Airport luxury retailers can choose to associate their brands with museum-quality art. This would elevate customer conversations to education & culture and resonate with those who love both art and luxury.
Instead of trying to sell your products to a cold audience, why not start the conversation with a subject which sparks passion in them: Art.
There is already a precedent in the financial services industry, often replete with avid collectors of all things rare and beautiful.
“Our art collection is a treasure that testifies to our past and present. It is a heritage that speaks to the identity, values and historical relationships within the various communities in which our company operates.”
— Alessandro Profumo, CEO of UniCredit (source: “Corporate Art: The Insider’s Guide to Art at Work”, Shirley Reiff Howarth, The Humanities Exchange)
ArtRatio and the Curatorial Research Centre have partnered to bring museum-quality art exhibitions to luxury retailers.
The Curatorial Research Centre team have decades of experience curating art collections for museums, individuals and institutions.
ArtRatio have worked during the past 10 years for museums and private collectors to engineer stunning exhibition cases using smart glass to conserve and display fragile collections.
The key is to select an object that resonates with your brand, either historically, culturally or artistically.
This could be a humble item from your business archives, historical photographs, swatch or sketchbooks, or a rare object from the same cultural tradition which gave birth to your brand.
It could be a piece of contemporary art which sits beautifully alongside a designer watch or a handbag from your collection.
We can help you identify the right exhibit and develop a strong story that links it directly with your brand and products.
In order to showcase a piece of museum-quality art, you need to consider some important elements, perhaps the top one being security.
And no-one does security quite like an international airport.
Add to that the mix of stress, jetlag and boredom facing the typical traveller, and retail therapy can become not just a way to kill a few hours, but a way to rejuvenate the soul, nourish the mind and entertain the senses.
Airport retailers are often thought of as having a captive audience, since high-octane business class and first class passengers who would not necessarily have time to stop by a luxury storefront on the high street, often find themselves having a few hours downtime between flights.
Instead of the obvious approach of simply displaying product, retailers can really learn from the world of museum and art curation.
Imagine an antique map, a rare sculpture, a 15th century manuscript, positioned at the store entrance in a secure display table.
Striking up a conversation with a customer around art, culture and history is what curators do best, and we can show you how to convert your retailers into storytellers.
If suitable training is given to the sales professionals, passers-by who take an interest in the object can actually learn something while also being tempted to make a purchase.
If the sales staff can attract the airport passenger with a fascinating story of how this object is linked to the timeline or cultural background of your brand, this can form a more durable relationship than just trying to sell your products to a cold audience.
Put simply, this is intelligent marketing in action, while also performing an added value service for your customers.
What ArtRatio display cases do is to elevate even humble or unassuming objects into something special, because of the theatrical presentation and grand reveal afforded by the smart glass and internal lighting.
The dark glass conserves fragile collections; the internal LED lighting illuminates the object only when someone approaches.
This means we can display fragile textiles and manuscripts safely and conscientiously.
Our display tech doesn’t stop there. The sensors measure popularity by counting the time that visitors have stopped to view the item.
This is called ‘Luxury Retail Analytics’.
The secret sauce lies in cultivating a story which fascinates the casual passer-by, much like a bedtime story would captivate a child.
The Curatorial Research Centre are experts in this.
Using art, we can immerse the customer in a world of intrigue which explains how this object represents a piece of history, or a piece of world heritage that links strongly with your brand.
This elevates the conversation from just sales to education and discovery.
It creates a desire for learning, curiosity and cultural awareness, provoking questions about brand identity and heritage.
This process builds a more powerful relationship with your customer and allows potential clients to become immersed in the story behind your business, your brand and your products.
The rest is up to you.
© 2023 ArtRatio S.L.