A New Understanding of Authenticity in Branding

The Common Definition of Authenticity

The common notion of authenticity is based on the idea that there is something inside that is the true essence of the person or the company. Behaving authentically is expressing this inner core accurately in the outer world. For example, consider a company that advertises itself as being environmentally-friendly. If this position is based on a company’s true "green" culture, then the company is called authentic. If this company has adopted this position without truly being this way, then the company is called inauthentic or sometimes cynical.

Interestingly, you can be inauthentic not only by expressing an inaccurate brand but also for failing to express your true brand. This means that the inner world is pure and the outer world is corrupting. So, to be authentic we must stay true to ourselves (or our brand) in the face of this corruption.

The Current Understanding of Brand Authenticity is Inadequate

Of course, the whole idea depends on the distinction between the inner and the outer, viz. the core, real you/brand and the outside world. This whole discussion is based on this distinction. Yet, this distinction isn’t correct. There is, in fact, no such distinction.

It’s easy to see why. Ask yourself, "Who am I?" or "What is my brand?". If authenticity were possible in this sense, you would be able to immediately and clearly know your brand without using any worldly tools, like expressions, other people, or other companies. For example, if you consider yourself a "nice person", ask yourself where this notion of niceness comes from and what does it mean. Niceness makes sense only in relation to other people. You can’t be nice by yourself. Even seemingly simple ideas get confusing. To be attractive means you’re attractive to someone. To be smart means you solve problems better or faster than other people. Every seemingly inner notion depends on an inner-outer relationship.

The deeply confusing nature of this question directly undermines this simplistic notion of authenticity. Since there is no inner/outer distinction, then there is no basis for this kind of authenticity. There is no inner self or company core to actualize in the outside world. So, this common notion of authenticity is inadequate.

A More Intelligent Notion of Authenticity

The traditional notion of authenticity fails because it assumes that there is a core self or brand that needs to be effectively expressed in the world.

Our approach is more sophisticated. Authenticity still depends on a notion of the true self/brand. But, this true self is not an isolated core in the world. Rather, it is an interaction between the brand and the world. The true brand arises only in encountering the outside world. In this way, the brand is not a hard core. It’s a dynamic, changing, and permeable set of meanings&emdash;meanings that are always already integrated into the meaning-systems of the world around it.

For example, as we mentioned above, every adjective you can use about you or your company is al-ready tied to the outside world. A "green" company is just a company that relates to the world in a way that respects the environment. You can’t be “green” alone in your cubicle. In other words, authentic is as authentic does.

Authentic Branding

So, authenticity is not the expression of some fixed core. Authenticity is a dynamic, interactive process. It’s the meaning that emerges as you act in your world and participate in the web of meanings that surround all of us. Authentic branding, done correctly, understands this. Authentic branding is not a strategic exercise. It’s the process of helping a company understand what it means to be itself&emdash;and to know what being itself means to others.