subscribe

Careers

subscribe

Careers

Greetings

🎧 S1E4 – The Human Face of Marketing: giving your clients a place to belong

Good Marketing helps others become who they seek to become by giving them a place to belong in.

Marketing, since its inception, has been making great use of status, which is humans’ constant effort to move up and down the ladder. And there are essentially two fundamentally different ways to do this. The first is by tapping on people’s need to dominate: to be smarter, prettier, more powerful. The second is by giving people a place to belong. Which one will you choose?

Where to listen

More players→

Status in “Las Meninas” by Velasquez

This is Diego Velasquez’ painting “Las Meninas”.

What you have in front of you is considered as one of the supreme achievements of western art, a calculated demonstration of what art can achieve. And this achievement has nothing to do with Velasquez’ painting skill, but with the fact that it demonstrates the depths of the human soul. I will let you observe for just a moment.

We find ourselves in the royal palace, in 17th-century Spain. The girl is the 5 year old Spanish princess, the “Infanta”. She is surrounded by her maids, Las Meninas.

Now, what you do not know is that this is a time where painters have a very low social status, because painting is regarded as a craft, not as art.

As we explore the painting for subtext, we realise that Velasquez is creating an overly laborious composition. On the left side is the painter himself facing us. We do not know for sure what he is painting, but we can guess. Because in a distant mirror in the back of the room we can vaguely see the reflection of the royal couple. 

And this scene is filled with hubris, because Velasquez, a low-status craftsman, managed to place a portrait of himself surrounded by the entire royal family. This is not a painting of the Infanta nor Las Meninas! This, is Velázquez claiming status for both the artist and the art.

And Velasquez, my friends, is the perfect starting point because we cannot talk about marketing unless we talk about status, because the constant pursuit for it is one of the greatest motivators of every human behaviour.

Subscribe →

digest

Get the

Subscribe for updates on articles like this (bi-weekly digest)

Leave a Reply

The Latest posts

Popular reads in the magazine

Andreas

travel the globe photographing life’s important events, weddings, and editorial shoots.

more about Andreas →

PHOTOGRAPHER, WRITER,  GENTLEMAN

welcome, I 'm

I

The AKG studio was created out of my fascination for blending modern techniques with the art d'excellence from a bygone era, creating a photography of timeless aesthetic and heritage. 

My photography is intimate and infused with a sense of purpose, stemming from a deep desire to advocate for diversity, empathy and empowerment.

you

Photography as extraordinary as

Images as remarkable as you.

Get a month free of showit

With my friends at ShowIt, we are offering a month free of ShowIt.

HINT: This entire website is built on ShowIt, and I couldn't recommend it more!

Stay ahead of the curve 
with the latest educational content: workshops around the world, articles, free e-books & podcasts
A FREE email course about shipping your Art to the world. It's for ALL Wedding Artists (regardless of specialty)
The missing intro to Modern Marketing for Artists

Learn more

Enroll now - it's free
 - Subscribe for exclusive updates -

extraordinary

Keep your


Stay ahead of the curve

With the latest educational content - Workshops around the world, articles, podcasts.