On authenticity...

"Consumers are looking for the real deal. They are looking for substance, not hype, honesty rather than hypocrisy. The days of the corporate comb-over are numbered." Scott Bedbury

"The authentic self is the soul made visible"
Sarah Ban Breathnach

"The most exhausting thing you can do is to be inauthentic"
Anne Morrow Lindbergh

 

In an age of abundant choice, consumers are drawn toward brands with an original story, an engaging identity and a sincere commitment to deliver what they promise. Think of fast-growing brands like Google, IGA, Apple and IKEA and they all have authenticity at their core.

Authenticity helps fuel success in today's over-traded markets as consumers search for greater meaning and sincerity from the brands they choose - fuelled by a desire to connect with things that feel safe, certain and unambiguous.

At its heart, authenticity is about practising what you preach; being totally clear about who you are and what you do best. When a brand's rhetoric gets out of sync with customers' actual experiences, the brand's integrity and future persuasiveness suffers.

The Authentic Brand Index has been developed to provide a common and objective measure of brand authenticity across diverse product and service categories and to help marketers pinpoint strategies that will strengthen the authentic identities of their brands.