Authenticity Gap 2021: Keeping brands true to expectation

Why authenticity matters

For companies looking to make what are often hard choices about where to focus their attention or how to shape brand campaigns, understanding authenticity is a vital tool in the communications armoury.

But how to understand where tapping into their authentic voice will have the most impact with customers, partners and stakeholders? How to keep up with shifting expectations of brands?

Knowing the right time to stand up, the right issue to champion and the right words to say is more complex than ever.

FH marries decades of experience navigating these questions with from working with leading brands with insights and data from our proprietary Authenticity Gap to find the right path.

What does the authenticity gap do?

It allows companies to judge how authentic they are, where they fall short and how they compare to their sector peers.

Putting authenticity into action

Genuine insight on the relationship between consumers’ expectations and experiences provides actionable insights that guide these choices.

Whilst product and service excellence and delivering value remain highly important factors for consumers, we have witnessed consumer expectations of the ‘charismatic CEO role model’ being superseded by expectations of positive society outcomes, particularly when it comes to caring for the environment.

This shift is significant and highlights the need for companies to demonstrate real commitment, over time.

Areas of focus

1. Invest in what you want to be known for. Focus on the attributes you want to be known for. Make sure those things matter to your audiences and talk with them about each attribute. Behave as the organisation you want your audiences to know you are.
2. Do what you say. Create a culture and an organisational structure that is united, where brand and reputation are aligned and work as one.
3. Know your audience. Brands need to consider the viewpoints of all audiences not just consumers and then understand and address them accordingly.
4. Work together. Make brand and reputation part of every discipline and everyone’s responsibility not just that of communications or marketing.
5. Measure what matters. Measure against specific business outcomes. Everything must have a clear connection to how it helps to achieve a business goal.

We can help put authenticity into action in any of the areas of focus.

Download our Authenticity Gap Report 2021 here and get in touch for further information on how we can help.

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