Journal of Product & Brand Management
Brand management and the challenge of authenticity
Michael Beverland
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Michael Beverland, (2005),"Brand management and the challenge of authenticity", Journal of Product & Brand Management,
Vol. 14 Iss 7 pp. 460 - 461
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Beyond products brand management
Brand management and the challenge of
authenticity
Michael Beverland
Downloaded by Nanyang Technological University At 10:42 13 November 2016 (PT)
Department of Management, University of Melbourne, Australia
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the challenges that the widespread desire for authenticity presents for brand
managers.
Design/methodology/approach – Provides a viewpoint essay.
Findings – Authenticity requires brand managers to downplay their overt marketing prowess and instead locate their brands within communities and
sub-cultures. Brands should become members of communities and appeal to more timeless values, while also delivering to members’ needs.
Research limitations/implications – Studies of how brands develop images of authenticity are needed. Case histories drawing on multiple sources
of data of brands are also needed. Research into how consumers define authenticity is required.
Practical implications – Brand managers must open up their brands to members of a community, downplay their overt marketing prowess, and
appeal to the timeless values of that community. Brand managers should decouple and downplay their real business acumen in favour of appealing to
social norms.
Originality/value – Brand management models assume that brand marketers provide brands with meaning. This view is challenged, arguing that
brand meaning is derived from the day-to-day interactions between the brand and subcultures. The article also challenges the view that marketers
should necessarily appear proficient at what they do, instead calling for marketers to downplay their role in order to be more effective.
Keywords Brand management, Brand image
Paper type Viewpoint
Brands have always been commercial agents and brand
managers take pride in their ability to meet the needs of their
target market. However, these two desires are in conflict with the
recent trend towards positioning brands as “authentic,”
emphasising the timeless values desired by consumers while
downplaying apparent commercial motives. The dual problem
for the firm is in creating images of authenticity while dealingwith
the challenge that authenticity presents for brand management.
An initial realisation must be that brand managers are not
the sole creators of brand meaning. In this sense, there also
exists a need for it to have moral legitimacy by pursuing prosocial actions. For example, the early support offered to the
gay community by the Levi’s clothing company ensures that
the brand continues to have relevant meaning to gays. Brands
that tried to exploit this segment when homosexuality became
more generally accepted struggled because they were late to
the party and were viewed as exploiting a community without
paying the necessary dues.
Merely making an assertion that a brand is “authentic”
probably will not be successful because of differing views on
what such claims would mean – for some it could indicate a
real (vs counterfeit) brand, while for others it could mean
something much deeper. Marketers will need to indicate
authenticity by drawing on attributes that can be real, though
efforts also include some claims that are contrived. For
example, Gucci promotional efforts had claimed their
ancestors made saddles for the Medici family, the wealthy
patrons of the arts in medieval Florence, as a means of
providing the brand with a tradition of quality leather work.
While the company has openly admitted that this claim is
false, they still persist with the myth, going so far as to have a
saddle in their Italian offices to suggest just such a link
(Forden, 2001).
Consumers can also assume on their own that objects have
authenticity, based on consumers’ mental perspectives of how
things “ought to look”. For example, tourists often desire the
trappings of authenticity for their travels while they do not
wish to endure the lifestyle hardships often faced by local
inhabitants. The theme park experience is more popular than
spending time in the real conditions that the park represents.
They buy examples of local handicrafts, such as the conical
hats worn to protect the women who mend Vietnamese roads
from the blistering tropical sun, without experiencing the
unpleasant conditions that gave rise to their specialised
design. Updated styles of old brands such as the new VW
Beetle are authentic for some because they work and give
pleasure, rather than being true to the original (Postrel,
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Journal of Product & Brand Management
14/7 (2005) 460– 461
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 1061-0421]
[DOI 10.1108/10610420510633413]
460
Downloaded by Nanyang Technological University At 10:42 13 November 2016 (PT)
Brand management and the challenge of authenticity
Journal of Product & Brand Management
Michael Beverland
Volume 14 · Number 7 · 2005 · 460 –461
2003). Connection with time and place is also important for
consumers because it affirms tradition. In retail, Australian
stores such as The Depot affirm older traditions by drawing
on 1950s American style to convey a sense of authenticity and
nostalgia. At the other end of the spectrum, authenticity
serves consumers as a form of self-expression for brands that
represent a genuine expression of an inner personal truth or
an expression of identity through community membership
such as the ownership of a Harley Davidson motorcycle.
Marketing practice must continually craft together these
disparate sources to create rich brand meanings for target
consumers rather than seeing them as competing sources of
authenticity. The important thing is that consumers perceive
the aspects of authenticity as real, whether those aspects are
really authentic or not. We lack empirical studies of pragmatic
insight of how brands have maintained images of authenticity
over time, yet intuitively there exist obvious potential
applications and explanations of sources that could provide
direction for strategic planning. Managers must spend more
time with their consumers listening to their needs and
interests and how their brand can meet those needs.
So while consumers may identify with certain attributes of
authenticity – links to past, hand-crafted methods, respect for
traditions, or cultural links, all of which downplay commercial
motives – when they select brands, the makeup of these
attributes will depend on the shared histories of a community
of consumers. This means that instead of attempting to play
up the authentic origins of a brand directly, marketing efforts
must take an indirect route, for example by becoming a
member of a community. For example, Dunlop in Australia
sponsor local sporting events rather than high profile sports,
sponsoring newspaper columns and radio spots on local
sports results. This gives Dunlop a significant advantage over
larger international rivals, and has resulted in generations of
Australians having favourable attitudes toward the brand.
The bottom line is that brand managers must appear
distant from commercial considerations to some extent, and
downplay their commercial prowess. Authenticity must
appear non-commercialised, as in the successful example of
surfing consumers who prefer not to view their brands as
brands, but rather as loyal friends and part of a wider
community of beachgoers. Some efforts can seem strained, as
with retail service businesses that apparently try to downplay
their commercial motives with slogans such as “faithfully
serving the local community since 1937”. Brand managers
therefore need to develop behind-the-scenes systems that
make them appear less commercialised. Peterson’s (1997)
examination of country music found that organisers managed
the conflicting pressures of remaining true to perceived views
of authenticity, in this case rustic hillbilly imagery and
spontaneous informal amateurism amongst the players, and
the need to craft a viable commercial product. It turned out
that performances were far more tightly programmed and
scripted than consumers thought.
To balance these pressures, firms should detach formal
structures and day-to-day work activities in order maintain
moral legitimacy, while also remaining profitable; they should
give the outward appearance of conforming to the expected
rules of their communities or subcultures, while behind the
scenes, investing in quality, market knowledge, and customer
informed innovations.
It is a difficult directive, but brand managers must actually
appear a little less pleased with themselves at their
effectiveness in meeting customer needs, engage consumers
in a two-way dialogue about brand meaning, and let their
brands be adopted by communities.
References
Forden, S. (2001), The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of
Murder, Madness, Glamor, and Greed, Perrenial Currents,
New York, NY.
Peterson, R.A. (1997), Creating Country Music: Fabricating
Authenticity, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.
Postrel, V. (2003), The Substance of Style: How the Rise of
Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce, Culture, and
Consciousness, HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY.
Further reading
Demasi, L. (2004), “The new old”, Australian Financial
Review Magazine, September, pp. 64-7.
461
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