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My Blog
Rendering Authenticity Part Four
"People tend to consider offerings that honor some previous place, object, person, event or idea as authentic." Thus starts the section in Authenticity on Reverential Authenticity. The principles: - Pay a personal tribute
- Evoke a time
- Pick a place
- Make it matter
- Be realistic
The only one here that made a real impact on me of the list as it relates to events is 'pick a place. It brings to mind the MashUp Camp that my friend Doug Gold did in the Computer History Museum(as a venue). Thinking about the audience, which was developers, this was the ideal place for an event, and certainly made it authentic. The last of the five principles is Influential Authenticity, which can seem a little 'touchy feely' but comes back to a concept that I read recently in Strategy and Business Magazine( which is by the way a great magazine if you like an aggregate view of the latest business thinking), that people look for significance and meaning in their work, that is, that what they do has influence over the world, other people, etc. What struck me in this section of the book was the section about Jon Jerde's intention in building the Bellagio in Las Vegas which is: "our purpose is to fabricate rich, experiential places that inspire and engage the human spirit". Wouldn't this be an incredible motto for an event: "Our mission for this event is to run an rich experiencial conference which truly engages the participants and makes them happy to work in this industry". If I see this on the masthead of a website or brochure I hope I get a cut.... Enjoy the weekend...
Rendering Authenticity Part Three
Greetings from Boston on a snowy Friday afternoon. The authors of Authenticity now turn their attention to Exceptional Authenticity. Now we are talking since this section talks about the delivery of service, which in business I feel is critical and often neglected. In talking about Ian Schrager's conversion from hotels to luxury living, he mentions that exceptional(ie different than the norm for the better), he classifies his property having "intimacy, authenticity and personalization-the antithesis of the mass market". Looking at the website, it's already sold out so certainly someone agrees.... Schrager continues, "the best formula is no formula". Hmmm...now I have always thought that building events is a mixture of science and art. In my mind, the three levels of event performance are: 1) Stablizing a bad event or disfunctional situation into one where it is a least competitive; 2) Making that event a 'have to attend'(which doesn't mean it's pleasant just that you have to go); and 3) Events as experiencial and possibly transformational(ie you not only have to attend, but WANT to attend). I would classify the first two as science and the third as art, that is the first two can be done with smart experienced people and a formula, but transformational events require art, where you have all the elements of the first two, but the formula is secondary to the creativity and value off going 'off road'. I was speaking with Kerry Smith(CEO of Red 7 Media) about this subject this week. Kerry has the fortune of running The Experiencial Marketing Summit, so you can imagine he has to pull off the magic where the event itself is a case study for the industry. He certainly gets it. In the hotels business, do staff genuinely care for guests? I hope so, for their sake. I am seeing so many references to authenticity in articles and in the supermarket it seems though it's the latest buzzword, maybe backed up by nothing but let's hope not... So Exceptional Authenticity relates to customized products and services that match the customers self-image or how they put it "shape your offerings around unique tastes or unusual preferences of customers". In my case, I like to be served, but I also like the person serving me to be calibrated so they know, as in the case of a waiter at a restuarant, when to interrupt a conversation I might be having, and when to stand back. I do not need to report on the quality of a three course meal for instance. The book relates the motto of Ritz-Carlton Hotels which is "Ladies and Gentlemen Serving Ladies and Gentlemen". If you see yourself as a lady or gentleman then you will feel right at home(if not with a lighter wallet) at a Ritz-Carlton hotel. The next interesting thought is that 'foreign trumps the familiar when rendering authenticity' ie that L'Occitane will always trump Bath and Bodyworks because L'Occitane is French and Bath and Bodyworks is not. I'm not ashamed to say I own products from both(and buy products from both) but am more excited about visiting a pleasantly dim and brown ambiance than a highly lit trip to the circus, Sorry B and BW... Enjoy the weekend.
Rendering Authenticity Part Two
So I continue down the path of understanding authenticity from a commercial perspective(although I feel free to digress into other areas). Things have been fast and furious on my end, accounting from my absence here. I'll make it up to you, I promise. The book Authenticity continues with the idea that many retailers design their stores with natural elements( L'Occitane, and Starbucks as examples) to give the appearance of authenticity. They then go into the idea that things in their natural state contain flaws, look worn or are naked(imagine an all naked tradeshow as an authentic model), like jeans with tears, antiques with 'knots' in the wood and so on. In short, one way of providing 'natural authenticity'(see previous posts) is the following: Stress materiality Leave it raw Reek rusticity Go bare Go green The result should be that your customers 'see the results not the rendering' of nature in your products if you hope to provide natural authenticity. The 'natural' section was interesting, but where event producers could REALLY benefit is in the 'original authenticity' realm, that is to provide events which are original in idea(not 'me-too' events) yet still focuses on the audience need for a certain combination of information, access to products and services and the ability to interact with each other. One idea the authors get into is the idea of publicly posting the date that the company has been producing the product or service(I can see applications for my old company IDG World Expo, who owns Macworld which has been run for over 20 years, for instance). For other event organizers, if being the original networking or food service or jewelry event is a key differentiator, then why not market it, together with a story of how the founders got the event started? At DCI, where I worked for almost 11 years, I could have seen the applications for this. The founders actually started a seminar business from the basement of their house which quickly became conferences and then expos as the content in the events became well known for their quality then attracted sponsors and so on. The company grew from 2 people to 180 in its heyday. An interesting point from the book emerges here which that the very process of growth turns the product into a commodity and away from originality. So as the company accelerates forward it naturally becomes inauthentic, that is less original and more like every other product. Event organizers take note, as I imagine that 'me-toos' can also water down the effect of an original. Enjoy the weekend.
Communicating Authentically
Rendering Authenticity and The Jam
Continuing my long drawn out reading of the book Authenticity, the authors talk about the most yearned for 'authentic experience' is one drawn from their own past, of times gone by. The rank order of things offered to customers are(from highest value to lowest): Transformations Experiences Services Goods Commodities A customer will pay highest for a transformation and lowest for a commodity, since the former is by definition highly customized for the 'buyer' while the latter is not. Because of the influence of institutions such as Wal-Mart and the Internet, there is a tendency to drag all good and services towards the Commodities side of the spectrum(lower price) forcing suppliers of all products to continue to prove the value of said products to preserve their prices. To overlay the idea of authenticity on the products above(and here I quote verbatim from the book): Commodities- Natural authenticity People tend to perceive as authentic that which exists in its natural state in or of the earth, remaining untouched by human hands; not artificial or synthetic; Goods-Original authenticity People tend to perceive as authentic that which posesses originality in design, being the first of its kind, never seen before by human eyes; not a copy of imitation; Services- Exceptional authenticity People tend to perceive as authentic that which is done exceptionally well, executed individually and extraordinarily by someone demonstrating human care; not unfeelingly or disingenuously performed; Experiences-Referential authenticity People tend to perceive as authentic that which refers to some other context, drawing inspiration from human history, and tapping into our shared memories and longings; not derivative of trivial; Transformations-Influencial authenticity People tend to perceive as authentic that which exerts influence on other entities, calling human beings to a higher goal and providing a foretaste of a better way; not inconsequential or without meaning. The authors then state that anything you feel is 'authentic' has one or more of the aspects above. I guess the corollary is that an item which fails one of these criteria fails them all and thus is 'inauthentic'. On another note, I found out that 2/3 of the band The Jam, is playing in New York next week. I'll be going, hoping to have at least an experience, if not a transformation. I'll let you know if it was authentic or not! Enjoy the weekend.
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