Axiom 1. If you are authentic, then you don’t have to say you’re authentic.

Axiom 2. If you say you’re authentic, then you’d better be authentic.

Axiom 3. It’s easier to be authentic if you don’t say you’re authentic.

Yet I’ve recently watched two companies quite convincingly self-proclaim the authenticity of their offerings:

• Import Brands Alliance defense of “The Authentic Black & Tan: Always made with Bass Pale Ale”; surf:
  www.bass.com (and then head to a local pub for a Black & Tan pour.)
• Denny’s offering of “Real Breakfast 24/7″ and its “Real Breakfast Club”; surf:
  www.dennys.com (and then head to a nearby Denny’s for a late-night/early-morning — or mid-afternoon! — breakfast.)

This leads me to think that it’s a viable option to take the more difficult path: to say you’re authentic in order to force yourself to be authentic. It’s certainly harder to be authentic if you say you’re authentic. But why not render the hard way? In a sense, the whole of one’s identity and full portfolio of one’s statements had better be, must be, better must be rendered more compellingly if you stop after Axiom 2 and get to work.

As long as you’re still fully aware of:

Axiom 4. It’s easier to render offerings authentic, if you acknowledge they’re inauthentic.

That acknowledgment need not be made publicly. Then with regard to:

Axiom 5. You don’t have to say your offerings are inauthentic, if you render them authentic. . . .

You don’t have to say your offerings are inauthentic, if you render them authentic. You can say they’re authentic, but only if you’ve really rendered them authentic.

I must say this approach may only work if, after rigorous self-examination, you deem your offering Real-real — and then vigilantly transcend your inauthenticity (see pages 102-103 of Authenticity). And note: It may be harder to stay
authentic, once you’ve said you’re authentic. Hmm. . . . an Axiom 6?

Then I found out only offering Provençal goods was not a true story. While visiting the site to re-order some shaving cream (the cream is nice, but it’s shaving lotion is to die for), I was very surprised to discover that it was now offering products from Brazil! My immediate thought was “This is not authentic!”. Wouldn’t you know it, though, but L’Occitane pulls it off magnificently - almost as if they had been reading Chapters 7 and 9 of Authenticity where we address such concerns of expanding beyond the essence of the enterprise.

Read what it has to say here on its website:

L’OCCITANE en Provence is always in search of natural and authentic products. From the beginning, we have been guided toward new horizons and by the visionary spirit of our founder Olivier Bussan.

L’OCCITANE continues along this path by extending the story to another continent, South America. We are proud to present the creation of L’OCCITANE do Brasil - a brand that expresses the authenticity of a natural sun care line made exclusively in Brazil. Experience the culture, values and traditions of Brazil - a culture enriched in potent, natural ingredients to protect the skin from the sun.

L’OCCITANE do Brasil’s story begins in the North of Brazil, in the state of Para, where abundant ingredients are harvested, and ends in the South, in the Sao Paolo region, where all our products are processed. Each product has gone through a rigorous certification process by the Brazilian government.

At least for this customer, this is one extension that works, and works authentically.

Page one:
We’re anti-shoe.
We’re anti-boot. We’re anti-sandal.
And we’re definitely anti-flip flop.
In fact, we’re anti anything that doesn’t
defend your back against the corrosive power
of hard, flat surfaces. We’re anti anything that
doesn’t improve your posture. We’re anti anything
that doesn’t protect your knees or tone your muscles just
by standing there. Actually, we’re anti anything that doesn’t
change your life for the better. But something you can wear
on your feet that can do all that? Now that we can get behind.

Page two:
www.theantishoe.com

MBT®
The Anti-shoe.

So I checked out the web-site.

The Anti-shoe of Masai Barefoot Technology (MBT) obviously appeals to the Original Authenticity principle of Anti-up. But if you spend some time on the Anti-shoe website, you’ll note that the MBT offering makes an appeal to all five genres of authenticity via a specific principle that we outline in the book:

Natural Authenticity principle – Be bare: What should be stripped down, left naked, or left bare?
MBT: “walking barefoot on the ground”

Original Authenticity principle — Anti-up: What move could you make against conventional norms?
MBT: “new sole construction”

Exceptional Authenticity principle — Be foreign: What foreignness could be emphasized with uninitiated customers?
MBT: “African Masai tribes”

Referential Authenticity principle – Pick a place: What particular place could inspire your offerings?
MBT: “paddy fields in Korea”

Influential Authenticity principle — Promote a cause: What greater social cause can you passionately promote, helping to effect its ends?
MBT: “healthier, more active, and happier life…[through]…physiologically correct walking”

I particularly like that the Anti-shoe promotes a cause via the offering itself — and not just by donating a percentage of revenue or profits to some foot health charity. The latter will usually ring hollow and fake without real cause-infused value embedded in the former.

Spectacular? Of course. Fan-friendly? Maybe from an architectural standpoint. Surely the new Bronx ballpark will remain hostile to Red Sox fans or any out-of-town fans donning the attire of visiting teams. But more importantly: Will it be real? Or will it be fake?

Is the expense, and the extravagance, of the new stadium true to the recent Yankee history of always buying the best that money can buy? Or is it an untrue-to-self departure from the team’s rich history in “The House that Ruth Built”, the facility in which the Yankees have played since 1923, and where the team has won 39 American League pennants and 23 World Series championships.

And will it really be what the Yankees say it will be, The New Yankee Stadium? Or will it be, instead, The New “Yankee Stadium”?

Real-real, Real-fake, Fake-real, or Fake-fake? You decide.

Some links to visit before you vote:
– The official site: The New Yankee Stadium
– ESPN on The New Yankee Stadium
– New York Post on Hard Rock Cafe at The New Yankee Stadium
– One blogger’s take on the Hard Rock at the new park
And search “fan friendly Yankee Stadium” on YouTube for some interesting results.

brought to mind the mix-and-mashed NBA commercial that launched just this past April:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3vmpM2FGzU

What might these two NBA stars do to render their celebrity status more real?
One suggestion: a mix-and-mash rap song/album/video of the two “being
themselves” together!

For background on the commercial, see USA Today article:

“NBA deliberately sending mixed messages“