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Protecting and Embracing Your Brand’s Authenticity in the Digital Age
- September 9, 2024
Authenticity connects. In an age where the media is flooded with filtered posts and crafted realities, encountering a brand who tells it like it is refreshing. Honestly will always find its way to an audience. So, now that you’re surrounded with a multitude of marketing options, infinite possibilities in creative execution, as well as pressure to build your brand’s image, how do you maintain the authenticity of your brand?
Know Who You Are
Marketing your product will always begin with a good product or service, and then, defining its identity. You may use the graph below as your guide. Now, when you’ve defined your identity, always, always stay true to it.
Remember What You Are For
Authenticity is a commitment and it’s not an easy feat. There will be times when your brand will encounter an issue or crisis whether to own up to it or embellish it. Likewise, you’ll be also faced with the pressure to drift away from your identity because of the pressure of competition and modernization.
This is what happened to LEGO in the early days when their sales went down. Luckily, they were able to bounce back from this and adapt to the modern world while still maintaining who they were as a brand. To gain back its market share, Lego had to remember what the brand stood for— fostering creativity and learning through play. Following this realization, they veered away from their excessive diversification and made efforts to simplify their brand identity.
The strategy: the company focused on embracing the iconic interlocking bricks that made them famous, focusing on castles, cities, and space.
Embrace Imperfections
The Volkswagen is one of the most iconic vehicles to grace the road because of its unique and fun form factor. It is the cool ride that turns heads and keeps people looking. When it came to America in the 50s though, the company had to deal with the fact that Volkswagen was not the usual car that Americans loved. In fact, if you compare it to the usual Ford and Chevrolet, its looks are practically the opposite. Instead of masking its “flaws”, Volkswagen crafted an entire campaign highlighting it and it became a massive success.
Walk The Talk
Beyond the campaigns and the marketing efforts — is the actual brand. What does it stand for? What is its voice? How do you show this? Through actions.
Take for example Cebu’s Pacific’s Every Juan Flies blue ocean campaign that made them a legitimate competitor in the local airline industry. The copy crafted was extremely catchy and easily relatable. Now, for a second imagine if Cebu Pacific suddenly increased its prices during the campaign. Yup, it just wouldn’t work.
So, yes authenticity is hard work, but when it comes from a good place, your audience will feel it in your actions, words, and of course — your product.
This wraps up our chat for the start of the week! See you again on Monday for another engaging discussion.
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