I stumbled across this observation from a product marketer named James Christopher:
“When everyone speaks the language of authenticity, no one sounds authentic anymore…
“We’ve created a world where the only truly authentic thing is our collective exhaustion with fake authenticity.”
Against the backdrop of so many brands pushing “authenticity” as a messaging priority, it’s no wonder that consumers are experiencing authenticity fatigue.
In March, new Unilever CEO Fernando Fernandez took this sentiment even further in a Fireside Chat with Barclays with this comment:
“Today, brands are, by default, suspicious. Messages of brands coming from corporations are suspicious messages.”
As CEO of the largest brand builders in the world with over 400 brands, that’s quite a statement!
Fernando went on to announce a major re-think of their marketing strategy, pivoting heavily to influencer marketing. Unilever plans to increase social spend from 30% to 50% of their ad budget and work with 20x more influencers.
It will be interesting to see how this “influencer-first” bet plays out for Unilever. Outsourcing brand trust to third parties carries risk. And “influencer fatigue” is every bit as real as “authenticity fatigue.”
Ultimately brands can’t fix an authenticity gap in ways that lack authenticity.
Here are a few related cartoons I’ve drawn over the years:
