𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐝 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐔𝐩𝐬?

Ten years ago it would be a lot harder for me to stand tall & confident in the opinion that my art style is a perfect fit for StartUps.

Circa 2015 my style seemed out of place no matter where I stepped. Some people loved it & commissioned me, but for the most part those were independent one off jobs.

𝐹𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑡𝑜 2024.

Business companies are no longer merely ‘𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠’. 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝; they stand for something, they have 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐟 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬, they have 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐬 & they are on pursuit of 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬.

Businesses are also becoming more & more about 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬, which essentially are crowds of 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮… & when you have trust, you have customers.

I was listening to a video with 𝐋𝐮𝐤𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐫 yesterday (very interesting guy) and he said…let me quote:

“𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑂𝑝𝑒𝑛𝐴𝐼 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑏𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐴𝐼 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑒𝑠 […] 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑚: 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝐼 𝑏𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑑 𝑎𝑛 𝐴𝐼 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑦? 𝐴𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑: 𝑁𝑜, 𝑏𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑑 𝑎𝑛 𝐴𝐼 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑦, 𝑏𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑑 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑠𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐴𝐼 𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑟𝑢𝑝𝑡. 𝐼𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑛’𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑟𝑢𝑝𝑡 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑝𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑛’𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑟𝑢𝑝𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑛’𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑟𝑢𝑝𝑡 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 & 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦. 𝑆𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑜; 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 & 𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒. 𝑆𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑏𝑒𝑠, 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑠 & 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑡. […]”

A Brand with a strong message attracts its tribe.

☝🏽𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡’𝑠 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡.

𝑆𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑👇🏾

Years ago 𝐁rand 𝐌ascots used to be a thing (𝑀𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑦 𝑀𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒, 𝑀&𝑀𝑠, 𝐺𝑒𝑐𝑘𝑜…), then they kind of stopped being a thing… now the game is shifting again. With the entrance of 𝐍𝐅𝐓𝐬, the boom of 𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 & 𝐓𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦/𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐒𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬, possibilities for Business Brands to expand all the more are growing.

What is a 𝐁rand 𝐌ascot after all? They are 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 of your Brand; they are part of the 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲. 𝐀 𝐁rand 𝐌ascot 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞, 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐬 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 & 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐟𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧, taking your target audience on the ride with them.

The 𝐁rand 𝐌ascot creates an emotional connection with your audience, hence your business.

Yes, you can be the spokesperson of your Brand too, it’s a matter of preference, but consistently showing up on camera, day in & day out, is not everyone’s cup of tea, plus it’s time consuming. Moreover, a 𝐁rand 𝐌ascot will outlive you.

👉🏽 𝐴 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑟𝑑 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 is also this: people are divided into those who best process information when they 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝, others when they 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧, others 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡. Equally, there’s a target audience that’s most receptive to 𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬.

This does not mean that if you introduce art into the equation, it will be present on all your platforms.

As an example: 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐱 𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐨𝐳𝐢 shared (as result of experience) that there’s people who prefer short form videos & those who prefer long. Short videos are kept on one platform (ex. Instagram); long videos on YouTube. The audience knows how to relocate according to preference.

It’s the same with having 𝐚𝐫𝐭 as an 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐧𝐭 to speak to your audience.

𝐻𝑜𝑤? By providing 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 (new word that combines 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 & 𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛). If you put the two together it is no longer a time waster for the viewer & on top of that it’s fun to watch (more engagement; less boredom).

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐨𝐮𝐬 & 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞?