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India’s biggest art extravaganza is back. In just 10 short years, the Kochi Muziris Biennale, which first launched on the unusual date of 12-12-12, has managed to capture the imagination and collective consciousness of not just art connoisseurs but also people at large.
Of course, the sheer genius of the creativity on display is part of the reason, but it’s also the clever branding, use of symbology and word of mouth marketing that has propelled the three-month long biennial event into a formidable platform that attracts tourists from all over the world. So much so that there is plenty of organic branding that takes place – for instance, local restaurants in Fort Kochi have Biennale Fish (at the Old Harbour Hotel), Biennale Curry etc. At least 400 homestays pitch stays connected to the Biennale.
Multicultural Branding
“Branding is an important aspect,” agrees artist and curator Bose Krishnamachari, who together with Riyas Komu founded the Biennale. He says the location and name too has played a big part in the fame of the event, stressing that instead of calling it the Kochi Biennale, they consciously added Muziris – the ancient port city – to the name, thereby giving it a history and context. “It is the ancient trade route and the real mother of cultural connections. The Biennale has an umbilical relationship with Muziris,” says Bose.
Creative whiz V. Sunil, founding trustee and advisor to the Kochi Biennale, and the man behind the Make in India and Indigo Airlines branding campaigns, also credits the careful use of symbology for the event’s big connect with people. “From the very beginning when we were doing the design language, the thinking was always symbology,” says Sunil. Would young people wear the identity on T-shirts? Could it be put in bags? The typography used is distinctive and disruptive in its multiculturalism – using Malayalam, Hindi and English. And Kochi Muziris Biennale is written in such a way that even those who do not know the language can read it. “We took inspiration from the Indian currency note, where the rupee denomination is written in many languages,” he says.
Confluence of cultures
Finally, the content of the biennale itself — its curatorial structure wherein every edition has a different curator bringing in different sensibilities and dynamism — has contributed to the popularity. “Out of the nearly 100 artists exhibiting, the mix is half Indian and half international. Within India, again the split is half from Kerala and rest from elsewhere – that helps building strong local connect,” says Sunil. What happens with the mixing and matching of the global culture with local culture is the level of exposure for both the audience and participants on new sensibilities is very high.
And, finally the high level of storytelling connected to the event has helped. “We never had a big campaign as such. People’s Biennale was the only tagline we tried to push,” says Sunil. ‘It’s My Biennale’ t-shirts and bags do well. Selfie walls and places where children and local people could add to the content creation on the ground has added to the sense of ownership people feel about the Biennale. Marketers could learn important lessons from the event!
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