Ars Gratia Artis

I graduated Graphics at the Art University in Bucharest several years ago and suddenly after that I began revising my options: to art or not to art. There were two blurry options for me at that time: professional illustrator or Art Director in a local advertising agency so I chose the option that payed best. No need to guess what option I chose, isn't it?
Today, after my ten years trip in advertising I look back and ask myself what was the impulse that propelled me to this road in the first place; why an advertising career sounded clearer than an artistic one?

I asked several of my AD friends what was their impulse and several of my artist friends what was theirs, and the results were unexpectedly frank and "marketish" (a word that I just came up with). The advertisers told me that the agency path attracted them because it promised them a glorious way of making use of their skills: career growth, festivals, constant publishing, upgrade possibilities, etc.
The artists emphasized on THEIR place in the system: my ART is like that, my SKILLS are better than others', my IDEAS were just meant to be in the galleries, I am taking part in an wonderful process / art, etc.
And it popped out: aren't both ways marked by Unique Selling Propositions? Aren't both advertisers and artists directed on their paths by to-be-achieved promises? By things that make the natural difference? By some clear thoughts regarding their positioning on a market?

In conclusion, my advise to artists is to find their USP and promote it accordingly. First you have to discover this USP deep in your inner psychological apparatus then you have to communicate it as applied to what you do, applied to your artistic endeavors, applied to your art. Be your own marketer, treat your artistic products as unique products with specific targets and fully campaign them using everything you got at your disposal: guts, wits, skills, passion, uniqueness, originality, predominance, vision, style, etc.

Example: Damien Hirst sells crude realities under a satyric manner using all sorts of metaphor amplifiers that are directly extracted from the very present we're living in. USP: a modern metaphor of what is and what might be. Sounds like a slogan, isn't it?

Example: Picasso sold the vastest range of imagery using deformity and unique ways of de-composing and re-composing the elements, thus resulting in an original and well sustained imaginative universe. USP: I see reality through my personal analytic tools and I depict it thoroughly using my own unique style of seeing things. Maybe shorter would be better, bute here is a USP for Picasso.