Authenticity is the Holy Grail
Flicking across the wasteland of TV channels showing reality tv shows the other night, I wondered at Andy Warhol's prediction that each of us would one day enjoy 15 minutes of fame.
Why do viewers find the antics of a bunch of talentless oiks endlessly fascinating. We can't get enough of the misleading-labelled'reality TV'. It seems that our taste for the predigested, over-produced TV show has been jaded. Even high production programs like the wall-to-wall crime scene investigation shows fake a reality atmosphere.
Even when the oiks aren't talentless, the form of popular shows is tending toward the post-modern, deconstructionist (better too late than never). For instance, in an episode of one of a million shows featuring the always-jolly Jamie Oliver his wife's tears can be heard off camera as one of the boy-genius's assistants reports on media reports that Jamie has had an affair with someone in a restaurant somewhere in Germany. (Will Jools believe his denials? Did he do it?)
The question poses itself: what is driving this hunger for the undigested, raw productions - in which the creators of the program are the talent (or non-talent) themselves? Why has the theatresports model grown to dominate current entertainment tastes?
I believe it can be summed up in one word: authenticity. And this word has significant significance for marketers. In this context, authenticity can be defined as "a genuine expression of character". In a world where you can't believe the words of our political leaders, where the credibility of formerly respected public institutions has been shredded by scandal, where trust is in short supply, people seem to need authenticity.
If you are in the business of 'manufacturing' the image of a corporation or product - the business of branding - you had better learn about authenticity. "To succeed in this business you only need one thing - sincerity," says one of Murray Ball's cartoon admen in his long running series in Ad News charting the exploits of the ad agency WAN&K. "And when you learn how to fake that, you've got it made," he says. The dilemma for brand manufacturers is contained in this gag. How do you fake sincerity in a way that cannot be detected? You can't.
Authenticity is the motherlode of good fortune for a brand. Consumers stick like crazy to authentic brands because they resonate deep inside where the inner child sits waiting for the warm feeling of security it gets when it can believe it can trust in someone. The standout case study of authenticity is the Tylenol poisoning case in 1982. An extortionist injected poison into capsules of Johnson&Johnson's market-leading painkiller in the US and several consumers died. True to its corporate mission of protecting its customers (J&J's Baby Oil slogan: protection for baby, protection for you), the company willingly withdrew the product from the shelves across America for several months - losing millions in sales and giving competitors a free run to eat into its market share - indeed, restructure the brand landscape. The downside was enormous, but the company did not hesitate for an instant.
It knew what it had to do because it knew who it was. This single act of authenticity did more to cement the company's positioning as a genuine carer than any amount of advertising. When Tylenol returned to the shelves, not only did it win back the share it had lost during its absence, it gained new share and went on to take an even more dominant position. The revenue lost in the time it was off the shelf was quickly recovered.
Consumers responded to authenticity in this case. Authenticity also explains why Nike was not ultimately damaged by the "Asian sweatshop" scandals. Nike never presented itself as a 'fair competitor". It's positioning is a 'win at any cost' ethic (though it would never admit to it. Nike is protected by a cloak of authenticity.
Brand authenticity does not mean being "good'. It means being consistently real.
How do you acquire authenticity? First of all the organization must have a real personality based on its motivations and values. Such companies are often founded by inspired and visionary individuals. Every great company has such a birth. Authenticity accumulates as the organization acts naturally.
It's hard to be authentic if your primary motive is to exploit consumers and extract the maximum from them by any means. If the dominant motivation of an organization is to give genuine advantages to its customers - making their lives better in real, not bullshit ways - this motivation will be detected under the layers of marketing-speak we use to separate our true natures from consumers.
Organisations can lose their way and lose touch with their authentic selves. This usually precipitates a brand crisis. Time and time again, when I am called into solve a brand issue like slumping sales, the answer lies not in new tactics are even new strategies. It can be found in reconnecting with the genuine nature of the organization - it's real self.
Once this is done, everything flows naturally. Internal stakeholders are aligned, consumers understand the brand, and performance jumps. Brand management then becomes easy. Once you understand who you are, it's not so hard being you. As Buck Owens sings, "All I gotta do it act naturally."