Oreo Part 3: Leverage Authenticity

“We have a clearly defined brand mission, vision, and values. Authenticity plays a vital role here… It builds trust and credibility with the consumer and provides the basis for identification with your brand, and it must never be jeopardized.” Erich Stamminger, CEO and President of Adidas Brand

Oreo gets it. They have been able to remain relevant for a century without compromising the authenticity of their hero product.  Oreo is an original.  We say things like that, “Oreo is an original,” but do we ever reflect on what being ‘an original’ really means in terms of brand value?

In Kevin Maney’s outstanding new book, Trade-Off: Why Some Things Catch On and Others Don’t, he describes one of the most desirable and easily overlooked aspects of a product: its aura.  Products have an implied value based on their tactile, visible, and sensory components- as well as their aura.  Unfortunately, most products don’t have aura, so their value is based entirely on the sum of their parts.  Take for example a beautiful painting created in the 18^th century.  Imagine now that this painting has been perfectly reproduced, perhaps even touched-up and improved upon.  If the value of the painting were based strictly on its visual beauty, then the original should not be worth more than the copy.  But there is another, unseen value to the original painting- an indescribable value that only original things have: aura.  People will travel great distances to view an original work of art.  They won’t drive around the block to see a perfect imitation.  Imitation lacks aura.

The brand graveyard is littered with the headstones of companies that had an original product and underestimated the value of remaining authentic.  Again this year, Interbrand named The Coca-Cola Company the world’s best global brand.  In 1985, The Coca-Cola Company changed the recipe of its flagship product.  New Coke was a colossal failure- not because it didn’t taste good.  In blind taste tests most customers preferred the taste of New Coke over the original.  If you asked people to choose between the original painting and the reproduction, they will likely choose the reproduction.  If you label the paintings, they will consistently select the original.  In the same way, when Coca-Cola labeled the taste test cups, people preferred the original.  It had authenticity.  It had aura.

Oreos ooze aura.

Stay tuned for Oreo Part 4: Turn Negatives into Positives

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