I can just imagine the look of delight on the faces of the brand executives at Nike when the Air Jordan logo started appearing spray stenciled on many of the street ball courts around the big cities in the USA. This brand mark represented the dreams of many aspiring athletes worldwide. If Michael Jordan could fly, then maybe I could? This is just one example of a brand that was strategically built at the highest corporate level and successfully made its way back down to earth to represent an entire generation.
There are instances where a brand begins its life on the street. In the late 1970’s the graffiti scene in New York had exploded. One particular street artist Jean Michel Basquiat caught the attention of the art world. He would strategically scribe his messages around the haunts of the successful Soho art crowd. They eventually (Andy Warhol and Co.) picked him up as this raw, uncensored artist from Brooklyn. Basquiat’s work gained recognition rapidly. So much so – virtually every door or alleyway fence that he had ever written on was dismantled and taken down by people wanting to cash in on the frenzied wave of Basquiat fame. At the top end of town, art collectors all wanted a piece of this “Basquiat Brand”. The dream of owning a piece of something that comes from the dangerously unobtainable was irresistible.
It was around this time that Fernando Carlo (Cope2) started his career as a prolific graffiti artist. Hailing from the South Bronx New York he had a slightly different set of objectives. Cope2 was about getting up amongst his peers. To gain recognition in the graffiti scene he had to be uniquely styled and everywhere. During the 1980’s Cope2 was viewed as a king amongst his peers and a public nuisance by the city as he continued to build his brand on trains, trucks and walls across New York City.
Around early 1990 street art had already been embraced by the art community. The concept of graffiti had lost the sting from its tale and a newer breed of artist began to emerge. Shepard Fairey was at the forefront of the new movement. A Californian born skater, designer, DJ and illustrator his early poster campaigns of Andre the Giant (OBEY) were so prolific that they started to reach well beyond the urban setting to become a global phenomenon. Running alongside Fairey was New York born Mike Giant (GiantOne). GiantOne is the Salvador Dali of the graffiti world. His designs are confronting, sexy, charismatic and delicious. Mike Giant performs his art on across virtually any surface including human skin.
Enter the year 2000 and a whole new universe of street art opens up. The Internet is now the tool for sharing images and bringing together like-minded artists and followers. The first notable works of Banksy started to appear not only in Britain but also across the globe. Banksy is about as well known as Picasso these days. For many years he remained completely anonymous. His guerilla style art tactics saw him hanging his own work in British Museum in London. Upon this Banksy discovery, the Museum added the piece to its permanent collection. These street Brands were born free of commercial gain. They became popular through prolific exposure and belong to the cities and the consumers who walk amongst them.
Being consumers, how can we own these brands? We can’t purchase them over the counter. We have a need to take ownership of what we see and experience. This need creates demand, and demand in a commercial world generates response.
So yes indeed, now you can purchase Cope2 Adidas track gear with matching Cope2 low-tops available at Footlocker. Mike Giant has his art across Santa Cruz skateboards, custom fixed bikes and Dragon sunglasses. Shepard Fairey has the Obey brand across entire Men’s and Women’s fashion ranges. While Banksy due to demand allows consumers to reproduce his work (downloadable from the internet here) free of charge. That said, in 2007 the Banksy work ‘Space Girl & Bird’ sold for over US$500,000.00 at Bonhams of London. It went for twenty times more than the predicted sale price. An indication of the strong demand for the Banksy brand.
Please don’t consider the above even a brief history of street art. There are so many other great artists that I have not mentioned. Nor is it about commercialization of the movement. The movement grew and continues to do its thing. Brands will emerge from unexpected environments and the one thing that all great brands have in common is that they were born out of passion for the space for which they exists. The above street artists succeeded at being the best in their time and space. If you try to build a brand any other way – it will eventually fail.
Related posts:
Tags: Jean Michel Basquiat, Nike
