Since 2001, Unilever has developed the Unilever International Schools Art Project which leverages the sponsorship to an international opinion former audience through an art education CSR programme.
- The Unilever Series: turbinegeneration – an international, online schools project - is also being piloted this year.
Successes
The Unilever Series has won several awards including Champion of the Year at the Arts & Business Awards and Best Arts Sponsorship at the Hollis Sponsorship Awards.
Exterior of Tate Modern
© Tate
Case Study: Street Art sponsored by Nissan Qashqai
Background
Nissan's current marketing campaign for their Qashqai model focuses on Street Art as a way to engage their target audience of 35-45 year-old urban males. They also pioneer free riding: urban biking using ramps and jumps.
Objectives
Tate Modern provided a venue for the final of the Nissan Qashqai Urban Challenge free-riding event as it tied into the Fluxus Olympics theme of UBS Openings: The Long Weekend which opened on the same day as the Street Art exhibition. Street Art offered an opportunity to reinforce and validate their association with the art movement.
Partnership
The exhibition reached new audiences, broadening the socio-economic and ethnic mix of visitors and targeting urban youth and street cultures in London and beyond. The addition of the Nissan Qashqai Urban Challenge also encouraged a much younger audience to visit the gallery, often for the fist time.
Successes
The fit with Nissan's wider marketing campaign was ideal and the sponsorship was leveraged in several ways including additional advertising, advertorials, cycling and driving tours highlighting other street art in London, and an information ‘tunnel' at the front of Tate Modern housing information about the exhibition and the street art movement in general. All messages were consistent across all media and together created a powerful integrated campaign about the exhibition and the sponsorship.
Case Study: Francis Bacon sponsored by Bank of America
Background
Bank of America looked to sponsor a groundbreaking exhibition at a major UK art gallery to develop the Bank's already strong and successful cultural activities in the USA.
Objectives
Bank of America wanted to use the sponsorship as a platform to re-launch the Bank's profile in Europe and provide opportunities for the Bank's employees to benefit from and become involved in the success of the sponsorship.
Partnership
By sponsoring the Francis Bacon retrospective at Tate Britain, Bank of America not only aligned themselves with a leading art brand, but also supported the display of one of the world's most influential artists. The exhibition also marked the start of Francis Bacon's Centenary celebrations.
Bank of America approached the sponsorship very openly and was been keen to leverage the relationship with Tate and the exhibition through an extensive outdoor marketing campaign, greatly enhancing Tate's own campaign. The Bank also developed an internal communication campaign to ensure employees could enjoy the exhibition and the Bank's association with Tate, and held a range of exclusive events for key clients and press contacts.
Successes
Francis Bacon was an incredibly successful and popular exhibition.
Case Study: The Duveens Commission sponsored by Sotheby's
Background
Martin Creed's Work No 850 was the first of three Duveens Commissions supported by Sotheby's. The Duveens Commission was previously a biennial event with selected artists, such as Mark Wallinger, Michael Landy, Anya Gallaccio and Mona Hatoum installing works of art in Tate Britain's Duveens Sculpture Gallery.
With Sotheby's support, the Duveens Commission will be an annual event equivalent to Tate Modern's Unilever Series.
Martin Creed: Tate Britain Duveens Commission 2008
© Tate
Objectives
Building on their long tradition of supporting the arts, Sotheby's had been exploring ways to benefit the broader cultural community. Sotheby's support of the Duveens Commission publicly shows their commitment to helping some of the world's most exciting artists showcase their work at one of the world's most famous art galleries.
Partnership
With Sotheby's support, Tate Britain has been able to commission some of today's most thought-provoking artists on an annual basis for three consecutive years. Sotheby's have, in turn, been able to build on their relationship with Tate to the benefit of their employees and clients with exclusive access and entertainment opportunities at both Tate Britain and Tate Modern.
Successes
The first commission of the three year Sotheby's partnership, Martin Creed's Work No 850, was extremely successful in terms of media interest and was used to launch the Cultural Olympiad (the London 2012 Olympics programme of cultural activities) with Sir Sebastian Coe running down the Duveens Galleries.
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