The Supply of Inauthenticity

First of all, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my readers and friends. It's been a great year for me, with the continuing to learn about growing a new business from a series of ideas...

Back to my study of the the book, Authenticity. First of all, I am finally becoming conscious of of products and services which say "authentic" this or 'real' that(as in 'real cheese flavor'). From these products, I guess there must be a sense from the person experiencing them that they are not real or authentic and the producer needs to convince them otherwise....So why market them that way? Well doing so seems to sell the products....

In fact a competition seems to be happening between producers between what competing products are more 'real'. It makes me wonder whether I myself am a sucker for this type of advertising, let's see...in the past 24 hours I bought a gas station hot dog and some gas...beyond that? I ate lunch at an an Italian chain restuarant called Bertucci's (http://www.bertuccis.com/), which has audience noise when you access the website(slighly eery when you are working in the home office), and ate dinner at an Indian restaurant with my father (http://www.littleindiawaltham.com/index.html), so unless I was seduced years ago by Bertucci's years ago, I guess I am clear there....

The competition includes the vineyards of Champagne, Chablis and Bourgogne in France actually spending money trying to combat the numerous non-French vineyards pumping out 'inauthentic' champagne, etc....so I guess it's a REAL competition since the actual authentic brands are having to stick up for themsleves. Disgusting.

So what does Gilmore and Pine say about the flood of inauthentic?

1) The existence of fake phenomena pushes the issue of authenticity to the fore;

2) Business enterpises generate new economic output based judged predominently is valuable or invaluable based upon whether consumers find it authentic or inauthentic;

3) The prevalence of so much 'real' and 'fake' language in the packaging and advertising copy touting this economic output proves that companies and their supporting ad agencies discern the emerging sensibility.

Therefore if you claim to be authentic, you are seen to be fake....As I go along out with my friends as they meet women, learning how not to be literal with what they have to offer to a women(ie to speak in subtext) is as much of an education as being authentic in offering product seems to be...

So following my thinking as I turned the page, they offer the following three axioms:

1) If you are authentic, then you don't have to say you are;

2) If you say you are authentic, then you had better be; and

3) It's easier to be authentic if you don't say you are.


Food for thought. Here's to a prosperous 2008 to each of you.


PS I also just found out(from the book) that many 'Close Door' buttons in elevators are actually fakes(ie not functioning)...

Giving and Getting Value

Two storms up here in four days makes me wonder if Global Cooling will be the next fad....I've come to be spoiled by the mild winters and now I think we're going to an old traditional one with ice and snow and sore backs...

I was speaking with a potential future client on friday who asked me whether I was only interested in working on broken events, rather than good events which wanted to get to the next level...of course the answer is no. Unless the need is immediate(ie success is declining), I think it is really only the enlightened folks who see the need to accelerate progress of an already great event.

I have also been deluged by all of the comments about that column(http://www.siso.org), I'm happy that people are reading and getting value from it....

And now I'm going to turn up the heat in the office...

The Demand for Authenticity Part Two

As I continue finish the book Authenticity, I'm reminded of things I know but never said(or wrote) and stuff I didn't know. It's interesting as I digest this through the filter of making profitable events happen. Here's what I came up with:

1) Young, new and hip

Everyone wants to be part of whatever is new young and hip, so for events this means innovative and relevant in the markets served, and 'cool' or important to be part of. Some say it's 'cool' to attend SISO meetings but not other industry meetings for instance.


2) Yes, we're the great pretenders...

To paraphrase columnist Kathleen Parker quoted in the book, the fastest way to lose your customers confidence is to pretend to be something you're not, which can be seen from the perceived phoniness of politicians such as the Clintons, Al Gore, Howard Dean, John Kerry and Mitt Romney(Yes I am conservative, but not a Republican). How this applies to events? Are you really serving your stated markets as you said you are? I am always smiling when I look at the "who should attend" section of a conference brochure which usually includes everyone from CEO to administrative assistant in an effort to funnel as many people to come to an event without a view of which specific value they will get from attending.


3) Transparency

"Can businesses help individuals find authenticity in a world where people no longer esteem our most basic social institutions?" Interesting, just so you know, since people have become jaded with most institutions and their claims to authenticity, it becomes the role of businesses and especially face to face events to transform jaded people into 'raving fans' again.

I was on a call for the BPA Events Advisory Board today, so the request for being transparent in your business dealings with customers certainly rings true, for instance in providing third party audits for your sponsors and exhibitors. Is your event transparent to your customers?

I am looking forward to the 'good stuff' in this book although it certainly already has given me much to ponder.

Running a Small Business Part Two

As things slow down for the season, I am still pondering and exploring how small event companies survive and thrive. An upcoming article for SISO(probably to be published in 3 weeks at http://www.siso.org/) will be my conversation with Russell Flagg of Flagg Management which I had last month.

The most interesting I was reminded of was to not be too front of the market, that the event is supposed to collate the members of the market already formed, not a market maker. I guess a smart events person needs to understand where the market is and where it will be when the event occurs....

The smartest thing I did do was to go Christmas shopping during the Patriots-Steelers game, what a pleasure!

The Demand for Authenticity

I'm going to shock you and write two entries in one week. The reason? I picked up Authenticity and am continuing to read and ponder its contents.

In the second chapter, the authors state that the ability of consumers to produce their own experiences strengthens those experiences, as opposed to experiencing something prodcued by someone else. In the conference space, the closest I can come to this model are the Mash Up Camps run by my friend and former IDG colleague, Doug Gold(http://mashupcamp.com/), where the conference program is chosen at the event.

Back to the book though. I guess I agree if the consumer has some role in producing the experience, they are likely to buy into it more...

The next part of the chapter focuses initially on how people in general hate self-service technology, you know the automated telephone and email systems. Here I have to disagree, especially as one of my projects this year involved creating a program for the highest regarded Customer Self Service Conference for Shared Insights. My own opinion on this revolves around speed of problem resolution, would you want to wait 12 minutes to speak to an agent to track your Fedex package, or type thr tracking number into their website? Where I would agree is that companies need to treat their higher value customers better than lower value companies, while focusing on revenue opportunities of self service in addition to cost savings(which is why many companies look at it). But I digress...

Their focus is to humanize each service experience and make it fun, if not an actual experience(they reference The Geek Squad and Amtrak) nad here I have to pinch myself, create customer EVENTS that make the product or service come alive...can I get an AMEN here?

The next part focuses on people's reality focused around 'product' that they create from behind the computer...huh? YouTube, Facebook and MySpace have become reality and help people co-create experiences, is this true? I hope not. I have a blog, soon two( a new one with Confabb), but this virtual world certainly does make up my 'reality' and I am frightened if I am in the minority....

More on this soon.

Running a Small Business and the Blog You Can't Ignore

As the first snow came down on Sunday night, I ruminate of what I have learned since last year and the establishment of The Event Doctor! What a year it's been! Lots of business, but more learning what running a business is all about. In the my SISO The Event Doctor! column about to be published at http://www.siso.org/, I wrote up my discussion with Lew Shomer, President of Shomex Productions. Bottom line, we small business owners are fire fighters, problem solvers, revenue generators and mostly survivors....

Getting the balance right between writing, doing the business, getting the business and running the business takes some calibration. But I wouldn't change a thing.

Since things are slowing down, I may be able to get back into Authenticity. I keep seeing these Chevrolet billboards saying "The car you can't ignore". Maybe you can't ignore it(hey I'm write about it), but can they get anyone to buy it? How authentic is Chevrolet these days?

Keep reading and succeeding. If you happen to be running a small business, contact me as I am always interested in perspectives on this for my various columns...