Transparency, truth and being real… all the rage now and as it should be. This is not a new position with regard to sales, marketing, advertising and PR, it’s just people are taking it a lot more seriously now, when choosing who they want to align themselves with and who they want to invest in.
The web, online and social media platforms have forced this. There are so many predatory, unscrupulous and dishonest people preying on people that it’s really up to me to be authentic and up to all of us not take people at their face value immediately. We all need to spend time building the “like, know and trust” factor.
I have always been fascinated with the phrase “perception is reality” because it’s so true. What people perceive is what they think, and it is based on what they see, hear and think. So, our communication of and presenting of ourselves authentically in person and online is the best practice from the beginning.
There is no clear origin of this phrase that I could find, other than it coming from the Gestalt School of psychology and thought from Germany in the 1920′s.
Wikipedia: Gestalt psychology or gestaltism (German: Gestalt – “essence or shape of an entity’s complete form”) of the Berlin School is a theory of mind and brain positing; the operational principle of Gestalt is that the brain is holistic, parallel, and analog, with self-organizing tendencies. The Gestalt effect is the form-generating capability of our senses, particularly with respect to the visual recognition of figures and whole forms instead of just a collection of simple lines and curves.
How do we build that brand and branding authenticity?
Brand Authenticity is about that you are who say you say you are consistently over time.
Branding Consistency is how you demonstrate and are a power of example of who you are and what you say you’re going to do in action.
Brand Leadership is your commitment to tangible activities to make your community and the world you live and work in a better place.
Branding Legacy is how you demonstrate over time the core value of your brand and tell this through your brand story.
Some great examples I can think of that accomplished this brand and branding legacy are:
Comedic genius Bob Hope who entertained our men and women in the military for years with his USO tours.
Comedic genius Jerry Lewis and his Jerry’s kids.
Oprah’s 25 years of service bringing difficult and previously unspoken about issues and challenges to the public through her Oprah TV Show platform and her school for girls in Africa.
Cocoa-Cola’s partnership with the Olympics and Special Olympics.
If perception is reality, then why not do it right from the beginning and not waste time on a short-lived, false, wrong motive campaign that will not only fail but brand you forever as a phony?
In the current world that would be a tough and possibly irreparable image to repair.
