Volcom- Building an Authentic Brand

1. Adverting agencies defend the idea that “a brand must appear to be authentic if it wants to succeed”. Is Volcom’s authenticity an appearance or real. How do you describe authenticity in branding.

The Journal of Consumer Psychology published recently discovered by the international team of researchers the Perceived Brand Authenticity Scale (PBA Scale – below), which allows to analyze precisely what is “brand authenticity” and how to measure it. According to the definition, the perceived brand authenticity is: “The extent to which consumers perceive a brand to be faithful toward itself, true to its consumers, motivated by caring and responsibility, and able to support consumers in being true to themselves”. Based on this definition, four key components of brand authenticity may be outlined, such as: continuity (brand being faithful to itself), credibility (true to its consumers), integrity (motivated by caring and responsibility), and symbolism (support consumers in being true to themselves). Researches also propose the scale according to which brand may be evaluated. The scale consist of 15 questions to be asked to the customers in order to understand if brand authenticity matters in a particular case and to what extend it does.

Today, authenticity in branding is key factor in order to succeed on the market. Customers no longer buying a products, but story behind this product. People are willing to pay for a package of the brand’s stories, sometimes ignoring the product itself ( in terms of price-quolity correlation, for example).

Creating and living the brand story means living it from the past (brand’s roots), present (sustaining the brand’s culture), to the future (opening new boarders). Addressing to the past, brand may pay attention to the heritage and culture. This actions are usually supported by specific events or supporting business activities. Living the present is basically the current business operations. The main aim is to balance on the market in order not lose the customers and their loyalty, but to attract more potential consumer and not harm the brand itself. When it comes to the authentic brand and their future it is usually about creating and sustaining community of people, who sharing same values and ideas. It is done not necessary for only long term consumption prospective, but also for brand promotion and recognition (which is not always bad idea, especially if it can help someone at the same time –charity organization example).

However, we would like to take a look on the Volcom brand from a prospective of The Three Imperatives of Authentic Branding, proposed by George Brandt in 2014. Volcom, Inc. is a lifestyle brand that designs, markets, and distributes board sports -oriented products. The company primarily produces clothing, footwear, accessories, and related products for young men and women.

Here it comes to the first imperative, which is “honour