What makes a brand authentic? The example of 'The Body Shop'

Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject Business economics - Offline Marketing and Online Marketing, grade: 1, University of Southern Denmark (Marketing & Management), course: Advanced Marketing Communication, language: English, abstract: Because consumers want a brand to be authentic (cf. Brown, Kozinets, & Sherry, 2003, p. 21; Schallehn, 2012, p. 10), brands are under pressure to be in accordance with this need. Especially when acting on a diverse and particularly saturated market, it is important for every company to distinguish itself from the market place. This distinction can be accomplished by providing confidence or trust (cf. Schallehn, 2012, p. VII). 'A relatively new approach, which is aimed at strengthening this brand trust, is the concept of brand-authenticity' (Schallehn, 2012, p. VII). But what exactly makes a brand authentic? This question divides authors. There are several approaches which define multiple ways of what can make a brand authentic. We assume that most of these theories do not contradict and can be used parallel, something we will show with the example of the 1976 founded British cosmetics producer and franchisor THE BODY SHOP. For this we exemplary examine THE BODY SHOP's authenticity by comparing the company's communication activities to the core authenticity theories. In doing so we want to figure out if THE BODY SHOP can be seen as authentic in light of the literature. It is not our intention to prove if the company is subjectively or perceived authentic. For this purpose we firstly clarify how authenticity becomes apparent (see chapter 2). Afterwards we shortly introduce THE BODY SHOP's five core values (see chapter 2.2.), because they are the basis for all the company's communication activities. Then we introduce several theories (see chapter 3) which show different models of what makes a brand authentic. And in addition we apply the appropriate theories to THE BODY SHOP's communication activities concerning the company values (see chapter 3).