Banksy on Newman Street in London - word of mouth in action?

I have just returned from taking photos of the 'Banksy Newman Street' in London. Painted inside a Post Office depot compound, "One Nation Under CCTV" is Banksy's biggest piece in central London to date:

Banksy Newman Street on Flickr (click image to see more from my Flickr collection)

Essentially Banksy is a graffiti artist executing an illegal pastime, however his work now has a wide following and there is significant hype around Banksy 'art' (eg Angelina Jolie paying £200,000 recently for one of his pieces). There were a large number of people taking photos on Newman Street today and everyone present (except the Post Office workers) seemed impressed with what they saw. There was even a researcher from the Culture Show asking people to express their thoughts with felt tips on a piece of paper headed 'Culture Is.......'

It is interesting to see how word of this spread. It was featured in newspapers this morning, but the Banksy Newman Street has also been a topic of conversation online - the Daily Mail report has had 4314 Diggs in 13 hours!
A number of photos have also been added to Flickr, Facebook statuses have featured it and a quick Tweet Scan also shows how word of the Newman Street Banksy spread through Twitter:

click for larger image

I don't know how long this work will remain or for how much longer London councils will tolerate Banksy producing art like "One Nation Under CCTV", however as each new piece is created, it is intriguing how quickly word of it spreads and how many people are moved to go and look - is Banksy's work the ultimate word of mouth, viral marketing?

Banksy graffiti, Apple suing New York and Google - trademarking is high on todays agenda!

On leaving Belsize Park tube last week I noticed some new graffiti on an adjacent wall. It is in the style of Banksy and I decided to photograph it:

As I was taking the picture I was stopped by an old man who asked if I thought it was 'a real one'. Whilst it is in an area that Banksy has used before (something else was painted on the same wall last year (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickburcher/2395939562) and it is close to the famous 'Maid in Camden') there is no real way of knowing whether this was painted by Banksy or a Banksy imitator. Regardless of this, it shows the extent to which Banksy's work is now universally known (there is even a virtual Banksy gallery in Second Life (http://www.nickburcher.com/2008/02/banksys-ghetto-banksy-virtual-gallery.html)

I am fascinated by the way that essentially 'illegal street art' has become so prominent in mainstream culture and it was therefore no surprise to read in Marketing Week that Banksy is trademarking his tag across a whole range of products from wallpaper and paint to toys and jewellery.

If a graffiti artist can trademark his work then it is not surprising that trademarking has become so prominent. On the one hand the open source / Creative Commons advocates encourage collaboration and sharing whilst on the other hand legal suits, such as Apple Inc suing the Big Apple(!), seem to be becoming more common (http://dotnet.sys-con.com/read/535376.htm). These things are all resulting in trademarking moving up the marketing agenda and Google's recent UK trademarking announcements will further increase the importance of trademarking in marketing strategy.

Difficult to predict where all of this will end though? In the future will everyone have to trademark everything????

'Banksy's Ghetto' - Banksy virtual gallery launches in Second Life

A virtual Banksy Gallery has been launched in the Topaz region of Second Life (Topaz/89/34/28.) Charlie Backwell (aka Charmarley Nightfire) from Bristol has launched an area in Second Life called "Banksy's Ghetto" where 400 virtual pieces of Banksy's work are on display.

The launch event today (Friday 1st Feb 2008) is called 'BANKSY'S GHETTO 24 HOUR LAUNCH PARTY!' and the profile / event announcement states:

"Event: BANKSY'S GHETTO 24 HOUR LAUNCH PARTY!!!

Hosted by: Charmarley Nightfire

The worlds (any worlds) first extensive gallery of works by the UK street artist Banksy! On this opening night, there will be 5L$/10 mins! camping, streaming funky grooves and underground UK sounds. Come along and see the art, reflect on it with other residents & see one of the rarest early pieces for sale in Real Life! There's surveys, competitions AND Banksy T shirts and Pants for Sl residents! For art appreciators - theres a Palestine wall, early freehand graff, right through to the latest in stencil work around the world.

The Banksy Experience - A next generation Gallery! - not to be missed."

Here is the link to the Event Profile: http://world.secondlife.com/event/1168410

To get to the actual area, go into Second Life, search for 'Banksy's Ghetto'

The Banksy Ghetto gallery is very impressive - set across 3 floors and a garden and there is even furniture to sit on. All the famous Banksy images can be found here and I have taken a number of screengrabs - everything from the Pulp Fiction bananas through to my local Banksy 'Maid In Camden.'

Think this is a clever way of using Second Life and I think Banksy's Ghetto will be a popular destination. I have enjoyed walking round tonight (see the screengrabs below) - thank you Charmarley!

Screengrabs from the Banksy Ghetto virtual gallery (click images to see larger versions):