Authentic brands invite greater connection

Suzanne Mercier - Sunday, April 04, 2010

Recently, trawling the net in search of more substantiation of the power of authenticity, I found the results of a study on the most authentic brands in Australia.  Two companies - Synovate and Principals - have co-operated to produce this report and the findings strongly support the power and value of authenticity.

For those of you who are curious, the top 3 authentic brands were Microsoft, Google and Australia Post.  I'll go into what factors are taken into consideration when ranking the brands on authenticity in another post. 

What I want to talk about today is why authenticity is so important; why it matters. 

Most of us would agree that the market is fairly crowded with consumer brands, business-to-business brands and employer brands.  With all that noise, businesses definitely need to find a way to stand out and, according to marketing thought leaders, the battleground is for the hearts and minds of consumers.  Authenticity has a huge impact on the connection people have with the brand. 

Research results show that authentic brands inspire greater customer loyalty and brand advocacy.  Their share of high value customers in a category is also higher, meaning that these brands are more profitable.

The art of positioning a brand has always been about building meaningful connections for the brand in the mind of the target market.  Commonly, the brands people buy and use say something about them as individuals.  Authenticity is the key to the meaning we seek to experience and express.  When we truly understand what a brand stands for, we can decide if we want to be associated with it; perhaps to do business with that brand.

Isn't it the same with people too?  We respond most positively to people who we sense to be real - authentic - whose word we trust and whose behaviour we see as aligned with what they say.  When we know who an individual truly is, we can decide if we want to be associated with that individual or not.  We can identify what we have in common with that individual and how closely he or she matches our values and beliefs.  It's not personal; it's about connections.

What do you think?  I'd love to hear.
All the very best
Suzanne