Who says artists can't market?

Copyblogger recently noted how Swiss artist Sala's One Thousand Paintings project has blended marketing and art. Sala has painted one thousand paintings of the numbers 1 through 999. They are priced at "$1,000 - number each", but he started selling them at a 90% discount. Every 100 paintings he sells, the discount decreases by 10%. So the paintings start off cheap, but as more people discover the project and buy the paintings, the more money they bring in.

As Copyblogger Brian Clarke notes, the offer is the art.

Let’s take a look at the psychological elements of the offer that make it irresistible to its target audience:

• Uniqueness – If this isn’t remarkable, I don’t know what is. It just about goes without saying that an extremely unique idea must be present in order for the concept to have any chance of going viral.


• Scarcity – The limited number of authenticated paintings creates scarcity, along with the fact that only one of each number is sold. Scarcity is a fundamental attribute of all original art that increases in value, and also helps increase the buzz that is already in motion.


• Urgency – The pricing scheme prompts people to buy the initial paintings, which increases the buzz even more, until the proverbial tipping point when others are prompted to buy even more paintings before the next incremental price increase, and so on.


• Value – Beyond the story behind each painting that provides its aesthetic value, the above elements are likely perceived by buyers as creating a valuable secondary market for the paintings that can lead to later financial gain.


• Exclusivity – All of the above combined results in the Holy Grail for art, collectibles, luxury and performance products to name a few — exclusivity. Not everyone can have one, and that’s why the offer becomes irresistible.

How is it working? Sala has sold 522 paintings as of this writing. And given the momentum that has built in the past month, after four months of slower sales, I expect he'll sell out soon because he used the principles of good marketing. If that isn't a work of art, I don't know what is.

Technorati Tags: Art, Exclusivity, Marketing, One thousand paintings, Scarcity, Uniqueness, Urgency, Value