OpenUp
In 2001, Royal Mail (UK's national postal operator) approached ARTOMATIC about how they could make Direct Mail more 'legitimate' amongst ad agencies, who were myopically focussed on TV and saw DM as an inferior medium.
DM has always been sold on one purpose–its responsiveness and accountability. In the world of DM, data and targeting are the key tools to its success; creativity had always been secondary.
ARTOMATIC's response was to hold a series of exhibitions (2001 - 03) that showcased the very best creative work it could find–and more importantly, it made no reference to its commercial or responsive success. The exhibitions were a success and enabled Royal Mail to re-frame their relationship with ad agencies and helped to establish DM as a legitimate advertising medium.
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OpenUp 01 (work)
Entries for the first OpenUp exhibition were recruited by mailing call-for-entries transit box vacuum-packed for entries to be sent back to ARTOMATIC. This became the motif for the entire show with an over-size version of the box suspended in the shop window while the exhibition was on. -
OpenUp 01
The first exhibition was held in our own gallery space in Great Sutton Street. Designed by Kate Henderson with graphics by Emma Bristow, the show spelled out the advantages of direct mail and specifically placed it in the concext of a future digital media landscape. The spirit of this lives on in Royal Mail's own on-line, mail media resource centre, MMC -
OpenUp 02 (work)
The second show was a more ambitious affair and a more singular creative focus. The selection committee of the first show was ditched in favour a more democratic process whereby the visitors voted for their favourite piece, which they did by placing a red dot on the captions of their favourite pieces and the dots counted at the end. This also became the central graphic theme of the show. -
OpenUp 02
By 2002, we'd rearranged the space in Great Sutton Street, so the second OpenUp exhibition moved to the Sea Gallery in St John's Street. OpenUp 02 had a more focussed creative imperitive–the persuasive graphics were replaced by a more edgy design, again by Kate Henderson, with all the exhibits and the lighting hung from the ceiling on slender Perspex rods, giving the effect of walking through a upside down garden. The pinnacle of the exhibition was Peter Blake casting his expert eye over the exhibit, though he looked a little bemused at the rather incongruous spectacle of standing in a gallery and talking about direct mail. Here's a video of the second show, including the charming Mr Peter Blake -
OpenUp 03 (work)
Though the third exhibit was on a much msaller scale and did without the hoopla (i.e. marketing and PR support) of the earlier shows, the work was no less impressive and proved once and for all the creative merits and possibilities of sending something through the post -
OpenUp 03
The objective for the final year was to take the message out into the agencies so they could experience it for themselves (and put in front of people who weren't going to trek across town for an exhibition). The peripatetic nature of the project meant we couldn't do anything too elaborate and we found some industrial shelving in the Slingsby catalogue that, although steel and heavy, were at least portable.