In 2018, there’s no room for anything other than authenticity
FleishmanHillard’s Jenna Orme considers how 2017 has set the tone for a more authentic year to come.
2017 was the year of upping the ante. Consumers, employees and entire sectors alike have become savvier. We have a heightened awareness of marketing efforts and are increasingly cynical about everything around us.
We already know Amazon is a game changer
As an industry, we need to work smarter and prioritise authenticity. This is what gets noticed – being disingenuous has never been riskier. As we approach 2018, the winners will be those who listen, watch and act in line with consumers’ true values.
I have questions.
– I know there’s NO room, but can authenticity get a +1? (and can it please be ‘The ol’ razzle dazzle’)
– Do we expect any non-massive years in the near future?
“We want real, genuine and honest interactions…We need to…ensure our number one priority is authenticity.”
You literally can’t. At root, everyone’s in it to make a buck, and consumers know it. This motivation is the very antithesis of authenticity. The best that can be done is for companies to provide products and services that actually do what they say on the tin, and be open about their motivations. The best that agencies can do is find those companies and hawk their wares.
But the vast majority of both will continue to attempt to pull the wool and scrape the barrel for as long as they can (read: ‘fake it ’til you make it’, the mantra of our age).
Interestingly, I read an academic book chapter on this very subject just yesterday; and even MORE interestingly it mentions the very agency that employs the author, FleishmanHillard, as an example of the trend of moving towards an integration of and blurring of boundaries between previously siloed comms services.
Reference is: Wittebols, J.H. (2016) Crisis and Contradiction: Promotional Authenticity in the Digital World in Hamilton, J. F., Bodle, R., & Korin, E. (Eds.). (2016). Explorations in Critical Studies of Advertising (Vol. 97). Taylor & Francis.