REPORT NO.

1
JUNE 2017 CULTURE PROJECTS

CULTURAL
CITIZENSHIP
SURVEY
Commerce and culture are becoming ever more closely intertwined. Yet our
understanding of why and how commercial brands engage in cultural partnerships
and which brands are strongest in what we call cultural citizenship is vague at best.

The inaugural Cultural Citizenship Survey is a first step in addressing this

knowledge gap. With findings from a poll of 50 international experts drawn from the
Experts see a worlds of art, marketing, and branding, it begins to map the rarely-studiedand
often misunderstoodconnections between brands and the arts.
major increase
Among the findings in this first report: Experts see a major increase in engagement
in engagement of consumer brands with arts and culture over the past decade. Such engagement

of consumer is generally perceived to be positive, for both the arts and for brands. Fashion,
financial services, spirits, and automotive industries are leading the way in their
brands with engagement with the culture sector.

arts and culture The observations here are based on (1) soft data gleaned from open-ended
questions in our late-2016 online survey; (2) hard data based on multiple-choice
over the past questions and indicators of brands cultural engagement, along with numeric
rankings of 57 culturally active brands; and (3) in-depth research on current trends
decade. and practices in the field.

Future studies will take the temperature of our anonymous expert panel to describe
year-on-year trends in the context of further analyses of brand engagement in
culture. We will evaluate the cultural activities of specific brands and create indexed
rankings of the worlds leading cultural-citizen brands.
 An Expanding Field
Responses from the international arts,
marketing, and branding experts in
our poll offer a snapshot of current
professional attitudes about links
between arts and brands. Taken
...brands profit together, the answers suggest that
brand engagement with the arts is
from these clearly on the rise. This is generally
relationships welcomedon both sides.
in the currency When done well, and with an eye to
the integrity of the art and institutions
of reputation, that support it, and with a long-term
plan for sustainability, said one
awareness, and respondent, this kind of patronage is
positive. A marketing manager with
trust. experience in the art and music worlds
put it this way: Overall, I think it is a
good thing that brands want to take
part in the arts discourse. It opens
up the art world to new distribution
channels, ideas, audiences, and
possibilities.
CHANGE IN engagement of consumer brands
with arts and culture in the past decade
CULTURE PROJECTS / REPORT NO. 1 / JUNE 2017 PAGE 2
Why is there increasing brand
involvement? Simply put, brands profit
from these relationships in the currency
of reputation, awareness, and trust.
The development and expansion of
the field of artist-brand collaborations,
an advertising executive noted,
is tied to the rise of experiential
marketing. A veteran of magazines
and art-business marketing tied the
rise of art engagement to systemic
changes in brand communications. As
the print industry declines and ad-
blocking becomes more sophisticated,
brands will increasingly turn to soft
diplomacy. For brands, art and
culture are the only way to really gain
power and transcend time, noted a
luxury marketing expert.
Several of the respondents took note
of an increase in quality and depth
of brands engagement, along with
growing diversity of business sectors
engaged in the arts. The visual arts,
especially, are attracting interest from
commercial brands. As a strategist
and creative director for luxury and
consumer brands put it: Today, the
contemporary art scene has become
what cinema was in the fifties and
sixties, fashion in the eighties and
nineties. ... Simply, it is mega-cool.
Hence, aspirational brands all jump on
the train.
Not all economic sectors participate
equally in art-brand collaborations,
according to the experts. Among 18
industries ranked in this initial poll,
fashion, finance, spirits, and auto
makers came out on top. Among the
laggards: airlines, consumer packaged
goods, information technology, heavy
industry, and media and publishing.
The respondents identified the benefits
of brand collaborations for artists
this way: Projects sponsored by
brands often provide an opportunity to
 realize projects that would otherwise
be cost-prohibitive. The combined
effect of such brand involvement
and patronage is absolutely necessary
for a sustainable art world, wrote
one respondent. Another added, Art
institutions often lack the capital to
commission, while individual collectors
and brands have the potential to offer
both deep pockets and wide audiences
that extend beyond the art world.
Moreover, brand involvement in the arts
helps legitimize (ironically) culture to a
large segment of the general public that
would otherwise be neither interested
nor aware.
VIEWS ON BRANDS TAKING AN ACTIVE ROLE
IN ARTS AND CULTURAL PATRONAGE
Terms of Engagement
The current vogue for brand-arts
collaborations, however, invites
some measured skepticism. As one
respondent put it, there is a risk of
too muchi.e., too many brands,
CULTURE PROJECTS / REPORT NO. 1 / JUNE 2017 PAGE 3
too commercial, which can dilute or
damage the value/reputation of art.
An arts communications professional
cautioned that a quantitative increase
in brands engagement with the arts
can lead to a decrease in the quality of
engagement.
Brands can become too pushy, an
arts communications expert warned,
attempting to influence what cultural
organizations are doing. If this goes
too far, then alignment of art with
luxury branding runs the risk of
diminishing art to baubles. The same
respondent added: Art is about ideas,
not product.
Brands still face hurdles as they try to
collaborate in the cultural sphere. I
think one of the biggest struggles in this
field is to get away from the knee-jerk
reactions that so many well-meaning art
lovers have to corporate involvement in
the arts, noted a business development
consultant. Better, smarter engagement
is how this can be done.
Some of those who answered the poll
predicted that brand engagement may
decrease in the years to come, for
reasons of compliance and because
more budget will be channeled
towards education. More likely
perhaps, brands can get turned off by
the attitude of established institutions
which see them only as sources of
funds, not as genuine collaborators.
Many companies will turn toward
spaces outside the museum, a
respondent suggested.
Our respondents agree: The
complexion of the relationship between
cultural entities and brands is changing
fast. Arguably the most important
realignment, several experts noted,
is the shift from patronage/pure
philanthropy to marketing, and from
traditional cash-for-logo sponsorship
 toward tailored initiatives. Corporate
patrons view sponsorship with
disdain. Sponsorship is a transaction
of budget, noted an international
corporations cultural chief, whereas
partnership is an interaction between
people. Sponsorship is a word that
does a disservice.
TOP TEN Indicators of Corporate Arts Citizenship
1 Number of years active in the arts
2 Total expenditure on arts projects per year
3 Degree to which companys own pr includes arts and culture
4 Existence of a foundation solely or wholly dedicated to the arts
5 Number of in-house staff engaged in arts engagement
6 Degree to which arts institutions display company name/brand in ads
7 Arts expenditure as percentage of total company revenue
8 Existence and number of cultural facilities named after company/brand
9 Existence of a corporate art collection
10 Size or value of corporate art collection
Moving from sponsorship to
partnership demands adjustments
on both sides. Brands must acquire
expertise and act thoughtfully in the art
cultural world. Cultural institutions must accept
that they alone cannot define the terms
citizenship of engagement. Still, experienced arts
and marketing professionals emphasize
needs to be that brands should understand
their role as cultural citizens. They
distilled shouldnt aspire to replace established
institutions as cultural arbiters. The
throughout same corporate executive summarized
the situation this way: Its all good,
the ethos of a as long as brands dont define the
company. content.
Engaging Deeply
Engagement with art and culture can
enhance a brands entire imageand
CULTURE PROJECTS / REPORT NO. 1 / JUNE 2017 PAGE 4
just as important, its self-image. This
happens when a brand has the
capacity to install the art mentality in
its way of working, a marketing expert
responsible for the positioning of global
luxury brands wrote. For example,
understanding how artists do their
research, how they connect to trends,
understand their creative process.
High-end brands, in particular, benefit
when a deep alignment with culture
changes completely the perception of
the brand and its products, and hence
the brand can exercise a much higher
price premium. However, the same
expert reminded, to achieve such a
premium, one needs to give strong
meaning and enhance the storytelling
of the brand.
But for brands, simply engaging with
culture is not enough. Brands need to
absorb, integrate, and communicate
their cultural citizenship. As a business
executive in the poll argued, the
rewards of engagement will accrue
to those willing to incorporate the
importance of the arts and society
(community) into the public corporate
ethos and formal mission statements,
and, extremely important, incorporate
the supported art (or art form) into
public expressions of the brand.
An art writer and editor put it this
way: cultural citizenship needs to be
distilled throughout the ethos of a
company.
The survey asked the experts about
some of the relevant indicators of
cultural citizenship. Interestingly, their
answers pointed toward many different
factors, but prioritized few of them.
Among the most frequently marked
indicators of engagement were total
expenditure on the arts per year,
number of years active in the arts,
the degree to which a companys
PR includes art and culture, and

ARTS ACTIVITIES FROM WHICH
BRANDS BENEFIT THE MOST
1 Corporate art intiatives
2 Corporate sponsorships
3 Corporate collections
4 Art editions
5 Other
CULTURE PROJECTS / REPORT NO. 1 / JUNE 2017 PAGE 5
the existence of separate foundation
wholly or partially dedicated to the
arts. Future reports will address which
of these variables (and others) are the
most meaningful.
What Works for Brands?
Do brands benefit more from designing
their own arts initiatives, supporting
organizations projects, starting art
collections, or developing art editions?
These are strategic resource-allocation
questions for brands seeking to forge a
connection with the arts.
Each brand must find its way to the
form of collaboration that suits it best
depending on a companys heritage,
budget, and target audience. Unique,
large-scale art initiatives tailored around
a brands core values promise a major
reputational impact. However, such
initiatives also demand major financial
and human resources, and therefore
tend to be the privilege of the powerful
brands that can manage them.
A foundation, an art award, or other
long-term undertaking is the most
likely to be noticed in the art world and
by the general public. Nonetheless,
not all brands have the capacity or
bandwidth to mount such efforts.
Moreover, creating something in your
own image risks appearing to be more
about you than the patronage you
are trying to demonstrate, observed
one respondent. Supporting great
organizations that align with your own
values can be equally valid as creating
your own.
Direct project or exhibition sponsorship
has the advantage of being
constructed around an event or an
institution to which clients can be
taken something tangible rather
than fluffy goodwill. However, others
warn that while project support can be
a mark of strong cultural citizenship, it
is uncertain if it hits the bottom line in
the way companies now expect these
dollars to operate.
Brands have long been associated
with corporate collectionsfor good
reason. Art projects sophistication
and creativity. But most of todays
public companies, especially in the
US, can ill afford to justify collections.
Still, as a manager of a corporate art
initiative of an international luxury
brand suggested, collections offer
both external benefits, such as
being noticed by clients, and internal
benefits that enhance a companys
work environment.
Several respondents said brands
obtain the best results from art editions
that link artistic work to products of
the brand, because they carry more
prestige and provide a premium
profit, as well as efficient PR coverage,
and brand awareness for new
audiences. Here too, though, brands
must make choices. The trick is to
work with great artists who also have
some legitimacy in the art world, but
can cross over into the consumer world
easily, said a cultural manager who
has connected artists with brands.
In the end, many experts are agnostic
about how brands should exercise
their cultural role. Each one must find
the right fit. As one response in the
poll summed up the matter, brands
benefit most from those activities with
broader reach/visibility (the format is
secondary)as long as those activities
align with the brands values.
Conclusions:
Trends to Watch
Multiple factors shape the respect and
exposure a brand will accrue through
cultural citizenship: Is a brand directly

No one can
doubt that
art-brand
engagement is
a dynamic and
quickly shifting
field...
HOW THE POLL WAS CONDUCTED
For this survey of cultural citizenship,
we invited 50 anonymous international
arts, brands, and marketing experts
to fill out an online poll. We asked
12 questionseight closed-ended
and four open-ended ones. The
data analysis in this report was
derived mostly from the former, and
although 50 responses may not be
representative of all brand and cultural
specialists, the high response rates for
each question mean that all numbers
used in this report are significant
(p<=.05). The initial list of 57 brands
was compiled on the basis of desk
research and preliminary input from
experts. Future studies will expand the
number of included brands. We do
not claim that the list here represents
all culturally active brands. We invite
brands seeking to be included in the
analysis to contact Culture Projects.
All data, conclusions and materials Copyright Culture Projects Culture Projects.
CULTURE PROJECTS / REPORT NO. 1 / JUNE 2017 PAGE 6
working with or supporting artists? Is a
brand supporting new artistic practice?
Providing much-needed funds? Is a
brand taking risks that institutions
might not be willing to take? If one
driver should be singled out, it would
be consistent, long-term, multi-
pronged engagement with a particular
issue or institution.
No one can doubt that art-brand
engagement is a dynamic and quickly
shifting field at the forefront of cultural
and marketing practice. Even so, many
questions remain unanswered as art-
brand collaborations gather steam.
Some of the questions our experts
wish to learn about include: What
specifically do companies hope
to gain by investing in the arts?
What metrics are used to determine
whether a particular collaboration was
CULTURE PROJECTS
Culture Projects develops and publishes
original research and insight into
current trends in arts and culture and
offers strategic counsel to institutions,
companies, and government entities
seeking to maximize the value of their
engagement with the arts.
CULTURAL CITIZENSHIP PROJECT
The Cultural Citizenship Project provides
fact-based analyses of engagement
between commercial brands and the
arts, drawing on the opinions of an
anonymous panel of international
experts and quantitative assessment of
polling and business data.
Project Lead Partners:
Andrs Sznt, Ian Charles Stewart,
Adam Levine
Research Analyst: Masha Sergeeva
Contact: info@cultureprojects
successful? What impact does arts
engagement have on sales? How
transparent should sponsors goals be
to the public? How can companies
avoid the stigma of buying their
way into the arts? How do brands
balance the grass roots/emerging
practitioner support with the high-
profile sponsorship initiatives? Does
the wider audience see the value of
these partnerships?
The stakes are high, and there is
much to be gained, but also much at
riskon both sides. This is a very
important conversation for our culture,
our citizens, and the companies/
brands that serve and depend upon
them, a survey respondent noted.
We will address these timely questions
about cultural citizenship in our future
reports.
This document has been
prepared by Culture Projects for
its Cultural Citizenship Project.
The information contained herein
is based on sources believed to
be reliable. However, we do not
accept any liability for any loss
or damage resulting from its use.
The information contained herein
represents best efforts to compile
data based on available information
and information and opinions
provided by the participants in
our survey. All experts in the poll
will remain anonymous. This
document is not intended for
distribution, publication, or use
in any jurisdiction where such
distribution, publication, or use
would be unlawful, nor is it aimed
at any person or entity to whom it
would be unlawful to address such
a document.
BY THE NUMBERS:
A FIRST LOOK AT THE RANKINGS
Statistical inferences from 50
individualseven when they
are experienced artists, museum
and gallery leaders, marketing
and PR executives, and widely
published authorsunderstandably
have limitations. Moreover, the
respondents in this survey evaluated
brands from a predetermined list
of 57, which is a strong sample,
but not a comprehensive one.
Importantly, the results reflect
scoring by the expert panel, not
a composite index informed by
a range of weighted indicators.
Future reports will delve into data
in greater depth. Meanwhile, some
initial quantitative conclusions can
be gleaned with a robust level of
confidence.
top ten BRANDS WITH REGARD TO PERCEIVED LEVEL OF ENGAGEMENT WITH ARTS AND CULTURE
CULTURE PROJECTS / REPORT NO. 1 / JUNE 2017 PAGE 7
Which Brands are Noticed
for their Cultural
Engagement?
Respondents were asked to rate
57 brands. They were not asked to
score all of them, only the ones they
knew enough about to rate. Thus, the
number of rankings can be read as
a proxy for awareness of a brands
cultural engagement. In terms of such
cultural-citizenship awareness, the
leading brand in our listi.e., the one
scored by most respondentswas
Absolut. The Swedish vodka brand that
was a pioneer in art-based marketing
was followed by Bloomberg (a company
with strong philanthropic ties and a
celebrity owner). Three brandsUBS,
Louis Vuitton, and Sothebystied for
the third position in the level of cultural-
engagement awareness.
Which Got the Highest
Ranking Overall?
Familiarity with a brands cultural
engagement is one thing. What
respondents think about the brands
engagement is another. When it comes
to the average rankings received from
respondents who were familiar with a
brands cultural engagementwhat we
call expert rankingthe top five brands
turned out to be UBS, BMW, Deutsche
Bank, Louis Vuitton, and Sothebys,
in that order. These brands, in other
words, are held in the highest esteem
for their cultural activities by those
who know their activities well enough
to provide a score. (It is important to
remind: Only brands on the list were
ranked.)
BY THE NUMBERS:
A FIRST LOOK AT THE RANKINGS (CONTD)
Which Brands Stand Out in
their Industry?
For most brands, their visibility within
their competitive set is more important
than their overall global reputation as
cultural citizens. And some industries,
such as finance, are generally more
active in culture than others. Therefore,
it is worth asking, based on the
admittedly limited data in this poll,
which brands performed best within
their category (statistically speaking,
outranking their industry means by
more than two standard deviations).
The brands that clearly outranked
their peer group were: BMW, Davidoff,
Chevron, Sothebys, Xerox, HP, WeChat,
Illy, NetJets, and Coca Cola.
How Is Awareness Related to
Ratings?
As suggested by the overlap of brands
that excel in both awareness and expert
ranking, there is a strong relationship
between these two metrics. The more
people know about a brands cultural
citizenship, it appears, the higher
they rank them for it. But not always.
In statistical terms, the correlation
between awareness and ranking is
0.82. In other words, a high ranking
suggests strong awareness of a brands
engagement in arts and culture, but it
is not a guarantee.
For example, Pictet tied for 49th (out
of 57 brands scored) in awareness, but
it soared to 22nd in average ranking:
People who know about Pictets
cultural role hold it in high esteem. By
contrast, Apple is one of the worlds
most recognized brandsit scored
sixth in awareness in our poll (tied with
BMW and Deutsche Bank). Yet its
average expert ranking for its cultural
engagement was only 35th (between
Lavazza and ING).
Moreover, not everyone perceives all
brands in the same way. There is plenty
of variation around the mean. The most
consistent brand perceptions (with the
least deviation from the mean scores)
belong to UBS, BMW, Louis Vuitton,
Deutsche Bank, and Davidoff.
Future analyses will go beyond the
rankings of experts and involve data
obtained from the companies in the
study about their cultural engagement.
Such indexes will provide a more in-
depth and reliable measure of cultural
citizenship. Stay tuned.

included brands
UBS Illy Pinterest
BMW Cond Nast Comme Des Garons
Louis Vuitton UnionPay HSBC
Deutsche Bank NetJets H&M
Davidoff Ford Motor Pictet
Chevron Volkswagen/Audi British Airways
Absolut Bloomberg Lavazza
Sothebys Coca Cola Tumblr
Axa Instagram Levis
Ruinart Google Toyota
Audemars Piguet Twitter IBM
Prada Bacardi Apple
Swarovski Bank of America Target
Rolex Citibank Facebook
Xerox Snapchat ING
Hewlett Packard BP Unilever
WeChat Marc Jacobs LOreal
Rolls Royce Yves Saint Laurent ISBC
JP Morgan Chase American Express Shell

CULTURE PROJECTS / REPORT NO. 1 / JUNE 2017 PAGE 8