I had a little look Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne this morning.  not in a gallery.  in St Anne’s Court.  on the way back from a meeting.

I was able to do so courtesy of a piece of communication from The National Gallery called The Grand Tour – whereby;

"…over the next twelve weeks [The National Gallery is] turning the West End into a giant gallery by lining the streets of Soho, Piccadilly, and Covent Garden with some of the world’s most famous paintings"

(source: Grand Tour Website)

which is great; when your product is as good as the creations of Europe’s greatest painters, don’t formulate an advertising intermediary – get it out there and let people experience your product on their own terms.  it’s like 50 little pop-up galleries, I hope they become permanent sites, rotating the image every month.

but if that wasn’t a nice enough idea in itself, if you go to The Grand Tour website you can not only view an interactive map of where the images are and find out more about the artist and piece, you can also download a range of audio tours for your MP3 player…

do an hour’s tour over a lunch-break, or take a romantic stroll on summer evening – the route and commentary courtesy of The Lovers’ Tour – all from the web.

a great, neat, joined up piece of communications which utilises digital capabilities not as a bolt-on, but as an inherent part of the idea, genuinely and relevantly adding to the enjoyment of the product.

and I got to view a Titian on a rainy Monday morning, which was more than enough to brighten up the day.