Brand authenticity is a phrase that is increasingly used in our industry, as we seek to help brands connect with their target audiences in a meaningful and effective way.
However, it is often used without any real insight or research to back it, so I was impressed at a recent Marketing Association event to hear about Principals’ research into brand authenticity, from a consumer standpoint. Its research covered 56 local brands, in addition to the 160 brands they’ve researched in seven countries since 2006.
According to Wayde Bull, Director of Brand Strategy at Principals, the authenticity of a brand is more important than ever to consumers.
At Mi9 NZ, we always strive to connect our clients with the most relevant audience to meet their campaign objectives, so getting an objective perspective on what makes a brand resonate as ‘authentic’ from a local point of view was very valuable.
Wayde shared Principals’ model for measuring the authentic leadership qualities of brands, developed through qualitative and quantitative research to identify the mental model people use to judge brand authenticity.
They’ve boiled it down to four inter-related concepts, which they call V-factors:
- Visibility – traditional awareness
- Value – the product or service gets the job done
- Vitality – deliver the brand promise through great user experience
- Virtue – a sense of purpose beyond dollars
According to Wayde, a combination of Visibility and Value gives power in the market, placing those organisations at the top of the consideration set and putting them in position to ‘win the job’. However, a combination of Vitality and Virtue gives power in the mind – connecting with passion and purpose.
For me, the results of Principals’ research were surprising, showing Tesla as the brand most New Zealanders rate highly for authenticity, despite its small (but admittedly growing) local presence. The top five was rounded out by several home-grown brands: Ecostore, Icebreaker, Lewis Road Creamery and Whittaker’s, all of which have a noticeably different marketing approach to others in their categories, which has clearly paid off in terms of the connection people feel to the brand.
I found it a valuable reminder of the global influences on local consumers, and the rapid pace of our world – for a relatively young brand like Tesla to take the top spot for New Zealanders when it comes to brand authenticity.
Wayde concluded authentic brands have purpose and personality, reshape category value and care about providing a beautiful customer experience. Further, he says that in order to attain brand authenticity, companies must:
- Aim high
- Be courageous
- Faithful to set direction and authentic self
- Never forget where you came from
I took Wayde’s advice to heart when thinking about Mi9’s own brand and the journey we’re on and wanted to share my learnings from his presentation with our partners and advertisers in case they add value to their own brand-building and marketing efforts.
