Brand authenticity is the extent to which your brand is consistent, credible, and trustworthy in delivering its promise and value to your customers. It means being honest, transparent, and aligned with your brand purpose and vision. Brand authenticity helps you build a loyal and engaged customer base, differentiate yourself from competitors, and protect your brand reputation.
Having a successful brand relies on transparent values, and clear communication of what you stand for If you are truly authentic in how you have built your brand your values and products should always align with social responsibility.
Social responsibility is the commitment and actions of your brand to contribute to the social and environmental well-being of your stakeholders and society at large. It means being ethical, respectful, and supportive of the causes and issues that matter to your customers, employees, partners, and communities. Social responsibility helps you enhance your brand image, attract and retain talent, foster innovation, and mitigate risks.
Your brand can choose to act in ways that benefit society as a whole and are appealing to their customers. Incorporating an element of social responsibility into your business model and making it a core value is highly beneficial as customers are well versed at spotting inauthentic campaigns and if you are just jumping on a “fad†then it could be detrimental. But brands that live by their core values can resonate deeply with customers and put you above your competition. In the event industry, sustainability is becoming a more pressing issue, as the footprint of event production could be high. This is why it is becoming more and more crucial to define a new path to social responsibility when organizing international event.
Brand authenticity and social responsibility can create tensions or conflicts for your brand, such as how to communicate social initiatives without sounding self-serving or opportunistic, and how to stay true to your brand identity while adapting to changing social norms. Balancing both requires you to be strategic, flexible, and empathetic. You need to understand your brand's strengths and weaknesses, as well as your stakeholder's needs and preferences. Additionally, you should monitor the social and market environment, anticipate any challenges, and respond appropriately.
Balancing brand authenticity and social responsibility is not an easy task, but there are some general guidelines that can help. Firstly, it is essential to define your brand purpose and values clearly and communicate them consistently across all touchpoints. These should reflect your brand's unique personality, voice, and story and be aligned with your stakeholders' interests and concerns. Secondly, it is important to prioritize the social causes and issues that are relevant to your brand. Evaluate the impact and feasibility of your social initiatives and measure their outcomes as well. Thirdly, you need to be transparent and accountable for your brand's social performance and impact by disclosing goals, strategies, results, challenges, shortcomings, etc. Lastly, you should adapt to the changing needs of society by keeping up with the latest social trends, listening to diverse voices, experimenting, learning and improving.
Why do you need to balance them? Ideally, brands will first establish a cause that they care about, one that is incorporated into their core values to show that they care about social responsibility. Once they have proved that they hold firm to their values of creating something outside of profit, something that will benefit the greater good, then their brand authenticity will grow in the public eye.
Many brands balance brand authenticity and social responsibility, such as Patagonia, Dove, and Ben & Jerry's. Patagonia is an outdoor clothing and gear brand that is known for its environmental activism and sustainability, with a brand purpose to "build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis". Dove is a personal care brand that is known for its social mission to "make beauty a source of confidence, not anxiety", challenging the conventional standards and stereotypes of beauty. Ben & Jerry's is an ice cream brand that is known for its social justice and activism, with a brand purpose to "make the best possible ice cream in the best possible way". All three brands support various causes and initiatives, practice what they preach, and operate as certified B Corporations.