by Oresti Patricios (@orestaki) Cape Town gets yet more recognition as a top tourist destination, this time from Lufthansa: it is the international carrier’s “City of the Month” for February 2017. To celebrate, Lufthansa has teamed up with local street artists to paint the city.
Modern graffiti is, by its very nature, chaotic and anarchic so, for some people, it is disturbing. People are offended by having their walls and environs ‘redecorated’ slogans and images rendered in garish colours. But, in recent times, cities and communities have come to appreciate street art, and the unique contribution it makes to public spaces. Graffiti has now become aesthetically trendy and city governments increasingly recognise that urban artists draw tourism.
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Watch our 2017 #AdoftheWeek playlist on YouTube This week’s Ad of the Week is all about street art and the high-flying brand that is supporting street artists. When Lufthansa having made Cape Town its city of the month for February 2017, the airline has dedicated all its media channels to highlighting the Mother City’s beauty and attractions. This could become a boring brand campaign but, thankfully, the marketing mavens at Lufthansa have decided to celebrate with an alternative approach.
The airline brand asked Mathew Schafer and Lyle Dolman, two young designers and artists from Arts Alternative, to create three temporary installations at three high-visibility sites in the mother city, namely Claremont, St Georges in the CBD, and Woodstock. Each work is a different treatment of a Lufthansa airplane — the Airbus A340, if I’m not mistaken. The Woodstock piece depicts a jet passing over False Bay en route to the airport, a sight familiar to those of us who enjoy the trip. The Claremont picture is of a jet taxiing on the runway, against the Cape’s mountainous backdrop. The St Georges work is a view of a jet from above, with a sense of motion created by the blurred background passing below.
All of the works of street art have the hashtag #LHCityoftheMonth, and feature the Lufthansa logo and the wording “Cape Town”. Another text element common to all is “Lufthansa <3 Mother City”. [In case you didn’t know, “<3” is the emoticon for a heart.]
Relationship
What’s brilliant about this campaign is that it speaks to the relationship that the City of Cape Town has had with street art and graffiti. In 2010, Cape Town city enacted a by-law aimed at reducing graffiti and even created a special unit to hunt down taggers and graffiti artists. At the same time, schools, companies and private individuals set up spaces where graffiti artists could practice their craft — although, in some cases, this wasn’t always accepted by the neighbours. When arts journalist/editor, Roger Lucey, commissioned three well-known Capetonian graffiti artists to paint his wall, his neighbours complained to the city council, but Lucey refused to take the street art down.
Arts Alternative, adding to street art culture in Mother City with this, 1 of 3 new murals. Cape Town is @lufthansa‘s #lhcityofthemonth! pic.twitter.com/dnGTJHy2a4
— Traveller24_SA (@Traveller24_SA) February 4, 2017
Cape Town certainly is a city of divides, with its beautiful beaches and scenery, contrasting informal settlements and apartheid-era tenement developments. Real estate is at a premium, so residential areas jostle up against industrial developments. Its sheer natural beauty, rich cultural history, arts and more make it one of the world’s top tourism destinations. Cape Town has received numerous international accolades over the years, including being awarded World Design Capital in 2014; The Condé Nast Readers’ Best Overseas City for Restaurants & Bars, and second-best overseas city in the World (2016); The Telegraph Travel Awards Best City (2015/16 — for the fourth year running); no. 10 in the Top 25 Destinations in the World by TripAdvisor; as well as no. two on National Geographic’s Top 10 list of Best Beach Cities in the world.
Valuable contribution
The Lufthansa accolade is a sure reinforcement of just how attractive and well-loved the city is. The campaign also recognises that street art makes a valuable contribution to Cape Town, and the project has boosted the income of two artists. It is high time that cities and brands recognise the astounding talent of some of SA’s urban artists, people such as Faith 47, Lisolomzi Pikoli a.k.a. Mr Fuzzy Slipperz, Damn Vandal, and Falko.
Street art contributes to our cultural heritage, draws tourism, reimagines our public spaces with vivid cityscapes and bold works. Thanks to the Lufthansa brand for not only celebrating Cape Town but for making a strong statement about the relationship that cities should have with its street artists.
? Hi Cape Town! You’re our #LHCityOfTheMonth pic.twitter.com/Z77y7Z5fXv
— Lufthansa USA (@Lufthansa_USA) February 3, 2017
Credits
Client/brand: Lufthansa South Africa
Agency: Arts Alternative
Creative directors/designers: Mathew Schafer, Lyle Dolman
Ad of the Week, published on MarkLives every Wednesday, is penned by Oresti Patricios (@orestaki), the CEO of Ornico, a Brand Intelligence® firm that focuses on media, reputation and brand research. If you are involved in making advertising that is smart, funny and/or engaging, please let Oresti know about it at info@ornicogroup.co.za.
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