Flickr.com, CLL, Markies

It is generally accepted that strong leadership has authenticity built in as one of its basic tenets: without being completely clear about what you stand for, you can never hope to build a loyal following. If that is true for our organisations, why would it be different for our brands ?

In 2005, Paul Middlebrook wrote an interesting article on brand essentials:

“Branding consultants, marketing people and CEOs have, what I believe, a sacred role -to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. By being true to themselves and their purpose, companies will be true to their customers and colleagues. Brands that are manufactured ‘wishful thinking ’ or lack an authentic soul just do not work because eventually people perceive them as being fickle and shallow,without substance -a lie.”

Perhaps the current era of financial turmoil and loss of consumer confidence in financial services brands will lead to a new paradigm in marketing, where (the impression of) truth and openness are linked to business success. As consumer rediscover “traditional” values (e.g. saving, frugality, …), they will start looking for service providers that act in line with those values. Much like utilities branding themselves “green” or food producers reorienting themselves towards biologically grown produce to respond to formerly niche markets now going mainstream, some financial services firms now start to benefit from branding themselves as distinctly different from the crowd. For an excellent example in the financial services sphere, check out Umpqua Bank – a bank “founded by neighbourhood folks who wanted to support each other’s financial basic needs and aspirations”.

According to Businessweek’s Sohrab Vossoughi, “Consumers seek meaning and a brand they can trust. They are busy at work on Web 2.0 platforms creating ways to cut through the noise in search of products and services that resonate with integrity and transparency; in a word, authenticity. That quest for authenticity is a call to action for any company intending to be relevant in the 21st century.”

I remember once having a conversation with several senior bankers about the importance of focus in branding: if you want to set yourself apart from the crowd, you need to focus on certain (brand) attributes, necessarily at the expense of others. Like most sales professionals, they were extremely fearful of alienating a part of their client base by focusing “too much” – but as the saying goes, “to choose is to lose”.

Firms that are willing to speak in a truly authentic tone of voice may find themselves having to do the same – after all, authenticity means owning up to your mistakes, but also speaking your mind. In the past, marketers have tried to “push” their messages across – but in the words of David Cooper, “perhaps the most central characteristic of authentic leadership is the relinquishing of the impulse to dominate others.”

As brands become increasingly part of the public domain, with consumers expecting interaction rather than carefully crafted marketing campaigns, authenticity in dialogue may become a key component of successful brand building.

Next week, I will talk about the fifth and final component of (bank) branding in a crisis – keeping your promises.