Behind the Book
In the course of writing Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want, we were influenced and enlightened by a number of people, books and web sites. To dive deeper into the idea of authenticity, we’d like to share some of these resources with you.
We read these books:
Just some of the many books that help us form our ideas around Authenticity.
We visited these web sites:
A sampling of sites that are examplars, resources – or both – for Authenticity.
We met these people:
Special thanks to these folks, of the very many, who have inspired, taught, shared, and believed in us.
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Authenticity: Brands, Fakes, Spin and the Lust for Real Life
Perhaps the first business book to look straight on at the spectrum of authenticity in business.
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Inauthentic Culture and its Philosophical Critics
Great work on how inauthenticity permeates today’s culture and economic offerings, particularly through marketing.
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The Tourist: A New Theory of the Leisure Class
A wide-ranging book on ways tourists experience the world, with great insights on authenticity, culture, and theatre.
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The Theming of America: Dreams, Visions, and Commercial Space
Definitive work on what theming means for American culture.
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The Economy of Icons: How Business Manufactures Meaning
Shows how companies provide value through meaning-making, particularly in tourist destinations.
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For an Architecture of Reality
Definitive book on how architecture, and according to the author architecture alone, can provide realness.
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The Dream Society: How the Coming Shift from Information to Imagination Will Transform Your Business
Describing the Experience Economy in nearly every way except identifying experiences as distinct economic offerings, a tour de force on the power of story.
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1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
Describes how the pristine wilderness we imagine Columbus encountering in the Americas was in fact the artifact of the Indians that came before.
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Venice Observed
Priceless travelogue of that timeless city.
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Nature’s Keepers
Describes how all of what we think of as nature is in fact the artifact of man.
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The Invention of Tradition
Describes how many of the traditions we think of as ancient and time-honored are in fact of rather recent invention.
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Authentic Leadership: Rediscovering the Secrets to Creating Lasting Value
One of the better books on authentic leadership.
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Sincerity and Authenticity
The single-best source on philosophical thought on authenticity, taking as its starting point those same three lines of Hamlet that lie at the heart of the Real-Fake Matrix.
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In Search of Authenticity: From Kierkegaard to Camus
The best general survey of how philosophers have treated the subject over the past century or two.
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Being and Time
Important, but nigh on impenetrable, tome on personal authenticity.
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Selfhood and Authenticity
Difficult to read but an examination of personal authenticity that pays off for the diligent reader ��� with particular applications to Here-and-Now Space.
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What’s So Great About America
From a conservative political viewpoint is worth the price of the book.
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Creating Country Music: Fabricating Authenticity
Shows how the perception of what is and is not authentic in country music has shifted remarkably over time ��� and how artists have remade themselves and their music to shift right along with it.
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The Ethics of Authenticity
Second only to Trilling for its general examination of the subject.
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The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce, Culture, and Consciousness
The substance of this book is captured in Postrel’s wonderful phrase, “I like that. I’m like that.”
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The Unreal America: Architecture and Illusion
The book that inspired the Real-Fake Matrix for its description of Disneyland as a fake fake and Universal CityWalk as a real fake.
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Faking It
Powerful and very personal examination of how we cannot help but go through life faking it.
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Variations on a Theme Park: The New American City and the End of Public Space
Examination of the many ways that Disneyland has influenced public space in America.
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Marketing: the Retro Revolution
Definitive work on applying Retro to marketing.
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The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real
Anthology of philosophical thought on the movie wonderfully derived from philosophical thought.
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Pursuing Happiness: American Consumers in the Twentieth Century
Makes the point that all goods are purchased for the experiences they enable.
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Personal Identity in Theological Perspective
Michael Horton’s contribution, “Image and Office,” references “[Paul] Ricouer’s distinction between idem-identity and ipse-identity, the former referring to a permanent and immutable self-sameness (soi-même), while the latter… is a temporalized self of a given narrative” (p. 197).
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Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time
See how the Starbucks founder has infused authenticity into the company from its very origin.
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Computers as Theatre
Shows that working with computers should be treated as a medium, not an interface, with definitive discussion of Freytag diagrams.
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Future Perfect
A classic work that should be read and studied by everyone in business.
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The Experience Economy
The book that started it all. A foundational read for anyone seeking to understand the emerging consumer sensibility and business imperative of rendering Authenticity.
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nikeid.com
Just one website where you can customize offerings to conform to your own self-image (one definition of Authenticity): others standouts include miadidas.com, landsend.com, mini.com, scion.com, cafepress.com, zazzle.com
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jonessoda.com
Great example of how a company can tap into the increasing desire for social interaction that comes in reaction to postmodernism.
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gethuman.com
Database of (and movement for) how to reach a real human being at hundreds of different companies.
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threadless.com
A couple of other companies that allow customers to participate in making your offerings theirs through increased control and customization.
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realliving.com
Look for the tagline, “Buying or selling your home? It’s got to be real.”
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prpsgoods.com
The jeans manufacturer where “Authenticity is our first priority.”
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programmableweb.com
A mashup of mashups.
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slowfood.com
The movement that seeks to protect “the pleasures of the table from the homogenization of modern fast food and life.”
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dotherightthing.com
It provides “the place where you can learn and share information about how companies impact the world.”
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LEGOFactory.com
Great online place for exploring the possibilities of Mass Customization and its relationship to exceptional authenticity.
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target.com/salvationarmy
See how the retailer describes its support of this charity.
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baileys.com
Contrast with kerrygold.com and see which renders its brand more authentic to you.
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loccitane.com
Check out how L’Occitane imparts its philosophy and discover one of its True Stories here.
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campaignforrealbeauty.com
Unilever Dove’s site that aims for all women to feel good about themselves and reject all those advertising campaigns built around sex and beauty.
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rei.com
To see how well the company integrates its website in with its physical places, visit this site within one of its stores.
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vans.com
Great example of using the web as a pre-show and post-show for the company’s live experiences.
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disney.go.com
Examine how the world’s premier experience stager markets all its offerings here, but search specifically for “customized maps” and “Photopass” for how it uses the web as pre-show and post-show, respectively.
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wgsn.com
The site for B2B company Worth Global Style Network, it’s become the place to be online in the fashion industry.
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mamamedia.com
Gaming site as flagship experience.
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adobe.com
The maker of Flash eats it’s own cookin’ at its flagship site.
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facconable.com
The fashion designer provides a great way of experiencing its heritage online.
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youtube.com
Just one of the social networking sites we visit to see what’s buzzing. Others include myspace.com, facebook.com, hi5.com, maplestory.com, qq.com, del.icio.us, digg.com, reddit.com.
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americasarmy.com
And the most successful major platforms for recruiting.
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virtual-toad.com
An online Repro experience.
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yourcompanyname.com
Don’t actually visit this site; visit your own company’s flagship site and see how well it represents your company and its offerings.
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findsubstance.com
The people that concepted and created AuthenticityBook.com. A real-real experience to work with them… we believe in Substance!
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Gary Adamson
Chief Experience Officer of Starizon, which helps companies declare their motivations through experience design.
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Steve Altmiller
President and CEO of San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington, New Mexico, who guided his organization to affix its future.
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Ralph Ardill
Founder and CEO of Brand Experience Consultancy, who designed the Guinness Storehouse among other iconic spaces.
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Ellen Brothers
President of American Girl Place, an extraordinary exemplar of the Experience Economy. And a special thank you to Amy Nedoss and Anne Maddox in the Chicago and NY locations, respectively.
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Michael Benedikt
Professor at the University of Texas and author of the seminal For an Architecture of Reality.
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Brian Boswijk
Proprietor of Underground restaurant Eleven in Amsterdam.
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John Christensen
Founder of ChartHouse Learning Corporation and maker of the all-time bestselling Fish! video about Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle.
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Chip Conley
Chairman and CEO of Joie de Vivre Hotels, the best hotel themer in the world.
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Stan Davis
Author of Future Perfect, the book that started all of our ideas in motion.
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Michael Dell
Chairman and CEO of the eponymous Dell, Inc., and world’s premier mass customizer.
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John DiJulius
President of John Robert’s Studio Collection and author of Secret Service, providing methods for Personal service.
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Dinesh D’Souza
Author of What’s So Great About America and discoverer of “the Starbucks Guy.”
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Michael Eisner
Longtime CEO of the Walt Disney Company who brought it back to greatness.
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Duane Francis
CEO of Mid-Columbia Medical Center in the Dalles, which provides one of the premier placemaking experiences in healthcare.
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Mark Hansen
Guru of Mass Customization (that’s our title, not his) at LEGO System A/S, who’s been our source for all of the company’s practices.
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Robert Ivany
President of the University of St. Thomas in Houston, and former President of the Army War College, who promotes the Army’s technique of declared motivation, “commander’s intent.”
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Rolf Jensen
Author of The Dream Society, which describes how stories are the basis of so much in the today’s economy, and who introduced the world to the significance of that three-word offering, free-range chickens.
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Robert Johansen
Former President and CEO of the Institute for the Future and author of Get There Early, who taught us about the use of technology and the importance of understanding the future.
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Jannemarie de Jong
Senior Researcher at Alterra who helped us understand how manufactured the Netherlands really is.
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Jeff Kallay
The Experience Evangelist practicing at TargetX, who helps universities design authentic recruiting experiences.
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Jan Kees de Nijs
General Manager of P.G.C. Hajenius in Amsterdam, a cigar store that exemplifies natural authenticity.
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Margaret King & Jamie O’Boyle
Founders of Cultural Studies & Analysis who show how the search for authenticity encompasses all people at some point, not just Baby Boomers.
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Daniel Lamarre
President and COO New Ventures, Cirque du Soleil, who showed us how the operation works at headquarters.
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Carol Letourneau
Proprietor of naturally authentic Special Effects hair salon in White Bear Lake, Minnesota.
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Wright Massey
Founder of Brand Architecture who created Starbucks’ modular architecture of design elements to make each one different.
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Christian Mikunda
Author of Brand Lands, Hot Spots, and Cool Places, which describes many flagship and other marketing experiences.
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Dave Norton
Founder of Stone Mantel, who helps companies create meaning in their brand experiences.
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Jay Ogilvy
Of the Global Business Network, one of the first to write on the implications of existential philosophy on business.
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Waynn Pearson
Retired Chief Librarian who created the Cerritos Public Library, a public flagship within its town.
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Richard Peterson
Retired Vanderbilt professor and author of Creating Country Music: Fabricating Authenticity, which shows how what is deemed authentic in this genre changes over time, along with the artists who wish to be deemed authentic.
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Virginia Postrel
Former Reason editor and author of The Substance of Style, which gave us the wonderful formulation for personally determined authenticity, “I like that. I’m like that.”
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Sonia Rhodes
Vice President of Customer Strategy for Sharp HealthCare, who helped fire-start the exceptional practice of every patient receiving a personal thank-you note.
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Bob Rogers
Founder of BRC Imagination Arts which created the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum; see Thomas Schwartz.
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Thomas Schwartz
Illinois State Historian at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum, who gave us a tour – including of the “vault” – of the place that showed how the height of experience design could come off as authentic. (Unfortunately, the discussion of this place was cut from the book – but seek it out in the May 2007 issue of Museum News.)
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Michael Schrage
MIT Media Fellow who provides insights into business and technology too many to cite.
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Mark Scott
The former CEO of Mid-Columbia Medical Center who instituted its theme of “Personalize. Humanize. Demystify.”
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Bill Seidel
Sr. Director, NA Marketing at Case Corporation, who told us about the Case Tomahawk Experience Center.
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Marty Sklar
Former Vice Chairman of Walt Disney Imagineering who entertained with stories of Walt himself and the creation of Disneyland and Walt Disney World.
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Robert Stephens
Founder of the cool-geek Geek Squad, and progenitor of a “giant no list.”
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Donald Sull
Professor at the London Business School and author of Revival of the Fittest, which shows companies ways to make commitments to execute well.
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Don Taranto
President, and Ed Goodman, head of marketing, created the TST Engineerium, showing that even engineering firms could create wonderful flagship experiences.
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Rob Wallace
Managing Partner of Wallace Church Associates, which designs packaging, such as for Heinz, that comes off as authentic.
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David Wolfe
Author of Ageless Marketing, which shows how authenticity applies to older generations as well.
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Rick Worner
Creator of the STAR bonds financing mechanism for Oppenheimer & Co., which is helping turn Kansas City, Kansas, into an experience hub.
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Xia Jia
One of the two proprietors of Jin Li Street in Chengdu, China, a fantastic place that exudes authenticity across all five genres.