Income Generation for the arts
Commercial strategies
Identifying your commercial assets
Developing an entrepreneurial culture
Identifying markets and audiences
Commercial specialists
The new funding climate makes it essential for not-for-profit arts organisations to find alternative sources of income.
CultureLabel understands both the dynamics (and detail) of commerce as well as the cultural and not-for-profit sectors.
We can therefore dream up and implant innovation and commercial strategies that are tailor-made for your circumstances.
Our unique approach stems from our unusual mix of team members, which includes a former trend-scout for BMW, the Creative Director of Soho House Group, marketing experts, a former retail FTSE 100 MD, and a dotcom adviser to Yahoo.
We've brokered multi-million pound arts sponsorship deals and have collaborated with international management luminaries such as Pine & Gilmour (see TED.com for their talk on authenticity).
Read our e-book Intelligent Naivety to discover more about our approach.
The new funding climate makes it essential for not-for-profit organisations to find alternative sources of income. CultureLabel understands both the dynamics (and detail) of industry as well as the cultural and not-for-profit sectors so we can dream up and implant innovation and commercial strategies that are tailor-made for your circumstances.
The DNA of CultureLabel is our strength that gives us a unique insight and approach to your challenges. With a core team that includes a former trend-scout for BMW, the Creative Director of Soho House group, brand, marketing and PR experts, a former retail FTSE 100 MD, a dotcom adviser to Yahoo, a leading income generation guru that has brokered multi-million pound deals for the likes of the Royal Academy and even bright sparks like our Research Director who has worked with such luminaries as Pine & Gilmour (see TED.com for their inspiring talk on authenticity). If you want to know more then why not read our book, Intelligent Naivety on cultural entrepreneurship which you can download here or read a little bit more about our team or reference cases.
Library of Birmingham
Creation and implementation of a multi-layered customer journey and commercial strategy including catering, retail and digital concepts for a £193 million capital project which represents the UK’s biggest public lending library.
Currently under construction, the Library of Birmingham will open in 2013 and aims to be like no other - offering a true digital library experience, rewriting the book including its approach to conventional services. The customer experience will be developed in part through innovative partnerships with private sector organisations.
Read an article about the new Library of Birmingham here from The Guardian
Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site
CultureLabel produced a series of commercial recommendations for the Ironbridge Gorge Museums, a World Heritage Site and a series of 10 museums and websites based in the West Midlands that celebrate the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. Our recommendations included product development strategy under a Made in Ironbridge branded range as well as a strategy for optimising multi-site retail business model of IGMT.
Cambridgeshire Libraries
CultureLabel founder Simon Cronshaw was engaged by Cambridgeshire Libraries following his work with national charity Arts & Business to identify new ways for Libraries to engage with businesses that led to the successful Park & Read project with Stagecoach UK among others. The library was moving into a new purpose built space as part of the £220 million Grand Arcade development in Cambridge City Centre anchored by John Lewis Partnership. Simon developed a new digital and commercial strategy for the organisation to help equip them for their new future.
MoDA
Like many cultural organisations in the current climate the Museum of Domestic Design & Architecture (MoDA) needs to grow funding from non-public sources. CultureLabel undertook a commercial opportunities audit and delivered a workshop which led to a final report with a number of recommendations for developing new income streams and audiences.
Museums at Night
CultureLabel was approached to help Culture24, a not-for-profit organisation that publishes a national website of cultural listings and venue information. We were asked to use our extensive brand network to find sponsors and commercial partners for the Museums at Night initiative. Museums at Night was attended by nearly 100,000 people in 2010 with over 500 events and 350 organisations taking part.
We developed a series of partner propositions and pitch material and were successful in creating a link up with SKY, in particular the SKY Arts channel who are the main partner for Museums at Night 2011 and produced a behind the scene documentary as well as running a high profile competition in SKY Magazine the most widerly read publication in the UK. You can see a teaser video SKY Arts produced for the event here.
Intelligent Naivety e-book
Not only does 'Intelligent Naivety' recognise that there can be a fruitful marriage between culture and commerce but it provides excellent marriage guidance. Marcel Knobil, Founder of Superbrands
A few years ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing a wide range of creative and cultural entrepreneurs in order to try and identify some common trends between them. One of the strongest ideas to come out of these conversations encompassed self-belief, ‘gut instinct’ and having the confidence to ‘jump’ into an opportunity. The concept is that of Intelligent Naivety. Intelligent Naivety starts with frankly admitting your abilities and limits to yourself… “I know where I am strongest, and I know where I struggle. I have to be honest from the outset about this.”
In 2008 drawing on trends and case studies from across the cultural and commercial sector we wrote a handbook for would be Cultural Entrepreneurs which is free as an eBook.
Intelligent Naivety is in a very different space to ‘stupid confidence’, a naivety that drives an individual towards the ambitions that they feel they must achieve – the feeling that I was ‘born to do this’, even if very few others agree. This is the stuff of ‘X Factor’ car-crash TV. Effective entrepreneurs master the art of balance; the art of Intelligent Naivety. Intelligence, expertise and experience on one hand, and naivety, a ‘gut feeling’ or a ‘hunch’ on the other. As one esteemed entrepreneur noted, if you are too expert or too experienced, you see all the risks and all the downsides. The challenge is to occasionally force yourself into quieting this inner intelligence… Just enough, but not too much.
Join over 15,000 others and download a free copy of Intelligent Naivety as an eBook here.
Amnesty International
Amnesty International has just opened it's very first shop at Boxpark London. Boxpark is a new type of retail destination, calling itself the world's first 'pop-up mall' with 100 stores housed in shipping containers. It's also a special year for Amnesty as it's their 50th Anniversary and they were looking to reach out to a new generation of supporters through the partnership.
When their team got in touch with CultureLabel to ask for help in developing a concept charity store for them, we jumped at the chance. The collaboration led to a 'permanent pop-up store' featuring a bespoke product range designed by six creatives handpicked from the CultureLabel stable. These includie renowned contemporary artist Stuart Semple and ceramicists such the New English who have produced limited edition products and art drawing inspiration from Amnesty's campaign themes. We wanted to tap into the undoubted passions of Amnesty supporters and believed some of the great innovations from CultureLabel.com could be translated into the charity space. Our mission was to create products with a story and soul that they would want to collect and own.
You can visit the Amnesty Shop for yourself at the new Box Park development in Shoreditch, London. It's just across the road from CultureLabel Towers so pop in and say hello to us as well while you are at it. You can also see the range on CultureLabel.com as well by clicking here
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The Houses of Parliament
CultureLabel were commissioned to develop a commercial strategy for the Houses of Parliament at CultureLabel has recommended options for potential commercial revenue generation across seven areas including retail, private investment, visitor services, catering, conferencing and filming. You can read the full report which has been published on the Parliament website here
The project was reported upon extensively in the national media due to the high profile nature of the organisation. The recommedations making the front page of the Sunday Times as well as several other publications such as the Daily Mail. At the forefront of our minds throughout this process was the need to respect the dignity of Parliament. There are good examples of commercial endeavour which respects (and indeed enhances) the integrity of important national institutions. For example, the Royal Collection.
We worked on this project with Tricon, global catering specialists who have collaborated with CultureLabel on several occassions.
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