It is easy to see why people are approaching 2018 with a certain cynicism. In an age of "fake news" and "alternative facts", authenticity is something consumers are increasingly basing their deciscion making on.

Cohn & Wolfe rank top global brands for authenticity every year. Consistently buyers rank authenticity above characteristics like innovation and utility when making deciscions.

Cohn & Wolfe break authenticity down to; Reliability, Respect and Realness with the last of these being the most difficult to achieve. 

Consumers want to buy from organisations they trust, they need to know the people, culture and values behind the product.

Realness means communicating to people rather than personas, it means conversations rather than corporate messages and it means living and breathing by meaningful values.