On the Colbert Report the other week, Stephen was talking about how “authenticity” is becoming a buzz word amongst politicians. He asked Governor Mike Huckabee, “What does authenticity mean to you?” Huckabee replied, “If you cut into an apple, and it’s an apple all the way to the core, that’s authentic. If you cut into it, and it turns out it’s plastic fruit, there’s no nourishment there.” (Hmm… what if you cut into the apple, and it’s rotten?)
It’s been the word on every journalist’s tongue: How do you live an authentic life, Angelina? Brad? Bono? Paris?
This push for authenticity has been brought on by Iraq and the elections, but it has been bubbling up from youth for awhile. They were using phrases like “keep it real” long before Pam Anderson had her implants removed. Being authentic—reliable, trustworthy, genuine, real—is what youth are all about. Gen Y is much more open than other demographic segments. They’ve grown up lifecasting on Xanga, MySpace, Blogspot, Vimeo….They care less about privacy. For them, the web and mobile is a way to socialize, to communicate, to extend their behaviors – all in the open. “Hey, this is who I am! Deal.” This butts up against the more guarded nature of older generations who tend to enter the social Web 2.0 space without this “whatever” attitude. Their dirty laundry is still folded away; youth are hoisting theirs up the flagpole.
So to reach young people, marketers are trying to appear authentic. My colleague Valerie Cashour pointed out the proliferation of the word in youth-focused advertising, citing the Verizon Beatbox Mixer as a prime example. “We’re definitely taking a very authentic tack,” R/GA Group Account Director Richard Marks said when the product launched. Boost mobile uses the word authentic five times on their “Why Boost Is Different” webpage. They call Boost, “an authentic youth brand with nothing false or forced.” Timberland renamed their Urban category “Authentic Youth.”
But many brands miss the point of this. They are just trying to appear cool. Coke’s faux UGC video campaign fell flat in the eyes of youth because it just looked “fake.” Same with Chevy Tahoe. These are even brands that can be cool. Many can’t even approach that. What marketers and PR people need to do is just be relevant.
This was brought up by Ed Schipel in response to a recent email we sent to some bloggers we like about this site. “I welcome new relevant content. Just please please please be sure it is relevant” (emphasis added). Indeed, this is our goal. And like youth, all of us who write for Next Great Thing also strive to remain authentic to ourselves. Communicating this to others in the professional space is a big challenge, and one that we’ve learned a lot about. Namely, we need to be direct, personal, and transparent. Here are some more fantastic tips we’ve gotten from coworkers and fellow bloggers:
Bloggingmebloggingyou
Navigate Communications
This is Going to be Big
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1 » 2007 » July » 17 » Next Great Thing // Jul 17, 2007 at 1:04 pm
[…] The Hand That Controls the Sock Puppet Could Get Slapped [NYT] “Sock-puppeting” is “the act of creating a fake online identity to praise, defend or create the illusion of support for one’s self, allies, or company.” Several CEOs have recently been caught singing their own praises in the blogosphere; so much for authenticity. […]
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