Rediscovering mojo
Stuart McLaughlin on why business and the arts should combine to unearth a new magic

When I moved to Ireland eight years ago, my early experiences were of the excitement, the passion and the enthusiasm of the people driving the change in the economy. That energy has now turned to complacency in a lot of cases in Ireland, but is now evident in places like India.

My experience in India got me thinking about what we had in Ireland back then and what we have lost in the intervening years. We hear lots of talk in the media by thought leaders about Ireland Inc and Brand Ireland, but have we lost sight of what it is and our part in it?

When we represent an organisation, we may think we are presenting its brand, but it is far more fundamental than this. We become its brand. We are its brand. It is not a colour scheme, nor is it a name, or even a logo. Ireland’s success was, in some way, formed by our own awareness of our national brand. Even our taxi drivers knew, at some level, they had a role to play in this.

But we have forgotten this. Brand is like a person. A person wants to be seen as their vision; how they see themselves is their internal culture and how others see them is the external. The most effective brands are those that most powerfully express where these three perceptions meet.

The more genuine the expression, the stronger the company and the more credible the brand or promise. This approach is not unique, but it has allowed us at Business2Arts to discover new ways of working with artists and arts bodies in partnership with business interests.

These creative skills inherently exist in the artistic community and we are seeking opportunities to bring these capabilities to bear in helping organisations to reach their potential. More importantly, we also believe that they exist in all of us. We were all creative once.

For some, the education system sucked it out of them. For others, the development of the ‘comfortable classes’ has meant that, in all honesty, some may not have had to try as hard as they might have in less kinder circumstances. In the face of a fragile economy, companies are increasingly seeking new ways of working and addressing strategic issues.

Our dialogue with leaders of Irish companies is often based around awareness of the need to do things differently and to seek creative solutions to strategic issues. It leads to interesting projects which show a willingness for businesses to innovate, be brave and to find new ways to change.

A communications event run by Accenture this year was a tangible example of addressing issues of internal culture while developing a strong brand. The project excluded event management companies in its creation, handing the task of interpreting a strategic issue to a team of artists.

The challenge was to create an environment where staff, at all levels, could express themselves. The aim was not to provide entertainment as an interlude between corporate messages, rather to bridge the gap between the two to create an event that was both entertaining and meaningful.

The concept was founded on the notion that external perceptions of an organisation are formed by contact with people. Individual identities help form the corporate identity and it is important that the business understands the nature of the individuals that represent the brand.

We are currently working in partnership with an artist and a large Irish company in reviewing their external marketing and communications strategy. Not, as you might imagine, in relation to design, but with the intention of bringing a new style of thinking to the creative process.

These examples serve to show the possibilities. But this is not a campaign to plant a territorial flag on the summit of creativity. The creative industries, in the broadest sense, should work and act collectively to increase their potential, impact and, most importantly, their capability.

In the UK, research has shown that the creative industries, which range from advertising to art and film to computer games design, represent 7.3 per cent of the economy and employ one million people. In economic terms, this is larger than financial services.
In Ireland, we do not have the same data to hand but it is patently clear that we in the creative industries are at the heart of this so-called knowledge economy. We are the soul of creativity and innovation which underpins our future economic success.

Business2Arts works to find opportunities for the arts community to engage with business in new ways. The creative industries and specifically those involved in marketing and communications can work with the arts to support their stakeholders in realising their full potential. But the new Ireland we now have needs us to achieve new highs and to rediscover a new mojo.

ARTY HEARTY Artists and theatre acts were hired by Accenture Ireland to create some magic for a corporate communications day with a difference earlier this year. Image by Marcus Tate.

Stuart McLaughlin (stuart@business2arts.ie) is chief executive of Business2Arts