Søren Askegaard

University of Southern Denmark, Odense

20.3.2012

Authentic Branding

vs.

Branded Authenticity

When will they ever learn?

Holt: Why Do Brands Cause Trouble? Brand manager side

1. Push of branding principles

to their logical extreme

2. …No stories untold

3. ”Authentic” cultural

resources

Untouched by modernity..

Counter culture

Consumer side

1. Brand inflation and increased

literacy

2. … Brand fatigue

3. Authenticity extinction

Breakdown of distinction

between culture and

commerce

Wanted: authenticity

40 middle-class consumers Ethnographically inspired studies of 40 consumers in

Denmark and Sweden representing various social

groups within a middle-class environment

Participant observation, ethnographic interviews, diaries,

elicitation techniques

Daily eating and shopping patterns and principles

Reflections on food quality

Social discourses/subject positions of ”health and eating”

Evaluation of brands and their credibility in terms of

health

Additional survey and experimental data

→ the experience of this ”authenticity hoax”?

Brand (health )credibilities

An informed consumer’s health brands

”The thing is that I would never consider

buying any of these products. If I want something healthy, I rather go directly to the source instead of buying something that has

been through so many processes and then mixed into a sort of product”

Producer-consumer co-creation of value “The food I eat is not branded. I mean, you would never

see a commercial for broccoli would you? , so…well,

then of course it is…I mean, Årstiderne is a label one

could say…it is a brand…apparently”

(Lene, 27, Denmark).

People eat foods, not brands

The co-creation of value

The crafting consumer (Campbell)

.. And the crafting producer

The good, the bad, and the bridging

CRAFTING

PRODUCER

CRAFTING

CONSUMER

YES

NO

YES

ROMANTIC

IDEAL

EMPOWERED

CONSUMER

NO

”GOOD”

CONVENIENCE

THE POWER OF THE

DARK FORCE

The power of the dark force [points to a packet of industrial rye bread from Kornkammeret]

“I really find it wrong that they can add all that sugar. I find it grotesque that it

is impossible to get a pure product, they always add lots of things; they

add additives, colourings, and apparently also sugar. I find it really

grotesque. It is because it is much cheaper than doing it the healthy way”

(Birgit, 41, Denmark).

[asked whether she would consider buying Probio, a yogurt product from

major dairy company Arla]

“It is a thing I would never even consider buying. It is for those who want to

be efficient, I believe it is sold as a quick solution for a healthy life. Like this

‘take this and you will be healthy the rest of your life’. I simply do not

believe in it. It is so processed, and so marketed, it seems as though it has

been through so many processes. This is not made thinking about the

health of the people, but because this huge company Arla have found out

that it gives profit” (Christine 28, Denmark).

The romantic ideal [Written in her photo diary about products she would like to buy but

can’t] Mushrooms I would like to buy unpacked, by weight, fresh.

Unfortunately I don’t trust quality and origin in shops and therefore

I rather pass. My mum picks the mushrooms herself in the forests

of Jämtland and shares the harvest with us = LUXURY! (Karin, 38,

Sweden)

“We really like to drive to the farm shops to see what they have, as well

as to the small dairy companies. They are getting more and more

popular. Then you find a product in their shop, which makes us say

‘this they make well’. And then we gladly drive 20 kilometres

frequently to get it because we have found out that it tastes so

good” (Gudrun 59, Denmark)

”Good” convenience “I have the feeling that products from Thise signals really good quality.

Without having read much about it I believe I once met one from

there at the farmers market. There was this man standing there…I

said ‘hello’ to him and I remember that his hand was so rough that

he looked as though he had just been out to fetch the cow himself.

To me that is what [Thise] signals. For this reason it is also more

expensive than usual” (Steen, 41, Denmark).

“Grønnegården and Hanegal [both companies specialized in organic

products] then you know that the people working there, they really

want this job. It makes it more trustworthy, that there are people

working that really want a good product. But I must admit, I don’t

actually know Grønnegården” (Christine, 28, Denmark).

Empowered consumer “I bake my own bread. I would never buy that kind of bread [industrial bread].

When I make rye bread I buy my flour from Amo, where you just have to

add yeast and water. It might not be particularly healthy, but I make it

myself. I do not know about the rules for percentage of fat, but I still bake

my own bread. I would never buy [industrially produced bread]” (Gudrun,

59, Denmark).

[Photo diary: picture and text of what symbolizes someone she wants to invite

her for dinner at that person’s home] “A jar of ginger cookies. This year the

cookies are baked after my son’s God mother Beata’s old relative’s recipe. I

would love to be invited home to Beata and Joakim now before Christmas,

especially as she cooks such great ginger cookies and makes it so cosy.

Beata shops at Netto, Domus, the market hall, in Denmark, at Ahlgrens in

Lund, an eclectic mix of places. Low price and luxury mixed. She has this

amazing skill to find great combinations in a balanced style. (Madeleine, 41,

Sweden).

The work ethics of brand consumption Homo Faber vs Animal Laborans

The creating human and the working animal (Bergson,

Arendt, Sennett,…)

The ”Why” and the ”How”

The central role of (perceived) craftsmanship

Towards a semiotics of ”authenticity”

A ”leap of faith”

How do we work on transforming nature?

Back to the initial quote

GENERIC

PRODUCE ”BRAND”

”NON-

BRAND”

(CRAFTED

PRODUCT)

NON-GENERIC

PRODUCE

(INDUSTRIAL

PRODUCT)

Contrariety of

production

mode

Complementarity of

organicity Complementarity of

economicity

BRANDED AUTHENTICITY AUTHENTICITY BRANDING

Contrariety of

materiality

Branded authenticity / Authentic branding Homo Faber, WHY: Mission over money vs money over

mission

Animal Laborans, HOW: ”crafting” vs. ”industry”

”Our” consumers provide an ”experienced authenticity”

Authenticity in the object or in the process of its creation?

The authenticity of the generic?

Concluding critical reflections Authenticity : an analytical concept?

the difference between ”one original” and ”an idea about

an original”

Or ”a way of talking about things in the world” (Potter)

The authenticity of beauty and the beauty of

authenticity

An absolute quality or a relative valorization?

Reflexive culture’s consequences

The story of the ”pølsevogn” (Danish hot dog stand)

Coke is was the real thing

Thank you for your attention…