Edena, Citroen and Bach: Brands as patrons of the arts
Into the world of Edena — the weirdest most wonderful B2B branded content I’ve seen
As both a bit of a nerd and a hoarder, my house is filled with books, graphic novels and magazines I buy but don’t always get round to reading.
By week three of lockdown, I finally sat down and read Edena by Moebius. (AKA French artist and cartoonist, Jean Giraud). What I hadn’t realised before I read it, was that it was actually an incredibly beautiful and astounding piece of branded content. (The dreaded phrase.)
The work originated in 1983 as a piece of branded content for Citroen. A manager was a fan of the work, and approached him to create a short story cartoon for a conference for sales managers.
Moebius wrote a surreal and elegant short story about two space travellers who are transporting some ancient artefacts (including a vintage Citroen 2cv) and crash land on a billiard ball planet.
They need to crank up the Citroen to explore the planet and ultimately discover a whole community of misfits and outcasts waiting for them by a mysterious pyramid. This pyramid then transports them to the world of Edena.
What’s amazing about it, is that it wears its branded content origins proudly. In the introduction Moebius talks about how he initially meant it as a one off, but fell in love with the characters and it grew organically into an epic parable for nature, humanity and religion. The 2cv is a key story element at the start in a way which is both incidental but unavoidable. It doesn’t diminish the story at all but it’s a beautiful product demonstration.
(I’ll just share a couple of other sections from the story to bring it to life).
So now, 35 years on from the original B2B brochureware, I am sat reading this, enjoying it, but also thankful to Citroen for creating it. It made me think what other pieces of creativity or artwork have businesses or brands to thank. And whether this can be a new way of framing the relationship between brands and partners. Not as an uncomfortable or guilty one. But as one that is net positive for the world.
(Clearly, we could have a broader political and philosophical debate here as well — about a society which needs commercial partnerships for artwork to exist, or about the value of aesthetics and why it is a good thing that any of this exists anyway).
Either way, Edena is a great and bizarre piece of work. I would be interested to know what Citroen brand management think of it now. For me, with the utmost respect, it’s far more compelling stuff than their latest telly ads.
The story moves far beyond the initial 2cv which never reappears. It gets weirder and weirder. Here’s a short taster:
Brands as patrons of the arts
Business and the arts have always had an uncomfortable relationship. There’s a general sense that ‘proper art’ shouldn’t be constrained by commercial considerations. That it’s somehow mercenary or selling out.
It strikes me as a shame. Because the underlying formula makes so much sense to me. Creatives need support and funding to create. A lucky few can break through on the capricious art scene, but most need someone who is willing to pay for their output. Brands and businesses can use art or creativity to publicise their wares. But few are consistently good at coming up with it on their own terms. This should be a marriage made in heaven.
Big businesses, brands and corporations have been powerful patrons of the arts for a long time. Since the baroque period (or maybe before) wealthy individuals or powerful organisations like the church, acted as patrons for great composers. The works of Haydn, Handel and Bach would be very much diminished or not exist at all if it weren’t for patronage.
The original ‘clients’ in this model shaped the output, and, I’m sure, sometimes restricted and frustrated their ‘creatives’. But creativity cannot exist in a vacuum, and creating to specific briefs has pushed the work further. Bach wrote his majestic cantata cycle in part due to his strong inner Lutherian beliefs, but also to fit the liturgical cycle as set out by the Cantor at St Thomas in Leipzig. An incredibly strict and difficult brief, to create 64 cantatas for each service in the calendar.
Or Bach’s Musical Offering was a result of an intentionally impossible brief thrown down by Frederick the Great. Frederick, a flute player and rationalist didn’t think much of Bach, and so gave him an incredibly difficult theme to compose around. Bach responded by creating a compelling and complex piece of work, and in revenge for the difficult brief, gave the flute the hardest part and one which Frederick almost definitely couldn’t play.
Commissioning work kind of works as the modern equivalent of a project or a brief for an agency. And a patronage can be seen as an ongoing agency or creative relationship.
The difference with this mindset, is that there is a position of power and authority in the creative. The patron needs enough taste and understanding to recognise greatness when they see it. But they don’t feel the need to micromanage or control it.
I also think it can reframe the value of commercial creativity somewhat. If your ambition is to create something of cultural or aesthetic value that is enjoyed and that people are thankful for, then that gives you a whole new framework to view what you do. This also doesn’t mean everything has to be ‘high art’, but it perhaps also introduces the idea of a kind of enlightened ROI. Work that pays back not only on a commercial level, but also on a cultural level.
This also fits well with what we know about how marketing works — fame and distinctiveness and positive memory structures are all formed and strengthened by creativity. People judge and bond with a brand over the content it is responsible for creating. Be that packaging, advertising, or ‘content’.
If we can also learn from Edena, that there’s nothing wrong with wearing the commercial partnership proudly. Unlike Somers Town (which was quite purist patron content — it was actually fully funded by the Eurostar) which doesn’t really pass the test as ‘branded content’ because the brand is almost entirely absent. But in Edena, the Citroen is a key character. Or in Bach’s work, they are bang on brief but still creatively compelling.
At its best, classic advertising can also be framed as patronage of mini artworks. Guinness Horses, or Boddingtons Flake, or Levi’s Flat Eric, are all cultural creative artefacts that I am glad exist. Great long lasting relationships (like Nike and W+K) may be the modern equivalent of a patronage in action.
Perhaps alongside The Attention Economy as the mechanics that grew our media landscape, The Patron Economy is the parallel for creativity that has, sometimes, rewarded that attention with creativity that serves both masters. Artistic merit plus commercial purpose.
