Lecture 3 - Authentic Brands

Question 1

BEVERLAND, 2009

Answer 1

“Brand authenticity is a better predictor of purchase intentions than brand love, trust and credibility”

Question 2

PRINCIPALS-SYVATENO, 2008

Answer 2

“[Authentic] brands are more likely to attract a higher share of big spending consumers and gain word-of-mouth support”

Question 3

Definition of an authentic brand

Answer 3

An authentic brand is one that “consumers believe is ‘real’, is driven by quality leadership, has a heritage grounded in a distinct time and place, and is imbued in sincerity”
(BEVERLAND, 2005: 18)

Question 4

How should consumers approach fitting into a subculture?

Answer 4

Talk to members
Discover how they live
Learn how they dress
Learn how they act
Learn how they speak

Question 5

Why do consumers want authentic brands?

Answer 5

• Institutions who define us are in decline (ARNOULD & PRICE, 2000)
• Consumers desire symbolic value
• Consumers use brands to communicate who we are to ourselves and others.

Question 6

What are the 3 processes that drive our desire to search out authentic brands and communicate our authentic sense of self?

Answer 6

ARNOULD & PRICE, 2000.

GLOBALISATION
DETERRITORIALIZATION
HYPER REALITY

Question 7

How is GLOBALISATION driving our desire to search out authentic brands?

Answer 7

• Global forces impinging on local culture.
• Key references for our regional identity become contentious - look to define who we are by what we consume rather than who we aren’t by our place in the world.

Question 8

How is DETERRITORIALIZATION driving our desire to search out authentic brands?

Answer 8

• Aspects of local cultures becoming global

- Thing people use to form their identity now become widely shared, losing their efficacy.

Question 9

How is HYPER REALITY driving our desire to search out authentic brands?

Answer 9

• Barrage of images and lifestyles we struggle to distinguish what is real and what is fake.
• Seek something real to consume.

Question 10

How is consumer cynicism affecting the drive to search out authentic brands?

Answer 10

HOLT 2002
“Consumers aware of how marketing and organisations operate to sell us things”.

OBERMILLER AND SPANGENBUG 1998
“We are aware that organisations latch onto changes in consumer demand in order to make a quick buck”.

BEVERLAND 2009
“Big brands are treated as parasites”.

We look for brands that are able to mask their commercial motivations.

Question 11

Who hypothesised the 6 ways in which authentic brands are built and what are they?

Answer 11

BEVERLAND, 2009

1) Storytelling
2) Appear as artisanal amateurs
3) Sticking to your roots
4) Love the doing
5) Market immersion
6) Being at one in the community

Question 12

How does STORYTELLING build an authentic brand?

Answer 12

“Authentic brands are simply a collection of stories” - BEVERLAND, 2009.

Cultures tell stories and act as a religious text.

“Consumers look to sustain a particular personal narrative too” - GIDDENS, 1991.

Question 13

What are they 9 types of story that brands can tell to build an authentic brand?

Answer 13

1) FOUNDING
2) CONFLICT & STRUGGLE
3) FAMILY (Ferrari, Honda, Krug)
4) TRIUMPH & TRAGEDY (Apple & Dyson)
5) CREATION (Coco Chanel, Steve Jobs)
6) HISTORY (Volkswagen, Quiksilver)
7) COMMUNITY (Patagonia)
8) PLACE (Bordeaux, Tennesse, Detroit)
9) CONSUMERS (football clubs revealing fans’ passion)

Question 14

Describe and name an example of a FOUNDING story?

Answer 14

Explains how it started and its ethos.
Non commercial.

PATAGONIA:

• Wanted to make clothes for myself and friends
• Lead user innovation model.
• Promotes a story without commercial gains being evident, want to give.

Question 15

Describe and name an example of a CONFLICT story?

Answer 15

Tell stories about contestations between others, themselves, authorities, competitors, nature and technology.

VIRGIN & BEN AND JERRY’S.
Stories of inequality are successful as their struggle becomes ours. Archetypal stories siding with the underdog win users over.

Question 16

Describe and name an example of a FAMILY story.

Answer 16

How the organisation creates a sense of stewardship.

HONDA

Question 17

Describe and name an example of a TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY story?

Answer 17

Success stories, struggle for acceptance humanises the brand.

APPLE AND DYSON (learn from failures)

Question 18

Describe and name an example of a CREATION story?

Answer 18

How the brand, product or service emerges. Process of problem solving and love for craft.

COCO CHANEL & STEVE JOBS

Question 19

Describe and name an example of a HISTORY story?

Answer 19

Role of the brands and people behind it. Increases heritage and institutional status.

VANS
Emergence of Californian counter culture. Derived from tennis shes, they became integral to the emergence of surfing and skateboarding, grounded to a distinct point in time.

Question 20

Describe and name an example of a COMMUNITY story.

Answer 20

Role of the brand within a community.

PATAGONIA
Community as an organic grouping without commercial gain - enhances sincerity.
-Counter culture of sustainability movements.
-Defies convention.
-Want to hear other’s stories, Patagonia as a way of life and holder of memories.

Question 21

Describe and name an example of a PLACE story.

Answer 21

Story of the brand’s place in the world. What is has done for those in that region.

KENCO COFFEE FARMERS (BRAZIL)

Question 22

Describe and name an example of a CONSUMER story.

Answer 22

Personalised stories about consumers’ love for your brand, enhances authenticity.

FOOTBALL CLUBS REVEALING FANS AND THEIR PASSION.

Question 23

Why does appearing as an ARTISANAL ARTISAN create an authentic brand?

Answer 23

• Amateurs do things because they love it rather than financial gain.
• Seen to produce better goods as they are viewed as high skilled crafts people who make things by hand.
• Artisans seen as sincere, caring, authentic.

Question 24

What are the 3 methods to make your brand appear artisanal?

Answer 24

1) Emphasise craft tradition
- People taken craft skills into leisure fields.

2) No formal training
- Jack Daniels, 3 men burn charcoal to make whiskey

3) Anti-marketing
- Challenge to buy your good

Question 25

How can STICKING TO YOUR ROOTS create an authentic brand?

Answer 25

Reflecting on your roots whilst allowing for the evolution of the brand’s meaning over time through:

Method:

1) STYLISTIC CONSISTENCY
- Do not outsource
- Create new products with old style features

2) RETAINING TRADITION

3) TELLING MORALISTIC STORIES
- Body Shop told not to use the word ‘activism’ so Anita Rodik named a fragrance activism to show the brand would never lose moral origins.
- Apple vs PC advertising shows Microsoft as spending all money on PR rather than fixing Vista product, Mac suggests it should be spin vs substance and the other way round.

Question 26

How can LOVE THE DOING create authentic brands?

Answer 26

Authentic brands should love the act of innovation as it enhances consumer perceptions of quality commitments and sincerity.

RARE - CEO’s hop between industries in search of more pay.

Method: Show consumers backstage

Question 27

How can MARKET IMMERSION create an authentic brand?

Answer 27

Never hold focus groups - do not listen to the market but produce the market by generating break through innovation.

Method:
Employing your customers
- Tacit knowledge transfer
- Innovation comes from those involved in what they are working with.

Question 28

How can BEING AT ONE IN THE COMMUNITY create an authentic brand?

Answer 28

Authenticity is local even when the brand is global, play up to relations to nation, region, industry.

Roots are central to our identity.

Method:

• Embed yourself with image of national culture
  eg: BMW and Audi as German engineering
• Embed yourself within subculture space by being active and helpful members of the subculture.
  eg: RedBull funding and sponsoring extreme sport.

Question 29

HOLT, 2002

Answer 29

Consumers value authenticity to feel a part of something, the modern day does not facilitate being defined by your social group or job.

Question 30

NAPOLI ET AL., FORTHCOMING

Answer 30

Brands must convey quality leadership, heritage and sincerity to be considered truly authentic.

Question 31

HOLT, 2002 (Culture jamming)

Answer 31

“Ironically poke fun at brands or co-opt the original brand message for the opposite effect than that intended”

Question 32

POSTREL, 2003

Answer 32

“Consumers look for authentic brand partners - that is, brands that reflect inner personal truths”

Question 33

ARNOULD AND PRICE, 2000

Answer 33

3 characteristics of the post modern world resharing how and where we find identity and authenticity

GLOBALISATION “Individuals may struggle to understand their place in the winder global order since faraway forces can change personal circumstances”

DETERRITORIALIZATION As people move they “lose connections to place and associated rituals tat helped form their identity”

HYPER REALITY “Increasing difficulties telling real from fake”

Question 34

BEVERLAND, 2005

Answer 34

Through telling stories “brand owners develop sincerity by connecting their brand to a sense of place, using traditional production techniques, stylistic consistencies, drawing on history and culture, and appearing above commercial considerations”