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Purpose This paper aims to articulates how educators are ideal candidates to become “brand ambassadors”, triggering dormant qualities to influence behavioral change. The study aims at advocating a call for environmental futures by mobilizing pedagogues for changemaking. The research purpose was to deduce insights of real-life experiences when dealing with social influencers. Design/methodology/approach A design research approach was adopted. A sample of educators and students representing two universities of applied sciences was selected for qualitative. An experimental participatory experience was facilitated and observed. Findings This paper provides empirical insights. Design research findings include a persona profile, and an experimental prototype, designed to activate findings for real world impact. The outcome is for impact in the real world. Research limitations/implications The research was conducted locally at a Dutch university of applied sciences, on behalf of a Norwegian commissioner. Therefore, cultural contextual conditions were factored. Practical implications An applicable advice is sketched, tested and shared with non governmental organization’s, institutions or stakeholders who aspire to mobilize and activate educators, turning them into ambassadors for their cause. Social implications This paper aims at contributing and taking a position within the current tensions in academia and in the educational sector, in the light of the2012 San Francisco Declaration of Research Assessment declaration and of the urgency of enabling educators to partake to climate change activism. Originality/value Besides the engaged topic, this paper is uniquely based on a highly experiential, design thinking approach, which was co-created and facilitated in an experimental setting.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to inform the reader of some emerging trends in placemaking and digital destination management, while providing a conceptual background on shifts in architectural design. Design/methodology/approach The trend paper is based on a fundamental bibliographic view on evolutions in placemaking, from architectural design to spatial agency, integrated by and contextualized in tourism trends, however possibly anecdotal. Findings The trend paper identifies a fundamental shift from architectural processes to spatial agency as organizing principle for placemaking, discussing how digital tourism trends are formed or forming change in this. Originality/value The trend paper newly relates otherwise distant and unrelated fields, namely architectural design theory and tourism trends, by connecting at the level of IoT and IT digital technologies, exploring the impact and the mutual role played by its two constituencies.

The realm of fine arts is a very complex one to examine and define, as it involves the dimensions of aesthetics, economics, social sciences, and much more. This chapter offers a number of easily digestible ways to describe this sector, as an inspirational basis for business leaders and brand marketers. This is therefore a chapter of definition, to enable a first orientation. Here, a first basis is laid to highlight a number of fundamental relationships in the field of analysis. From this viewpoint, key questions are addressed in terms of what fine arts ultimately is as a domain of investigation, some of its possible relationships with business, and how it is interdependent with the trendsetting scenes of leading cities. From this very first “analysis” chapter, connections are made that might appear unusual. However they should also be thought provoking and inspiring.

Far too often these days, brand communications happen in an artificial environment and vision is simply not part of the mix any more. This is the case when the marketing of products is left to simple media techniques and conventional formats. On the other hand, the world of fine arts is a rich source of examples where artists and movements established themselves thanks to superior communication approaches. Some of the most talented artists in the contemporary art sector work with a clear marketing planning technique, from Takashi Murakami to Damien Hirst. Of course, this is not new: old masters such as Rembrandt had their own “branding policies.” According to some, fine arts is about finding an inner vision and selling it to the world. We might say that entrepreneurship and marketing at their very best are actually the same. It is time to find out what fine arts can share with brand marketing professionals, and other practitioners operating in this field.

This chapter focuses on the ultimate engine of the arts – creativity. Creativity is classified in different terms according to different cultures. Some Anglo-Saxon definitions see it as a skill set that can be nurtured through training. Another viewpoint sees creativity as a talent, and purely individual: you either have it, or you don’t. Of course, creativity is always influenced by context: in the age of co-creation and co-design, we cannot subscribe any more to the romantic notion of creativity being the exclusive talent of exceptional geniuses. It is now established that creativity is supported by a number of combined personal traits – those that enable a constant reorganization of people–s individual spiritual and/or public life. However it is looked upon, creativity is vital to business as much as it is for fine arts, today more than ever. It will take a “revolution of the mind” to innovate the way we work, think, and define our own business reality, in order to change as is needed to face the challenges created by the financial crisis. Creativity can help us all out.

This chapter deals with the way contemporary museums are being designed, experienced, and marketed. We explore two fundamental dimensions of museums: “ideology,” or the expression of a museum’s essence – its soul “space,” or the physical presence of museum buildings and premises in cities, and their design principles.

So far, we have followed a path of 35 “findings” as derived from qualitative research, structured interviews with thought leaders, and movers and shakers in the world of fine arts. The purpose of this has been to gain insight and inspiration from the creative and cultural sectors for the benefit of business leaders and brand marketers, including market research professionals.

This chapter offers a concise introduction to how this book was born. I explain the principles that guided me in my navigation of the worlds of fine arts and design, and introduce the thought leaders, contributors, and partners who made this book possible. The diverse qualitative and quantitative research approaches adopted are presented concisely and effectively. The more immersive, participative ways of working, in terms of networking and so on, are also introduced. The aim is to provide a simple explanation of what was done to discover the world of fine arts, design, and culture. This is not an academic book, as this chapter will make apparent. However it does have a specific ideological orientation, in both research theory and theoretical terms: the principles and the ideas that underpinned the creation of this book are intrinsically part of its message. From this viewpoint, business leaders and market research professionals should find stimuli and inspirations to enable them to reflect on their current practices and on their possible future methodological developments.

Since the rise of digital marketing and in particular since the explosion of Web 2.0, “community building” has been one of the buzzwords in every possible business debate. The social change in behavior resulting from co-creative participation of people in communication channels resulted in a parallel ambition to commercially exploit these new cultural trends. Unfortunately for most marketers, a community is not just a list of email addresses: it takes much more to build true human interaction, emotional bonding, and value over time. The connecting thread that runs through this chapter is “How can we perform successful commerce by nurturing genuine communities and respecting their integrity?” To answer this challenging question, we look at the uniquely intense passion of collectors, also known as “possibly the most eager and committed customers on the planet.” We then move to looking at corporations in their own “art customer capability,” in order to gain an understanding and insight into how collections might work for the best benefit of brands. Our last “finding” introduces us to museums (the topic of Chapter 6) from the viewpoint of their connections to collectors who have become generous art patrons. Together, art communities and art collectors offer us insights into how to build a bond with customers by genuinely being part of their social circles.

It is a given that today we live in a global market and – however damaged – in a global economy. The corporate drive to globalization has created greatly uniform offerings, with good benefits for consumers worldwide. People, however, are not just global marketing targets. The fine arts and applied arts sectors, with their nuanced cultural distinctions, will be our opportunity to find again the local dimension of emerging art markets. Here we introduce a number of insights into the new countries of fine arts and design: Japan, China, India, and Brazil. Parallel with this, the chapter moves from the luxury of Japanese high culture and wealthy individuals to the vibrancy of street art in underprivileged Brazil. Across our five “findings” consideration moves from the understanding of the local history of culture in Japan to the challenges ahead in the Chinese creative industry scene, including and beyond the world of fine art itself. What more inspiring way is there to continue our path of search and discovery across the world of fine arts than by looking at different regions from the viewpoint of creativity and its processes?

These are exciting times, because these are the times when people will take their destiny back in their hands: people like you and me, the women and the men who are legitimately entitled to a better future. We are at the center of this manifesto, because the fine arts are among the highest forms of expression of the culture we contribute to co-create every day. In recent years, fine arts, and even design, had become complacent with the Wall Street way of life. This will change: it is time for new critical thinking, it is time for new radical art making and it is time for a new start. Business leaders and brand marketers have the opportunity to benefit from the insights, the challenging visions and the disruptive energy of fine arts, design, and culture.

Throughout the 2000s, “design for collectors,” or DesignArt, described in this chapter’s case study, traveled like a comet in the sky of contemporary art markets. Here, limited edition artifacts were traded for the wealthy as fine arts artifacts in terms of distribution and price. Beyond commercial success, this is just one of the facets of contemporary design. Even more important, in times of economic constraints, is the notion of urban design, where public art offers the opportunity to rethink infrastructure into designed city landscapes. In fact the worlds of fine arts and design seem closer than ever today in the necessary drive to redefine the cultural climate by turning their talents to social themes. After all, a number of important past design movements and ideologists have worked to build up the profile of this discipline as part of a larger aesthetic universe where fine arts methodologies and humbler objects converge in the beautification of the everyday.