The Definition of an Authentic Brand

You need to talk to someone you can trust. There are two men standing there, one is wearing a long black robe with a cross around his neck.  The other is wearing a t-shirt with a skull on the front and a pair of ripped jeans.  The question is, whom do you choose?

Got it?

Now, I should also tell you, one of them is wearing clothes he borrowed from someone else.

This exact scenario is how many companies build their brands - they ask someone else if they can borrow their clothes.

Some companies like to copy what has worked for a company they admire - like copying Apple's aesthtic when designing their products.

Worse, many companies go into the market to ask their customers what they want...what they believe. Some clever marketers will take all that wonderful data and mine it for insights which become the basis upon which they will build their brand - how they will show up in the market.

Is the company presenting who they really are or are they telling people what they really believe or stand for? Or is the company simply borrowing what they heard with the hope that people will trust them more if they say those things?

In the case of the clergyman and the ruffian, a quick conversation with both will immediately reveal the fraud - the one who is simply dressing the part verus being who we expected them to be.  An authentic brand is the same. A few interactions with the company quickly reveals if their marketing and branding is simply saying what they think will appeal to us instead of telling us what they really think.  The difference is authenticity.

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Comments

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[jacob]

I don't think there really are authentic brands. Everyone has copied something from someone else and then pretend it was their own idea all along.

[John]

Awesome article on authentic brands. Thanks so much for the information and I hope you keep on posting cuz these things are so helpful to everyone. Take care.

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ok to be honest i would talk to the guy with a t-shirt and the skull, at least he is being honest about himself, the one with the cross will categorized and label you in seconds

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I'm launching a new social good startup and after hearing your talk and reading your book, we took the time to go back and get it right. We clearly didn't start with why. Actually, we did at first, but after committee thinking set in, we lost it. Glad to be back on track.

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how do we facilitate perhaps, a quiet revolution, that begs a change of mindset... toward what you share here. being you in all realms of life. from marketing, to conversation, to simply being...

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A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.

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I very much agreeights. Hope that more could write such a good word!

[Josh Gold]

Simon, great post. I think your post couldn't be more true. Companies need to be authentic in their branding. Too often companies just try to do things because they feel it will attract more customers. As you have been saying, and not only in this post, companies need to to it for the WHY.

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[Antonia Lo Giudice]

Simon, this is the exact reason why I left the corporate world!! Not only in the branding (which was exactly as you describe here), but, in the people...everyone was out to cover their a**, afraid of speaking their minds even when they knew that what upper management was saying made no sense. They just nodded their heads and did what they were told, being good little soldiers meant their jobs were safe, yet, they were miserable, mainly because they were going against what they truly believed in and valued!

Basically, they lost their authenticity, believing that what they have to offer has no value...

[Becca]

The ideas you’ve shared here are fantastic and no doubt so great and it may really improve the variety of individuals visiting your website.

[writer jobs]

if be true i don't believe this guy i think he isn't good person! i don't believe this smile!

[victoria moving]

Hi, I found this blog once, then lost it. Took me forever to come back and find it.

[Sanna Kall]

Hi Simon,

A Sunday with reflections on who "me" is? What is my contribution? My uniqueness? My passion?
I can not copy anyone else. So perfectly said!
Thank you for reminding and put the light on it. Best, Sanna
www.meetsannahellstrom.com

[Maarten Hoekstra]

Great post! Companies like reverse-engineering a fake match of beliefs (why) between a company and (potential) customers because a strategy of optimising options (potential what) is perceived opportunistic, and following that up by optimising choices (actual what) on cost-income ratio alone (not guided by beliefs or values) is perceived as greedy.
However, I believe that often company's operating environments stimulate this way of thinking, eg by asking for shareholder value (what-measurements) or compliance with regulations (forced choices > forced what). It's hard to authentically keep aiming at the original purpose (why) as companies grow bigger.

[tom hidvegi]

great article. i believe most companies just like most humans still mix up conform and confirm. simply because they have no idea WHY they do things so they reach out for others to conform ideas which were not even theirs in the first place and register it wrongly as a confirmation. we should all come to full circle and start our WHY instead of being in a vicious circle of HOW.

tom hidvegi
SHAREWHY facebook group member

[monika hardy]

most people are other people. -Oscar Wilde

how do we facilitate perhaps, a quiet revolution, that begs a change of mindset... toward what you share here. being you in all realms of life. from marketing, to conversation, to simply being...

[chris]

I've been out of uni a few years now, in that time I've a group of people I was previously unfamiliar with, business men.

What has surprised me most about the interesting business men I have met, so few of them have a 'vision' or any sort of direction. Theres alot of 'borrowing' of other peoples 'why' exactly as you describe here.

Is it because they started business simply to make money, rather than to solve a problem or because they had a 'why'?

[Swire]

Too funny. I've been in numerous client meetings where I hear exactly that. Even huge brands who have a fairly strong brand go there.

I'm launching a new social good startup and after hearing your talk and reading your book, we took the time to go back and get it right. We clearly didn't start with why. Actually, we did at first, but after committee thinking set in, we lost it. Glad to be back on track.

Cheers!

Zack Swire

[K]

I love that you write things like this.

It's funny because I turned down a job offer today from a company who was doing exactly what you're talking about here.

There were some other basic principles of their business that ended up being the reason I turned down the job (more on that later), but that was one thing that stuck with me -- that they mirrored back to me what I said.

After a certain point, you start wondering if it's even a conversation...

[DebraGould]

Simon, nice to see you debunk 2 approaches so often promoted by marketing and social media "experts."