Why Authenticity Matters in the Experience Economy
In today’s economy, material goods matter less than memorable experiences. Shifting consumer preferences are driven by the young and old. Millennials and Gen Z consumers seek shareable encounters that contribute to personal growth, while their Baby Boomer parents, with more time and money post-retirement, seek meaningful experiences.
Technology is driving this shift. The internet facilitates at-home entertainment. The ability to shop and share online poses a challenge for traditional brick-and-mortar businesses. COVID accelerated the trend towards stay-at-home consumption, emptying not just shops but pubs, restaurants, cinemas and offices. Similarly, now that many employees have experienced working at home, they expect to be rewarded for travelling to work. Isolation is more than just a problem for employers and businesses. Stay-at-home culture can be a shallow and alienating experience for the consumer and employee, a bad habit that offers diminishing returns 1. The answer to these challenges lies in elevating the office and retail environment and enhancing people’s lives through memorable and meaningful encounters.
In this era of authenticity and personalisation, businesses must create immersive and engaging experiences that align with consumers’ values and interests. Offering curated content to enhance your business environment is a powerful strategy. It sparks customer and employee engagement and boosts brand image in an increasingly competitive landscape. With Vieunite Pro’s Curated Collections, you can transform your space into a hub of meaningful encounters, enhancing your business’s appeal and fostering a deeper connection with your audience.
Vieunite Pro: The Digital Art Platform for Elevated Experiences
Vieunite Pro stands out as an innovative digital art and communication platform. It’s about more than advanced display technology and a user-friendly management system. What sets us apart is our vast library of carefully curated artwork. With Vieunite Pro, businesses can access stunning visuals and effortlessly manage content across multiple screens. Our library features world-class art, photography, posters, crafts, and historical objects, providing a treasure trove of visual delights. But what truly makes our content exceptional is the expert curatorial creation, which pulls images together to communicate on a resonant, intuitive and emotional level. As a Gen Z consumer might say, ‘images hit different’.
The library is organised with scholarly and creative expertise, with every image tagged with keywords for ease of discovery and categorised by suitability for industry verticals. In addition to descriptive and taxonomical work, there are qualitative categories such as “Curatorial Highlights”, which showcases Vieunite essentials, and “Masterpieces”, gathering internationally recognised artworks by named artists.
Curated Art Playlists to Boost Engagement
Playlists are how we gather our copious collection into ready-to-display exhibitions. They are effortless to browse, and once selected, the business user can send it to multiple screens with one click.
We launched Vieunite Pro with 60 playlists. Behind this headline number are 15 distinct collections of images organised into four format combinations and subscription tiers. For instance, the category Hospitality > Hotels contains both Standard and Advanced playlists, each available in landscape or portrait mode and with a different selection of artwork, respectively.
The Art Curators Behind the Library
I am privileged to lead the team of experts behind this work. My background is as an artist and academic, with a doctorate in art history and 25 years of experience teaching visual art. My team comprises three practising artists and two art historians with over 80 years of experience creating, sourcing, and curating art. Each team member brings something distinct, whether an interest in Medieval and Early Renaissance Art, a deep knowledge of Modernist sculpture, contemporary painting, or even animated cartoons. Our collective expertise ensures that every piece of art in our library is of the highest quality and relevance.
The combination of academic art-historical expertise and artistic creativity is potent. Curating images is a creative act because as soon as an image is put into a sequence, new meanings and relationships emerge—this is like creating poetry through the organisation of distinct words. This is why we have artists and art historians on our team. If artists are creative, the art historian’s super-power is their incredible dexterity and precision in seeking the best from vast databases, libraries and the dusty basements of great galleries.
Sourcing Amazing Art – and More
The secret to a great playlist is selecting images that offer something extraordinary, whether a captivating scene, a unique perspective, or an emotional connection. We also emphasise the harmony and flow of images, ensuring a cohesive visual experience.
Our team strives to connect with the most exciting contemporary artists from around the globe, granting Vieunite users access to the latest trends in global contemporary art. Understanding contemporary art requires a deep familiarity with the art world’s inner workings. We go beyond collecting art: we build relationships with artists to understand their vision. Art is not just visual; it’s about connecting with the creators and their stories. Each viewer interprets art through their lens, creating a unique exchange of meaning. We bring you closer to artists as distinct as Alexander Rhys and Christian Redermayer through interviews and studio visits. Understanding the artist’s context and the ongoing conversation surrounding their work enriches the experience of art – and in this way, Vieunite is your gateway to the vibrant world of contemporary art, offering you a personal and unique journey.
For more historical art and culture, we adopt a different approach. On the one hand, we seek out the richest and most individual collections and seek to partner with them, digitising their collections and helping to tell their story and reach a larger audience. This has led to unique partnerships with institutions as varied as the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art, the National Galleries of Scotland and the Royal Pavilion and Museums Trust, which cares for the Regency masterpiece, the Royal Brighton Pavilion. In addition to this, we also employ our art historical research expertise to scour libraries and digital collections across the world, to unearth hidden masterpieces, and to find curios and artefacts with compelling histories.
Tailor-made Content
Every customer is different. Although an advanced subscriber can select from one of our premade playlists, it is impossible to anticipate every need in advance. Our premium subscribers gain direct access to our art experts. Starting with fully understanding your requirements, we source and organise the right content to meet your communication and experience generation needs, helping you shape, frame and exhibit your business values. If this sounds interesting, I’d love to speak to you more about what makes your business unique.
Vieunite Pro: Your Partner for Memorable Customer & Employee Experiences
In conclusion, Vieunite Pro offers a comprehensive digital art solution for businesses seeking to elevate their spaces and engage customers. Our curated playlists, created by an expert team of art historians and artists, provide stunning visual content that aligns with consumers’ values and interests. With Vieunite Pro, businesses can create immersive and memorable experiences that enhance brand image, drive outcomes, and contribute to a more authentic and engaging environment for employees and customers.
Benedict is Vieunite’s Cultural Director and a lecturer at Nottingham Trent University.