Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want [Hardcover]

James H. Gilmore (Author), B. Joseph Pine II (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1591391458 | ISBN-13: 978-1591391456 | Publication Date: September 24, 2007 | Edition: 1

Contrived. Disingenuous. Phony. Inauthentic. Do your customers use any of these words to describe what you sell or how you sell it? If so, welcome to the club. Inundated by fakes and sophisticated counterfeits, people increasingly see the world in terms of real or fake. They would rather buy something real from someone genuine, rather than something fake from some phony. When deciding to buy, consumers judge an offering s (and a company s) authenticity as much as if not more than price, quality, and availability.

In Authenticity, James H. Gilmore and B. Joseph Pine II argue that, to trounce rivals, companies must grasp, manage, and excel at rendering authenticity. Through examples from a wide array of industries as well as government, non-profit, education, and religious sectors, the authors show how to manage customers perception of authenticity by:

· Recognizing how businesses fake it
· Appealing to the five different genres of authenticity
· Charting how to be true to self and what you say you are
· Crafting and implementing business strategies for rendering authenticity

The first to explore what authenticity really means for businesses and how companies can approach it both thoughtfully and thoroughly, this book is a must-read for any organization seeking to fulfill consumers intensifying demand for the real deal.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This eye-opening but muddled volume tells companies to remain true to self or, at least, to appear genuine, arguing that in a world increasingly filled with deliberately and sensationally staged experiences... consumers choose to buy or not buy based on how real they perceive an offering to be. Everything that forms a company's identity—from its name and practices to its product details—affects consumers' perceptions of its authenticity. Juggling philosophical concepts, in-depth case studies and ad slogans, Gilmore and Pine (The Experience Economy) run into trouble with a chapter called Fake, Fake, It's All Fake, which eviscerates the entire idea of authenticity: Despite claims of 'real' and 'authentic' in product packaging, nothing from businesses is really authentic. Everything is artificial, manmade, fake. The argument is unexpected and perhaps brilliant—yet rather confusing, since most of Authenticity argues that businesses should strive to not only appear authentic but to be so. The book's bullet points, charts and matrices add to the tangle, as the authors' early advice (your business offerings must get real) becomes a demand for furrowed-brow soul-searching. Still, the prose is snappy and conversational, and the book is densely packed with insights and provocations, and may inspire some executives to consider how consumers see their company. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

...people crave genuine and authentic product experiences in a world that is increasingly commercialized and fake. --AdWeek, November 14, 2007

Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so is authenticity. Companies seeking to present an aura of authenticity can come off looking like fakers. And sometimes reality and fake can be so intertwined it's hard to separate them. --The Globe and Mail, January 9, 2008

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Business School Press; 1 edition (September 24, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591391458
• ISBN-13: 978-1591391456
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #183,007 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #66 in Books > Business & Investing > Marketing & Sales > Marketing > Product Management
  • #73 in Books > Business & Investing > Marketing & Sales > Marketing > Direct

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How to manage consumers' perceptions of real or fake offerings, October 26, 2007

By 

Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want (Hardcover)

This is the latest in a series of several books (notably The Experience Economy: Work is Theater and Every Business a Stage and Markets of One: Creating Customer-Unique Value through Mass Customization) in which James H. Gilmore and B. Joseph Pine focus on what Peter Drucker once identified as one of the greatest challenges any business faces: How to get and then keep profitable customers? Their thesis in this latest volume is that marketers need to address the problem of managing "the perceptions of real or fake held by the consumer's of [an] enterprise's output - because people increasingly make purchase decisions based on how real or fake they perceive offerings. These perceptions flow directly from how well any particular offering conforms to a customer's self-image."

In this volume, Gilmore and Pine examine "the authenticity of economic offerings, not the authenticity of individuals in personal relationships, something people also greatly desire but the subject of many other tomes." They cite two exemplars in particular - Disney and Starbucks - because no company "has more affected our collective view of what is real and what is not" than has Disney. As for Starbucks, no other company "more explicitly manages its perception of authenticity, making direct appeals to authenticity in every way" Gilmore and Pine define this new discipline.

Here are some of the specific issues they address with rigor and eloquence:

1. The appeal of "real"
2. The drivers of the new consumer sensibility
3. Three axioms of authenticity
4. Five genres of authenticity
5. Two "time-honored standards" of authenticity
6. Ten elements of authenticity
7. How to be what you say you are
8. How to continue to be "true to self"
9. The nature, extent, and interaction of five key "real/fake polarities"
10. How to sustain the authenticity of what is offered

Decision-makers in any organization (regardless of its size or nature) are provided a comprehensive, cohesive, and cost-effective program by which to address and resolve these and other issues. Of course, even if Gilmore and Pine were in residence, actively involved in the design and implementation of such a program, assistance, it cannot succeed unless the given offering is and remains inherently authentic, That is, it fully meets (if not exceeds) the given consumer's perceptions of the benefits claimed for it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pieces of a thesis, January 28, 2008

By 

R. Kenney (Framingham, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want (Hardcover)

I love the thoughts put forth in this book -- very academic. When the authors apply the thinking, it is pretty strong.

I was looking for a bit more application than theory, but did find this rather though provoking. Not an easy read, though, be prepared.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Authenticity: What it Means to be Real, November 13, 2007

By 

Steve Dragoo - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want (Hardcover)

Approaching this book was for me like waking up on Christmas morning and rushing to the tree in search of the gift you've asked for since last December 26th. It reminded me of an excerpt from the well-known children's story "The Velveteen Rabbit", by Margery Williams: "What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

As a devotee of Pine and Gilmore's "The Experience Economy" - I have enjoyed repeated readings of the book, listened to the book on CD, read dozens of articles and books inspired by this breakthrough work...and, as a result, found myself eagerly awaiting the release of this highly-touted follow up book. My diligence was rewarded with a cogent, thoughtful apologetic for the Pine and Gilmore (or, in this case, the Gilmore and Pine)view of what consumers are looking for--and more importantly--why...

If you have the courage to suspend your preconceived ideas about "How Customers Think", and be willing to set aside your current ideas of how you should be "Managing the Customer Experience"--there is much to draw upon and learn from the carefully and thoroughly researched and documented perspectives in this book.

I heartily encourage bold business thinkers to join the growing ranks of individuals who have found insight and inspiration in this work!