On Collaboration
Jeremy Pope as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Paul Bettany as Andy Warhol in Anthony McCarten’s The Collaboration
Bruno: I invited him to my home in Zurich. And I proposed something very exciting, involving you, that Jean-Michel has agreed to, absolutely, sure, no question, he wants it.
Andy: Wants what?
Bruno: A collaboration. With you.
Andy: With me? What do you mean ‘a collaboration’?
Bruno: He wants to collaborate with you on a series of paintings, for sure. He’s super excited. Admires you. Says you’ve been a great inspiration. And it might be good for you too Andy. I think so. You know you can learn a lot from the young. It’s not only one way.
Andy Warhol is enjoying a resurgence in popular culture at the moment. He is the focus of two recent documentary series and one of his Marilyn Monroe paintings will shortly be auctioned at Christie’s in New York for an estimated price of $200m.
The documentaries portray a man so incredibly ahead of his time. Before the advent of Social and big tech, he saw how a changing media landscape would lead to a world in which everyone could be famous for fifteen minutes. We’re shown a man whose work embodies so much of what is currently considered best practice for modern brand communication: A focus on distinctive assets used over time. A multi-channel and multi-media approach to his work that integrated around a clear brand idea rather than via ‘matching luggage’. His creativity was commercial. His objective was to induce fame - to be notorious, the artist that society was talking about (Ed: Simeon likes to poke fun at me for these sorts of observations).
Warhol also features in Anthony McCarten’s play The Collaboration which has just finished its run at The Young Vic in London. The play deals with the period between 1983 and 1985 when Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Baquiat worked collaboratively to produce a series of paintings. Warhol’s decision to collaborate with Basquiat appears to have been just as prescient as the other decisions he made about his work.
Paramount by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol (1984-85)
Collaborations between brands are quickly becoming a vital, prominent part of the modern marketing toolkit.“Whereas brand partnerships used to be sparing, targeted, special even — we see now a feeding frenzy of collaborative cross-pollination” (Schott, 2022). In many cases, the more unusual the pairing of brands, the more impactful the result. Just like the marriage of Basquiat and Warhol. Two more different artists would have been harder to imagine.
Ben Schott’s recent article for Bloomberg is an incredibly comprehensive study of the ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ which characterise this trend and contains a treasure trove of brilliant case studies that exemplify the myriad ways brands are coming together. As Schott suggests, brand collaborations and partnerships are nothing new, they have long been used as a means for companies to rejuvenate their brand positioning via equity borrowed from the chosen partner and reach new audiences to drive growth. Adidas and Stan Smith have been selling shoes together since 1978, for instance. But, in the context of today’s communication and commercial landscape there are two specific components of the emergent collaboration culture for brands which are of great interest to me.
The first concerns how collaboration acts as a device to generate attention.
At a time when anyone with a camera can broadcast on the internet, anyone with a product can create a website on which to sell it and any old chump with some half baked ideas can publish their writing via a blog, brand collaborations represent a unique type of competitive advantage for big brands as they fight to win attention. Traditionally, strategy as practiced within corporations has concerned itself with how a company makes decisions and allocates resources in relation to the competition: other corporations. But, as Lawrence Freedman says:
“Strategy is frequently presented as a duel, a clash of two opposing wills…A duel is a bad metaphor because it suggests a fight to the finish with only one winner. Yet conflicts can be resolved through building on shared interests or forging a winning coalition with the next available partner…the realm of strategy is one of bargaining and persuasion as well as threats and pressure….words as well as deeds….It is about getting more out of the situation than the starting balance of power would suggest. It is the art of creating power” (Freedman, 2013, p. xi)
At a time of exploding competition and fragmenting attention, brands are using collaborations with likeminded companies as exactly that : a means of creating power in an attention economy where the influence of mass media is being eroded by creative individuals empowered by new forms of technology. In the new attention economy “brands must become behavioural templates, driving the action of the company, which should be expressed through actions and initiatives designed to earn attention… in a world of infinite content, actions created at scale can become content engines. Do things in the world, then tell people” (Yakob, 2015, p.95).
This mentality appears central to the most successful collaborator brands such as Palace and Supreme. Their marketing calendar consists of a series of different collaborations with product sold in limited quantities. They then sweat these partnerships with branded films and PR (advertising). The drop model these brands employ builds anticipation and hype. The inbuilt scarcity drives demand (and resale prices) through the roof. Un-met demand, far from creating dissatisfaction, creates more hype and more anticipation for the next drop of products from subsequent partnerships.
Do stuff. Tell people.
Rinse and repeat.
Collaborations are a central pillar to what I’ve previously described as ‘documentary advertising’ - a move away from ‘conceptual’ claims orientated communications, toward telling the story of things you’re doing in the real world. In this instance, brands broker a collaboration, create products, then broaden the reach of the partnership through content and advertising assets.
Collaborations provide a route to rethinking reach in a world where top down, broadcast media is faced with the challenges of declining audiences and cost inflation. Magnetic body-language which shapes the cultural zeitgeist becomes a way of generating attention not just renting it.
Beyond using collaboration as a means of generating attention, the second feature of collaboration which interests me is the cultural and organisational dynamic at play. About how the culture of a business either helps or hinders the adoption of collaboration as a viable and valuable marketing lever. About the degree to which collaboration is seen as a vehicle for changing the things a business does in the long-term.
Collaboration is a skill after all. Some teams or organisations are more collaborative than others. Why are Supreme and Palace so skilled in this field of marketing?
Arguably these brands, and other streetwear brands like them, have been at the vanguard of the collaboration culture that is so prominent in modern marketing. Interestingly, both brands began life as companies involved in Skateboarding, before breaking out into the wider world of streetwear. Kevin Imamura, R+D lead for Nike’s Skateboarding division, provides this explanation of the essence of the sport: “The nature of skateboarding is to adapt to whatever’s in front of you, whether it’s a ramp or an obstacle, it’s not a structured thing like other sports - there are no rules. Because of that mindset, skateboarders use whatever is at their disposal - whether it’s a casual surf shoe or an old basketball shoe” (Grawe, 2020, p.159)
Does Skating’s DIY ethos mean that culturally these businesses are predisposed to a more collaborative approach? Do the perceived lack of rules in this category allow Skate brands to partner with the brands they’d like to work with rather than the brands that logic suggests they ought to work with? Supreme in particular embodies this make-it-up as you go along spirit. Their collaborations range from the safe (e.g. other cult streetwear brands such as BAPE) to the super-lux (e.g Louis Vuitton) to super leftfield (e.g SOG, with whom they produced a range of military grade shovels). No collaboration is too weird or wonderful. All publicity is good publicity.
Place this in contrast to the world of haute couture. A category which is famous for its strict rules and for demanding strict control over brand image, working only with people whose bodies and faces conform to a specific ideal. The antithesis of the skating world. Though such is the power of a well executed collaboration that the more progressive fashion houses are starting to follow suit. Traditionally, luxury brands would only partner with other lux brands - sticking to safe territory. But now, the floodgates are opening and luxury brands are also brokering powerful, unusual alliances bringing fresh potency to their brand and attracting the next generation of consumer.
The latest iteration of the on-going partnership between Gucci and The North Face is a great example. It’s use of TikTok trainspotter Francis Bourgeois a masterstroke that serves to poke fun at the uptight world of high-fashion. “He’s everything that Gucci is not: unpolished, "uncool" by historical measures and in no way bothered about changing himself to adapt to those standards” (Oxford, 2022).
Collaborations like this show the value that can lie in subverting the symbols and signs that customers know you for. Subversion is not the same as inconsistency, after all.
Collaborations provide a forum where even the strongest of principles can be challenged. A willingness to be flexible with well-established brand cues - to cede control, perhaps - can pay off in the fight to combat clutter and win attention in a content abundant environment where “algorithmically ordered feeds are homogenising the content we see, pushing dozens of samey airbrushed faces in samey polished, pastel-coloured interiors to the top of our feeds” (Oxford). The strategy at the heart of the ongoing TNF x Gucci endeavour is characterised as “eccentric exploration” - an approach which benefits both Gucci and TNF. Gucci through the association with the sports utility brand and The North Face via a move toward a less extreme articulation of the outdoors, enabling them to recruit new customers.
Collaborations have an obvious ability not just to drive brands toward new consumers and new categories. They also have another core strategic function. When incorporated into a businesses strategy (and not just its brand strategy) collaboration with outside parties can act as a catalyst for change - as a means of changing the way an organisation works and operates. Nike is a business which views collaboration as a core strategic pillar of their business - and the Portland based brand is arguably just as prolific in this space as Supreme or Palace. A partnership with Australian designer Marc Newson in 2004 led to the creation of the Zvezdochka. A shoe named after the dog launched into space aboard Sputnik 10 in 1961. This project is a perfect example of a strategic platform as a Trojan Horse: “the shoe sold in relatively small quantities, but to this day, company veterans point to it as a pivotal benchmark and turning point for design, because nothing was out of bounds and every step in the shoemaking process could be questioned, if necessary” (Grawe, p.160) The collaboration between Nike and Newson created the space for the brand to think differently about how it made shoes, about sustainability and circularity. The modular design of the project “eliminated the adhesives needed in traditional footwear - one of the stickiest barriers, literally and scientifically to recycling shoes” the project informed later, more commercial products as the “design pushed (Nike) to think differently about the materiality, construction and even philosophy of shoe production… Shoes developed specifically around material sourcing for ecological circularity resulted directly out of the work for Zvezdochka” (Grawe)
The Zvezdochka was the product of the 2004 collaboration between Nike and Marc Newson
For me, this is the really interesting part about the Collaboration trend. Yes, collaborations can deliver momentum and buzz for brands via the creation of limited edition products and services. Yes, the resulting communication for these products can help position and reposition brands in new spaces and categories, attracting new audiences. But, most importantly, when viewed strategically and not just tactically, collaboration can inform not just what a business does but how it does it. Collaborations have the potential to allow all businesses involved to imagine a new and desirable future, to create meaningful and lasting change. They are an opportunity to question everything. To learn from other businesses or individuals, and to apply that learning elsewhere and on other projects.
The interesting question then becomes whether or not your business is one which can use collaboration to the fullest. Will you see it superficially, as a campaign - a route toward message transmission? Are you too arrogant, unorganised or unwilling to collaborate in a more substantial way? Or, will you be like Nike and use them as a means of ‘writing the future’ by building a systemic and strategic approach around collaboration which superficially creates things for sale, but more substantially helps you innovation and create progress in every action you make as a business?
Bibliography
Freedman, L. (2013). Strategy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Grawe, S. (2020). Nike: Better is Temporary. London: Phaidon.
McCarten, A. (2022). The Collaboration. London: Methuen Drama.
Oxford, L. (2022, January 24). Why Francis Bourgeois' Gucci gig shows brands should subvert their core pillars on social. Retrieved April 2022, from Campaign: https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/why-francis-bourgeois-gucci-gig-shows-brands-subvert-core-pillars-social/1738200
Schott, B. (2022, January 23). From Target to Supreme, Branding's Latest Obsession Is Collaboration. Retrieved April 2022, from Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-01-23/from-target-to-supreme-branding-s-latest-obsession-is-collaborations
Yakob, F. (2015). Paid Attention. London: Kogen Page.
