ART AND DESIGN
Prima Maria Brand creates a Festive Atmosphere! Late last year art creations entitled “The Wondrous Beasts” - part of the Prima Maria brand - became the main talking point of Christmas on the Podil holiday event in Kiev, Ukraine. This is one of the major annual events in Kiev with a rich program of activities and events
that take place in the historical center of the Ukrainian capital during the Christmas and New Year holidays. In the licensing industry this type of promotion is a unique example of a brand’s integration into a large-scale national event. And, if proof was needed, this is confirmation that art brands can be popular and commercially successful. Frida Kahlo, Pablo Picasso, Van Gogh - these names do not just represent Mexico, Spain and Holland. They are cultural phenomena that have already united million fans of art around the world. The artist Maria Primachenko became a similar symbol of art as well as a whole cultural identity for the second half of the 20th century in the Ukraine. Based on its original creativity, Ukrainian licensing agents Art Nation developed the Prima Maria licensing brand in 2016.The brand translates into universal human values: life force, self-expression, the energy of the earth, peace and kindness. Prima Maria char-
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acters are creatures from a wizarding world which are also close to human nature. Although she is recognised worldwide, in the Ukraine Maria Primachenko was eatablished as a cult artist not that long ago. Her fantastic beasts were recognizable, but not many people know who their creator was or, in fact, where these marvellous animals came from. In order to grow the Prima Maria brand Art Nation company initiated several promotional campaigns focused on the popularization of the artist. One of the most recent, and certainly the most wide scale, was Christmas on the Podil. By the 110th anniversary of Maria Primachenko, the characters of Prima Maria from the The Wondrous Beasts collection came to life in the historical center of Kiev. Art objects based on the artist’s creations adorned the pedestrian area of Sagaydachnogo Street. In one installation, a Christmas tree and a main scene on Kontraktovaya Square were decorated with The Wondrous Beasts. The Christmas on the Podil with Prima Maria characters became the epicenter of tourism and the main selfie-zone during the Christmas and New Year holidays - from December 15th to January 20th. The result of all this was that an art brand became the main hero of a major national event. Significant activity in social and mass media served to confirm the attention award-
ed to the fantastic world of Prima Maria. For three weeks The Wondrous Beasts brought together tens of thousands of people of all generations and from many different cities. With the help of such a promotional campaign, Art Nation achieved the solution to two issues at once. Firstly, they took one more step towards the popularization of Maria Primachenko, and reminded people about the name of the artist and what she meant. Secondly, the event enabled the team to enlarge the brand’s audience and created a strong emotional connection between the artist and Prima Maria fans. In the future, Art Nation producer Eduard Akhramovich plans to strengthen the integration of Prima Maria images into urban spaces. In spring he will begin to implement the idea of an art space entitled Prima Maria Art Boulevard in Kiev. The visual environment of the boulevard will consist of sculptures and murals, based on the artist’s paintings, but recreated by modern-day authors. Meanwhile, the art objects created for The Wondrous Beasts will come to life again at the Christmas and New Year celebrations in other Ukrainian cities. Based on the artist’s creativity, Art Nation also plans to create a cartoon series as well as a mural at one of Kiev’s metro stations. Without doubt, Prima Maria is a brand with a great history and an ambitious future. TOTAL BRAND LICENSING