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The Internet continues to change the way we create & consume, but sometimes the new modes are not so new.

During the Renaissance portrait painting became popular – commissioned paintings of individuals, groups and families showing them in situ with the intent of capturing the visual appearance of the subject. It first became common among noble families, royalty and church leaders looking to have their greatness preserved for the ages, but it later became less exclusive and in the 18th and 19th centuries it’s popularity took off among middle class families.

During the 20th century portrait painting suffered a decline, largely due to the ease of photography as a method of capturing a likeness, but also because western society’s taste moved away from crafted goods to the mass produced. Painted portraits felt provincial, much like hand made furniture in the era of Ikea.

This trend had begun before Gutenberg and had the great benefit of progressively providing the masses with access to books, porcelain, transport, art, plastic, electronics, music, theatre and the Internet.

A combination of economic forces (mass-market, mass-distribution, mass-production) and the popularity of mega-brands squeezed artists out of the mainstream. The role of the craftsman, artisan and artist was greatly reduced and displaced by the factory worker, mechanic and miner and eventually by the programmer, management consultant and life coach.

Slowly bespoke artefacts have taken on a new meaning, a hand made chair became a sign of wealth rather than poverty. But for the mass-market, mass-production is it. Artists either make it big and became superstars or struggle to gain recognition. The traditional middle ground for the common artist has been lost.

One of the trends being enabled by the Internet is the breakdown of the economic factors that have caused this polarisation. Production, marketing, shipping and transactions are being commoditised and it is becoming viable for individuals to create and reach a market without having to pitch their ideas to companies with worldwide distribution and marketing clout.

Want to publish a book? Go to blurb.com and self publish. Want to market a line of unique lamps? Put them on etsy.com and buy some AdWords. Want to get exposure for your new single? Post a killer video on YouTube (10 million views in under a month, no major record label backing).

The flip side of this coin is that the market is seeking out unique, short run or hand-made products again. Sites like Threadless.com changed the way we look at T-shirts from being a vehicle for logos to a vehicle for creativity and self expression. The value people place on mass produced objects such as CDs is falling – but there is plenty of value seen in unique or limited release material.

My family recently commissioned a portrait from Nan Lawson. It wasn’t expensive and the whole transaction, from initial contact to feedback on a couple of iterations to the final payment, was conducted over the Internet. We love the personal nature of the portrait, the way it captures us, our tastes and the our time, but most of all I’m excited that the Internet is enabling a renaissance of commissioned creativity on this scale.

Ace Buchan rips it up!

It’s not often that surfing is seen as a sport that is at the forefront of cutting-edge technologies and events coverage. Viewers tune in seasonally to high-profile Australian sports such as NRL, Tennis and Cricket on television and are presented with a barrage of new technologies, camera angles, stats analysis and heat mapping, so it’s easy to see why many see these sports as industry leaders in their field. On the contrary however, surfing is often overlooked within this realm, often appearing on channels such as FuelTV which are less accessible to the everyday Australian viewer.

Before the emergence of online as “mainstream”, surfing fans often waited days or weeks to view images and results of recent surfing titles. Surfing, by nature, is not a spectator sport. Events are often held in remote locations,  held offshore and are notorious for sporadic consistency as the date/time of competing is determined by swell, wind, and waves. Print titles such as “Tracks” became the bible for surfing fans who read these magazines religiously for their only fix of their favourite sport.

In recent years, however, Pro Surfing and affiliated sponsors have exploited the online medium with resounding success, creating online communities with a high level of engagement, greater incentives and results for sponsors and marketers, live streaming facilities and a “surfing on demand” culture that is now accessible to a very wide audience.

By using the web to reach their fans, the ASP found that they could use smaller, more compact recording equipment for live event streaming online, that sponsors were willing to utilise their own websites to broadcast events which diversified the channels to content, and that online communities were forming globally where surfers and surfing fans finally had a medium to engage with each other on a mass scale.

With online as their primary broadcasting medium, unlike traditional sporting events coverage, opportunities were unlocked for marketers looking to tap into a previously distant audience.

Sponsors broadcasting events and results on their own websites via live streaming facilities, as recently seen in the Quiksilver Pro, were effectively creating website retention whereby viewers of the event were simultaneously exposed to their brand, their products and call to action, all without the use of expensive commercials and marketing collateral associated with traditional broadcasting. Users could easily navigate to the online shop and buy a pair of boardshorts or a surfboard while waiting for the next surfer to hit the waves, all without leaving their laptops, let alone the sponsor’s website.

The websites for these brands suddenly became useful, as users would flock back event after event to watch their favourite sports stars (and maybe purchase some surfing gear while they happened to be there). When events aren’t on, users can still pop back to the websites to see the latest stats and rankings on their favourite surfers, or blog posts from their surfers on tour. The ASP and associated sponsors suddenly made a previously inaccessible sport with limited marketing opportunities into a marketing empire by following online trends and showing innovation in terms of online branding, a hurdle that most modern sports are yet to achieve.

With the rise of social media, pro surfing has now extended to broad online communities which facilitate engagement with their fans. Facebook has been widely utilised to reach these audiences with great success, and all under the umbrella of corporate organisations. Unheard of right? While many users of facebook are reluctant to support corporations online, surfing has managed to cut through the stereotype of companies moving into the online space trying to “sell” by becoming a resource to fans of surfing and facilitating conversations between like-minded people. Following this year’s Quiksilver Pro, Quiksilver’s facebook page now has 280,000 followers and counting, not to mention a corresponding Twitter account with 10,365 followers. Brands such as Oakley have now been utilising iPhone applications to continue to tap into this emerging market. The possibilities are now endless.

While many sports are still at the forefront of traditional broadcasting, it’s interesting to analyse whether this is the best approach to “innovative” sports coverage. Looking at Pro Surfing as a case study, it’s important to see the value they have created utilising the online/mobile medium in attracting and retaining sponsorship and funding from almost nothing. Their willingness to use the web as their primary engagement point has had amazing success, and should be seen as a benchmark for sporting coverage and engagement going forward.

Beats having a rotating banner at the side of the football field, don’tcha think?