If Kevin Spacey, Keyser Söze in “The Usual Suspects”,
had been good and had been an artist,
his name would have been Federico Clapis.
Who is he?!
This is 2016 and you’re asking me, who is he?!
Why do I bother…!
Kevin Spacey is an American actor
who was in “The Usual Suspects”
and now he’s in “House of Cards”.
Ah, no, who’s Clapis?!
Well, that’s even worse! Clapis has had 150 million
views on Facebook alone.
Probably, in Italy more people have watched Clapis than
Kevin Spacey in the last two years.
A very personal file!
Federico Clapis is an artist.
He’s young, already admired, he exhibits with Francis Bacon,
that’s his level… but the reason I’m talking about him
is that compared with the other artists out there
he has a truly unique distinguishing feature.
He has an online following that no other Italian artist
has and probably no international artist either,
though it’s difficult to get the figures.
If you take a look at his Facebook page
he has some 840,000 fans,
plus his followers on Youtube, plus his followers on Instagram
plus, plus, plus.
If you’re smart, you’ll ask: “OK, but how he did get so many followers?”
And that’s where the story I want to tell you begins.
For five years, Clapis produced
online videos that were pretty much fluff.
Lots of formats, endless experimenting,
music, fooling around, parodies,
it’s very tempting to describe many of the videos
Clapis produced in the past as rubbish.
But people who work online know very well that
capturing hundreds of thousands of views,
millions of views, is bloody difficult!
Try! He tried, tried and tried,
He went into movies, “Game Therapy”,
showings in 200, 400 cinemas, huge press coverage,
red carpets, etc. etc. Eventually I met him
in December last year, on the stage of the IAB Forum.
The IAB Forum, Italy’s number 1 Digital event,
12,000, 15,000 companies just waiting to rub their hands
and invest in the online phenomenon of the moment.
It felt as though we were at an auction at Christie’s
with all the companies in the room ready with their cards
to buy their bit of Clapis,
and what did he do?!
He announced his retirement… whaddya mean, retirement?!
You’ve hit the big time, you’ve got people here
ready to throw shiploads of money at you
and you want to stop now?!
Yes, baby!
He announced his retirement to have the time
for his area of expertise, his passion: art.
After this announcement, everyone in the business
was sceptical, they said: “Yes, but with his following,
the masses of fans he’s built up over the years
doing something else, when he tells people
who’re used to watching his crazy videos
that from now on he’ll only be making art videos,
they’ll all just drop him and his pages with millions of fans
will fall to just a few thousand followers.
Wrong: and that’s the great thing about this story;
not only have his fans not left him, they’re still growing.
We can learn two important lessons from Clapis:
First: to be successful online and build up
a large community of followers
doesn’t mean you have to go down the usual road,
the road everyone follows,
you’re an artist, so immediately you start talking about art.
No! You can take a completely different path.
Make room for your creativity, that’s what’s so great!
The very interesting thing for everyone
is that once you’ve developed a brand,
once people know you online,
once people appreciate you,
then they follow you, whether you produce
a crazy video or an art video,
and they’re also prepared to buy from you,
because there’s a deep personal relationship
which isn’t the sort of relationship you have with a TV personality
it’s a direct relationship.
Which obviously translates into an economic benefit
and we shouldn’t be surprised that someone like Clapis
is now in a position to monetarise
his art, a value that will grow,
with people queuing up outside his door.
The second important lesson is this:
next time you see someone online
and you think he’s an idiot, stop and think,
think twice, because if you don’t understand
exactly where he’s headed
maybe the idiot…
is you!
had been good and had been an artist,
his name would have been Federico Clapis.
Who is he?!
This is 2016 and you’re asking me, who is he?!
Why do I bother…!
Kevin Spacey is an American actor
who was in “The Usual Suspects”
and now he’s in “House of Cards”.
Ah, no, who’s Clapis?!
Well, that’s even worse! Clapis has had 150 million
views on Facebook alone.
Probably, in Italy more people have watched Clapis than
Kevin Spacey in the last two years.
A very personal file!
Federico Clapis is an artist.
He’s young, already admired, he exhibits with Francis Bacon,
that’s his level… but the reason I’m talking about him
is that compared with the other artists out there
he has a truly unique distinguishing feature.
He has an online following that no other Italian artist
has and probably no international artist either,
though it’s difficult to get the figures.
If you take a look at his Facebook page
he has some 840,000 fans,
plus his followers on Youtube, plus his followers on Instagram
plus, plus, plus.
If you’re smart, you’ll ask: “OK, but how he did get so many followers?”
And that’s where the story I want to tell you begins.
For five years, Clapis produced
online videos that were pretty much fluff.
Lots of formats, endless experimenting,
music, fooling around, parodies,
it’s very tempting to describe many of the videos
Clapis produced in the past as rubbish.
But people who work online know very well that
capturing hundreds of thousands of views,
millions of views, is bloody difficult!
Try! He tried, tried and tried,
He went into movies, “Game Therapy”,
showings in 200, 400 cinemas, huge press coverage,
red carpets, etc. etc. Eventually I met him
in December last year, on the stage of the IAB Forum.
The IAB Forum, Italy’s number 1 Digital event,
12,000, 15,000 companies just waiting to rub their hands
and invest in the online phenomenon of the moment.
It felt as though we were at an auction at Christie’s
with all the companies in the room ready with their cards
to buy their bit of Clapis,
and what did he do?!
He announced his retirement… whaddya mean, retirement?!
You’ve hit the big time, you’ve got people here
ready to throw shiploads of money at you
and you want to stop now?!
Yes, baby!
He announced his retirement to have the time
for his area of expertise, his passion: art.
After this announcement, everyone in the business
was sceptical, they said: “Yes, but with his following,
the masses of fans he’s built up over the years
doing something else, when he tells people
who’re used to watching his crazy videos
that from now on he’ll only be making art videos,
they’ll all just drop him and his pages with millions of fans
will fall to just a few thousand followers.
Wrong: and that’s the great thing about this story;
not only have his fans not left him, they’re still growing.
We can learn two important lessons from Clapis:
First: to be successful online and build up
a large community of followers
doesn’t mean you have to go down the usual road,
the road everyone follows,
you’re an artist, so immediately you start talking about art.
No! You can take a completely different path.
Make room for your creativity, that’s what’s so great!
The very interesting thing for everyone
is that once you’ve developed a brand,
once people know you online,
once people appreciate you,
then they follow you, whether you produce
a crazy video or an art video,
and they’re also prepared to buy from you,
because there’s a deep personal relationship
which isn’t the sort of relationship you have with a TV personality
it’s a direct relationship.
Which obviously translates into an economic benefit
and we shouldn’t be surprised that someone like Clapis
is now in a position to monetarise
his art, a value that will grow,
with people queuing up outside his door.
The second important lesson is this:
next time you see someone online
and you think he’s an idiot, stop and think,
think twice, because if you don’t understand
exactly where he’s headed
maybe the idiot…
is you!
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