Truth and Branding

Branding has a well-deserved bad rep. Our culture is so used to misleading marketing that our first instinct is to disbelieve.

People who make a living in branding have noticed this, of course. More and more, brands are focusing on “authenticity” as a strategy for their messaging. Not necessity telling the truth, but embracing the trappings of earnestness. They’ve gotten good at doing a slick job of not looking slick.

Here’s an idea. What if we actually insist on only saying true things? What if authenticity was an immutable value instead of a packaging technique? Is anything more persuasive than actual honesty?