Brand isn’t defined by how much you charge

Daye Moffitt, strategy director of brand agency, Principals, says building your business’s sense of authenticity is an imperative ingredient for success in today’s omnichannel environment.

Speaking ahead of Inside Retail Academy’s first event of 2016, ‘Managing Marketing in a Multichannel Retail Environment’, Moffitt spoke with Inside Retail – Inside FMCG’s sister publication – about why businesses should take heed of brand authenticity.

In Daye’s upcoming talk at the Inside Retail Academy event she will argue that authenticity is about so much more than just heritage and transparency. Although they’re the most common attributes related to the theme of authenticity, she believes an authentic brand needs to have a really clear purpose and it needs to be built from the inside out.

On the subject of what attracts customers to a brand, Daye believes identity is everything, because you can’t differentiate on price forever. It’s unsustainable to just become the cheapest in your market, value really works is when it’s embedded into the identity of the brand.

Transparency about where your products come from is still very important, according to Daye, as the statistics bear testify. 87% of global consumers factor corporate social responsibility into their purchase decisions, 81% of millenials say they are looking for brands that showcase the way their products are created, and 89% of individuals across 12 global markets said it was important for businesses to act with integrity at all times – surpassing the number who rated innovation (72%).

Daye says that authenticity is not just about social responsibility or staking claims around heritage and/or craftsmanship, however, although it is often misconstrued this way. Authenticity in Daye’s view runs deeper than that and is defined by at least four key principles, which she will be the focus of her talk.

Click here for more information on Inside Retail Academy’s upcoming event.