I have many role models – awesome people who use their creativity to impact the world awesomely. They come from the most diverse backgrounds: fashion designers, bloggers, filmmakers and comic book artists. The only thing they have in common is that they are creative in the way they build their brand and business.
Of all these mavericks, there’s one who FASCINATES and DISTURBS me at the same time – a Brit emerging from the graffiti scene and turning into a global pop icon unlike any other.
Of course I’m talking about Banksy, maybe earth’s most amazing marketing (con) artist.
The chap from Bristol started like any other graffiti artist, spraying his designs illegally on his hometown city walls. Since the traditional spraying took sometimes hours to complete, and usually led to arrest, he soon created his own famous style – black and white wall pieces based on stencils, usually provocative and snappy, done in 40 seconds or less :
Targeting Disney and McDonalds, “can’t beat the feeling”
Gaza strip, “paradise”
British policemen kissing each other
His unusual designs, the paranoid desire to stay masked in every (rare) public appearance and his crazy events eventually turned him into a world famous brand unlike any other.
“killed” phone booth in London
Banksy “vandalism” collection
He now counts super-famous stars like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as his supporters, and sells his artwork for millions at the world’s biggest art auctions. He’s in fact so BIG that rich folks buy entire blocks and houses that have Banksy sprayings on them.
Whenever Banksy does something, he knows: the world is watching him.
Some of his famous actions include:
- went into a Disney world theme park, put a real-looking Guantanamo Bay puppet next to a central fence and caused major turmoil, shutting down the center of the amusement park
- sprayed ironic, “happy” paradise pictures on the Gaza strip wall, questioning the reason of its existence
- infiltrated the most famous art galleries in the world, hanging fake, provocative paintings next to the likes of Picasso and Monet
- IlIegally “sneaked” a painted elephant into his first exhibition in the States, attracting both major media outlets and angry animal rights activists
- Caused graffiti mayhem in major cities by spraying official-looking “Designated graffiti area” stencils on walls and therefor encouraging hundreds of illegal sprayings within weeks
- shot a documentary about a French guy living in LA, who turned from a Banksy fan into a pop icon himself, attracting over 8,000 people with his first exhibition and earning hundred thousands of dollars. The whole documentary is believed to be fake, and the French pop artist to be a creation of Banksy himself.
As you can see, he built his entire career on breaking the rules and cheating the system, which turned him into a world famous pop icon making millions of dollars. It’s no surprise that one of his popular quotes (taken from his bestselling book “Wall and piece”) claims the following:
“Become good at cheating and you never need to become good at anything else”
I posted that quote on a my Facebook fan page, and it caused quite a commotion. Like I said before, I’m both fascinated and disturbed by his actions, although I believe his “marketing” are super-effective.
Discussion:
From a marketing standpoint, this guy is brilliant: He does epic shit and clearly owns a distinctive style. But from a legal and moral standpoint, he’s clearly breaking limits.
How far can you go with your “marketing” efforts ? How much can you cheat and break the rules in order to build your brand ?
Let’s hear it in the comments.
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