Authenticity Book

Stay True to All Your Roots

Joe Pine — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 00:05:54 +0000

I recently had the opportunity to do some extended work with a European company and my discussion of the need to be true to its roots hit a nerve. The executives fully recognized how crucial that was — in fact, honoring the heritage of the company was something constantly on their minds and at the table when making strategic decisions.

One issue, however, was hard for them to get their arms around: the multinational nature of the company. While it had clear and strong roots in the small town in which it was founded (and in which I was presenting), it now operated around the world, with a global retail presence and withs its goods in homes virtually everywhere, plus significant operational units in numerous countries (which I could tell by the accents in the room). How could they be true to each and every place?

Then an analogy hit me: the Quaking Aspen. This tree, quite widespread in the northern US and Canada, is known for two things: how its leaves tremble or quake (hence the name) in the slightest of breezes, and that it forms “clonal colonies“. This means that one ancestral tree sends out roots into the ground that shoot up elsewhere into what looks like a new tree, but is really part of the same colony. This process can repeat itself quite extensively; indeed, one such colony, dubbed Pando, spreads itself across 107 acres in Utah, and at over 6600 tons is the largest living organism in the world.

So I encouraged the executives of this company to have this image in mind when it thought about staying true to its roots — all of its roots, wherever they happen to pop up in the world, with the ancestral home still at the core. Then they can collectively grow to be the largest living organism in their industry.

“We want to go back to nature, to find authenticity” | flickr: inju’s photostream

scott.lash — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:14:26 +0000

We find ourselves attracted to this (and other) pictures in the flickr photostream of one inju, who enjoys pointing out the inauthenticity all around us.

“The ‘Authentic’ City Wrecking Ball” | The Wall Street Journal

scott.lash — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:38:56 +0000

A clash of views about what makes for an “authentic” Harlem (or any city for that matter) points to the difficulties in imposing one’s own view of authenticity upon another. Perhaps a brief reading of our “Brief Defense of Authentic Capitalism” is in order (and the whole of Authenticity’s Chapter 5, for that matter.

“Wearing the brand” | Authentic Organizations

scott.lash — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:18:08 +0000

CV Harquail examines the masculinity of men’s figure skating through the lens of an athleticism/artist ry polarity. It’s not a pretty sight.

A Conversation with Neil Crofts

Joe Pine — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:55:02 +0000

I recently had the opportunity to have a conversation with Neil Crofts who has written several books on authenticity and business. Jim and I cite him, in fact, on p. 123 of Authenticity in our section on “Sense of Purpose”. There we quote his book Authentic Business: How to Create and Run Your Perfect Business thusly:

“Neil Crofts, founder of Authentic Business in the United Kingdom [now Authenticus based in Mallorca], believes that “purpose beyond profit” is fundamental to making a business authentic; it “shines through in every aspect of what it does . . . In this way, everyone coming into contact with the business will experience the integrity of its purpose — the absolute congruence between what it says it stands for, what it thinks, what it believes, and what it actually does.”

Neil recorded our Skype conversation and placed it on his website, so I do encourage you to give a listen to this The Authentic Business Podcast. Once I stopped treating it as an interview and engaged in a real conversation, it became a pretty good discussion!

“The Most Authentic Music Charts” | Science of the Time

scott.lash — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:41:19 +0000

Cool-hunting site Science of the Time discusses music websites that highlight not what sells, but on “honest Authenticity” based on real discussions.

“Choosing a Marketing Plan: Traditional or Social Media?” | The New York Times

scott.lash — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:43:24 +0000

Ellis Verdi echoes our Axioms of Authenticity by saying “If you say it’s real, people won’t believe you, but the Internet lets you show it.” His ad agency, DeVito/Verde, designed a Placemaking Portfolio for its client, EPC Cigar Company, centered on the Internet because social media are “a natural place to go when you want to show something real.”

“J.Cole plays Cola: Rapper discusses his authentic style” | Dailygamecock.com

scott.lash — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:59:35 +0000

He’s not our own J. Gilmore moonlighting as a music critic: “Mix” editor Jimmy Gilmore talks with rapper who uses his real name (J.Cole) because he’s a “real person” – and plugs “mash-up sensation” Girl Talk.

“Some marketers still failing the ‘appeal of real’ test” | Packaging World

scott.lash — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:45:28 +0000

Editor Jim George points out that “Brands that are authentic, in both product and packaging, have the best chance of retaining loyal consumers.” Here, here.

Not All “Advertising” is Advertising

Jim Gilmore — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 22:57:24 +0000

In Joe’s recent Journal post here, he writes: “Not all advertising is phoniness-generating.”

This triggered thoughts down a different path. It struck me that perhaps not everything printed in a newspaper for a fee (an “advertisement”) is really an advertisement. When one runs a feature to commemorate an anniversary, like Kellogg has done, there is inherently less phoniness generated. Perhaps none at all. Similarly, when one runs an announcement for an upcoming event, there is inherently less likelihood of phoniness creeping in. Again, perhaps none does.

When it comes to using print — or any other — media to help generate demand for one’s offering, the polarity of [anniversary <—> announcement] may define the boundaries within which phoniness is born. When one creates and places any advertisement that promotes something other than pure anniversary or pure announcement, phoniness is born. It might be cleverly masked (fake-real) or adeptly acknowledged (real-fake), but a certain inauthenticity still underlies the act.

Kellogg has indeed done a marvelous job of rendering these ads authentic. By re-printing entire old newspaper pages, and not just re-running old Kellogg ads, the company creates a more real feel. By tacking on the tagline, “For more than 100 years Kellogg’s Corn Flakes has been a great way to start the day,” and by yellowing these reprinted pages, Kellogg is acknowledging that these ads are not like its normal ads, past or present.

The real-real alternative would be to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Corn Flakes as pure history. This would be the case if Kellogg were to re-run old newspaper pages in which its ads had appeared 100 years ago (as part of the page), sans the new tagline and sans the faux yellowing.