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An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this issue.
The constant growth of the number of brands, similar product offerings and fast imitation of product innovation have led to high levels of brand parity (BBDO Consulting GmbH, 2009) and ever-increasing brand competition. In response, companies have significantly increased their communication efforts (Kotler and Keller, 2011). However, the cognitive processing capacities of consumers are limited, and the current high levels of marketing communication have been shown to lead to consumer reactance (Holt, 2002).
These problems are exacerbated by the mainstream use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter and consumer blogs. These have become an effective tool for consumers to obtain independent information and to articulate their satisfaction or criticism of a brand toward a broader audience (Baird and Parasnis, 2011). The latest Edelman Trust Barometer finds that social media experienced the most dramatic rise in trust across the globe (Edelman Public Relations, 2013). The demand for truthful, honest and trustworthy brand – customer relationships is rising (Burnett and Hutton, 2007). This trend clashes with decreasing levels of trust in society (Gilmore and Pine, 2007). Driven by recent events such as the financial crises of 2008 and 2011, the ubiquitous European crisis or the nuclear accident in Japan, the public increasingly question the truth and trustworthiness of official information. Furthermore, a study of 12 countries found that a large proportion of people suspect large companies to be disingenuous in an effort to promote a positive brand image (Reader′s Digest, 2010).
Brand authenticity has been seen by some as a potential new pillar to create brand credibility and trust (Beverland, 2005a, 2005b; Pine and Gilmore, 2008; Gilmore and Pine, 2007; Blackshaw, 2008, Eggers et al., 2013): brands like Coca-Cola state to be “the real thing”, Adidas claims to be “once innovative, now classic, always authentic” and Nike promises “authentic athletic performance”. Despite numerous and highly successful applications in the marketplace, the concept of brand authenticity has not been thoroughly examined in academic marketing research so far.
Beverland investigates the general idea of the construct as a driver of brand trust (Beverland, 2005a, 2005b, 2009; Beverland et al., 2008, 2010; Beverland and Farrelly, 2010). However, his work is...