Guest editorial: The online and offline impacts of Covid-19 on arts and cultural marketing

The online and offline impacts of Covid-19 on arts and cultural marketingWe are delighted to serve as guest editors of this special issue of Arts and the Market on The online and offline impacts of COVID-19 on arts and cultural marketing.In our original call for papers, we noted that until recently, consumption of arts and cultural experiences was predominately carried out face to face, with many consumers attending exhibitions, performances and festivals several times per year.Now, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic can be seen clearly in terms of a dramatic cultural and economic downturn (Banks and O' Connor, 2021;Khlystova et al., 2022;Walmsley et al., 2022).Prior to COVID-19 most cultural organisations engaged with the Internet, social media and other digital platforms by interacting with potential and actual audiences.Although a significant percentage of these interactions were initially marketing focussed, an increasing number of organisations were using digital platforms as performance and exhibition "spaces" (Jeannotte, 2021; Rentschler and Lee, 2021).During the pandemic these mechanisms for audience engagement became the only means of providing an arts and cultural experience due to lockdown restrictions.This presented cultural producers and audiences with a limited choice of engagement modes.Critical to any discussion around the digital offer of cultural consumption is whether the online platform can succeed in delivering the same experiences as a physical visit, or whether a hybrid model of audience engagement is the best way forward.Nonetheless, the position is now much more optimistic as the world returns to some sort of "normal" situation.Galleries and museums are starting to see visitation heading towards pre-COVID-19 levels (da Silva, 2022), and festivals are returning to cultural calendars around the world (Rentschler et al., 2021).Recovery and reset are now the main aims for the sector as cultural organisations are looking to maximise revenues, maintain audiences, and survive in the longer term.Still, there is much to be learnt from exploring how the arts and cultural sectors navigated their way through the last few years of the pandemic.There are three papers in this special issue plus our own critical literature review.Digital Audio-visual Content in Marketing and Distributing Cultural Products during the COVID-19 pandemic in Greece was written by Maria Matsiola and Nick Grillakis.The aim of the study was to reflect upon the use of digital audio-visual content for the marketing of cultural events in the relative organisations and foundations during the turbulent times of the COVID-19 pandemic by drawing on insight from a series of expert interviews.The main question that the study interrogated was whether the digital audio-visual techniques implemented by cultural foundations and festivals in Greece during the COVID-19 pandemic were efficient in promoting artwork.There was a particular focus on stressing social presence and whether the marketing and distributing processes of artistic and cultural products managed to attract audience engagement and further enhance the foundations' brand.Issues investigated included digital content creation, arts marketing, use of digital media and new technologies, brand identity and strategy building.An effective combination of interesting audio-visual content, precise brand aspirations in terms of identity and vision, are what will lead a foundation to the audience it desires.Adaptability was crucial in assisting the foundations in the turbulent times of a pandemic and creativity is what made some foundations differentiate themselves from others.The digitisation that the pandemic brought can be considered as a positive dimension, since foundations can continue to combine digital and physical spectacles in the future.