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Introduction
Authenticity has become an important dimension of brand identity as marketing managers seek to create stronger brands. The allusion to the genuineness of a product, which authenticity in its most immediate sense implies, is nothing new. The genuine or original quality of a product is a fundamental claim for some brands. Look no further than a pair of 501 jeans from Levi Strauss & Co. for information on the company's place of origin - "San Francisco Cal." - and the date from which the product originates - "patented in US May 20 1873" - and the assertion that this is the "original riveted quality clothing".
Brands seek their aura of distinction and pedigree through allusions to time and place. For luxury products, the importance of heritage or pedigree is an almost self-evident imperative. Luxury brands and those brands that seek to establish iconic credentials weave their heritage into their brand fabric. Burberry's Great War trench coat is an example of brand story created through historical association: a profound example of the cultural and social place in which brand legitimacy and provenance is given expression and through which aura is created. Fine wines are defined by their year of production as are their houses by their year of foundation and of course by their terroir , the soil or earth from which they emanate.
Grounding a product, providing it with heritage and pedigree, may be asserted through historically provable facts, such as a patent date, an associated event, or perhaps, as [2] Beverland (2005) notes, through less provable assertions of provenance. According to [12] Forden (2001, p. 24) Gucci's signature styling of girth strap webbing in red and green, horse bits and stirrups were enhanced by Aldo Gucci's "marketing genius" as he "began spinning the myth that the Guccis had been noble saddlemakers to medieval courts - a fitting image for the clientele to which the Guccis were catering".
However, as the Levi example illustrates, while luxury brands in particular emphasise their actual or created heritage, it is not only luxury brand managers that seek to exploit their brand's heritage by locating the brand in time and space. Fine wines do not have a monopoly of place and time. Beer cans or bottles, the litter...