I met many tourists from all over the world in the train to Varanasi recently. I wondered why so many of them are keen to visit Varanasi. There is no single architectural marvel, its not exactly a party town, and from what I remembered of it, it was extremely crowded and dirty! After I reached there I began to understand. I was overwhelmed at first and entranced as the days passed by. I had not been to a place quite like Varanasi. The throbbing, crowded, engulfing faith was in my face everywhere I went. I began to like it. It was real, stripped of all pretensions.
Whether it was the constant sales calls from tiny shops in the 'Bazaar' or 500 people squeezed chest to chest in a 10*10 sq feet room and falling over each other to touch the deity or the local acquaintance casually mentioning about the birthplace of Rani Lakshmi Bai after we passed it in a small bylane - its story of faith, antiquity and history all came alive without the need to exaggerate or dramatise.
And I began thinking of Authenticity and what a crucial anchor to building strong brands it could be. Especially now when we are flooded with images of consumerism and excessive glamourisation in the urban world, something that is stripped down to its essence connects with us. Authenticity could come alive in the simplicity of Google homepage (www.google.com) or in the way Apple lives up to its story of building beautiful technology.
How to build authentic brands? Passionate people with high integrity driving the brand would be able to do it. Authentic people build authentic brands. I saw it in evidence in tiny Chaat (snack) and Lassi (yogurt drink) stalls in Varanasi as I joined the crowds jostling for space to taste their fare. Maybe this is what Seth Godin is alluding to when he says makers of authentic products need to have "a deeper relationship with their craft, something that establishes a connection between themselves and their product."(http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2006/03/tom_chappell_se.html)
There are many ways to assess the authenticity of a brand. Bill Breen summarises it well when he suggests that a sense of place, strong point of view, larger purpose and integrity makes an authentic brand (http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/115/features-who-do-you-love.html?page=0%2C2).
More on Authentic Brands to follow in the next post.
