Product Description

Contrived. Disingenuous. Phony. Inauthentic. Do your customers use any of these words to describe what you sell or how you sell it? If so, welcome to the club. Inundated by fakes and sophisticated counterfeits, people increasingly see the world in terms of real or fake. They would rather buy something real from someone genuine, rather than something fake from some phony. When deciding to buy, consumers judge an offering s (and a company s) authenticity as much as if not more than price, quality, and availability.

In Authenticity, James H. Gilmore and B. Joseph Pine II argue that, to trounce rivals, companies must grasp, manage, and excel at rendering authenticity. Through examples from a wide array of industries as well as government, non-profit, education, and religious sectors, the authors show how to manage customers perception of authenticity by:

· Recognizing how businesses fake it
· Appealing to the five different genres of authenticity
· Charting how to be true to self and what you say you are
· Crafting and implementing business strategies for rendering authenticity

The first to explore what authenticity really means for businesses and how companies can approach it both thoughtfully and thoroughly, this book is a must-read for any organization seeking to fulfill consumers intensifying demand for the real deal.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15731 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-24
• Released on: 2007-09-24
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

From Publishers Weekly
This eye-opening but muddled volume tells companies to remain true to self or, at least, to appear genuine, arguing that in a world increasingly filled with deliberately and sensationally staged experiences... consumers choose to buy or not buy based on how real they perceive an offering to be. Everything that forms a company's identity—from its name and practices to its product details—affects consumers' perceptions of its authenticity. Juggling philosophical concepts, in-depth case studies and ad slogans, Gilmore and Pine (The Experience Economy) run into trouble with a chapter called Fake, Fake, It's All Fake, which eviscerates the entire idea of authenticity: Despite claims of 'real' and 'authentic' in product packaging, nothing from businesses is really authentic. Everything is artificial, manmade, fake. The argument is unexpected and perhaps brilliant—yet rather confusing, since most of Authenticity argues that businesses should strive to not only appear authentic but to be so. The book's bullet points, charts and matrices add to the tangle, as the authors' early advice (your business offerings must get real) becomes a demand for furrowed-brow soul-searching. Still, the prose is snappy and conversational, and the book is densely packed with insights and provocations, and may inspire some executives to consider how consumers see their company. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
...people crave genuine and authentic product experiences in a world that is increasingly commercialized and fake. --AdWeek, November 14, 2007

Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so is authenticity. Companies seeking to present an aura of authenticity can come off looking like fakers. And sometimes reality and fake can be so intertwined it's hard to separate them. --The Globe and Mail, January 9, 2008

About the Author
James H. Gilmore and B. Joseph Pine II are co-founders of Strategic Horizons LLP and co-authors of the bestseller The Experience Economy.

Customer Reviews

Authenticity
The authors, Gilmore and Pine, present an indubitable assertion that being real in today's business world is now a necessity for continued success. The book, Authenticity, is a well-written followup to their previous work, The Experience Economy, also a must read. For those who care about serving others, it is a very understandable basis by which one can consciously formulate and conduct valuable interaction with others.

enlightening & educational!
I read this book from my perspective as a consumer, rather than perhaps the perspective of the target audience of marketing professionals.

I truly enjoyed this book! The authors are witty and provide real world examples to illustrate their message. I discovered the reasons I find certain offerings attractive and others not so attractive.

The authors discuss the characteristics of "real" and "fake" offerings and provide numerous examples of each. Offerings may be true to the product and/or true to the seller. As I read this book, I reflected upon my experiences as a consumer. On a simple coaster from a local brewpub, I identified several characteristics illustrating that the brewpubs offering is "real" to me. They stress the first by telling us the year they founded. Their logo has an old look with the barley is reminiscent of designs from the 1930s. By using barley, they stress a raw material. They refer to foreign place and evoke a time by referring to old Europe. Their brewery & restaurant offering is nearly a mashup, although they stole the idea from Europe, e.g. Bavarian braü houses. Finally, they use influential authenticity by stressing that their place is one where friends and family gather to relax and celebrate.

brilliant - read it cover to cover straight through.

the ideas in this book will blow your mind.

linking post-modernism to business strategy.

its only flaw was quoting a dave mathews lyric. ugh. other than that, astounding.

now i know the difference between pseudo and quasi.