With audiences increasingly sceptical of polished corporate messaging, brands are being encouraged to deliver comms with greater transparency; to show real people, real culture and behind-the-scenes moments. The problem is that every organisation has received exactly the same advice.
Today, authenticity forms a strategic objective. It appears in brand guidelines, content strategies, social media plans, recruitment campaigns, and leadership communications. Entire marketing functions have been built around demonstrating that a company is approachable, transparent, and genuine. But, the more organisations pursue authenticity, the more difficult it can become to recognise the real thing.
The rise of the authentic brand
For years, corporate communications were dominated by highly controlled messaging. Marketing departments carefully managed every touchpoint. Visual content relied heavily on stock imagery. Corporate websites presented idealised versions of organisations, while public-facing communications often felt detached from the people behind them.
As digital channels expanded and social media reshaped expectations, audiences became increasingly interested in what was happening behind the scenes. They wanted to understand how organisations operated, who worked there, and what those businesses were really like behind the curtain.
Transparency became valuable because trust had become harder to earn. And, for a time, it worked exceptionally well.
Businesses willing to show genuine moments, real employees, and imperfect realities often stood out from competitors still relying on corporate conventions. Authenticity was a differentiator precisely because it was relatively rare. But successful strategies rarely remain exclusive.
When authenticity becomes strategy
Once organisations recognise that audiences value authenticity, they naturally want to create more of it. Marketing teams seek authentic content. Leadership teams want authentic messaging. Recruitment campaigns emphasise authentic culture. Social media managers look for authentic moments. But authenticity is difficult to fabricate.
Some businesses now find themselves attempting to synthesise content that derives value from appearing unscripted. Different organisations end up producing remarkably similar versions of their authentic selves, the same behind-the-scenes moments, the same stories about culture and purpose.
The reaction against formulaic marketing has, gradually, and ironically, developed its own conventions. Informality and spontaneity are in. But audiences understand when a supposedly candid moment has been carefully selected, stage-managed, and strategically distributed. Authenticity is becoming harder to communicate.
The paradox of modern marketing
The more organisations compete to appear authentic, the more similar they risk becoming.
But this isn’t a problem unique to marketing. Similar patterns appear whenever industries discover a successful formula. Early adopters differentiate themselves through new behaviours. Competitors observe those behaviours and replicate them. Eventually, what once felt new and bold, quickly becomes predictable and old.
In B2B marketing particularly, the shift has been dramatic. Businesses that once relied almost exclusively on product messaging and performance claims now recognise the importance of trust, familiarity, and emotional connection. Organisations are expected to demonstrate not only competence, but character.
So far, so good. But when every company attempts to demonstrate the same qualities using similar methods, homogeneity creeps in. Authenticity becomes another competitive arena, and competition, far from being the mother of invention, encourages standardisation.
What audiences actually respond to
Covering corporate events for global brands, we see the difference instantly on the day. The candid moment that was actually candid looks nothing like the one that was staged to look candid, and audiences clock it just as fast.
Businesses need to carefully consider where authenticity comes from, and they need to be comfortable, or quickly get comfortable, with showing the reality of their operations without managing it excessively.
Authenticity isn’t a visual style or a tone of voice. It’s a by-product of how an organisation actually behaves.
Events put employees, customers and partners in the same room, where the interactions are genuine and the culture shows itself through behaviour, not messaging.”Conversations aren’t scripted; relationships (good or bad) become visible. Organisational culture is expressed through behaviour rather than messaging.
Beyond the ‘authenticity’ performance
The organisations most likely to stand out will be the businesses that understand authenticity cannot be reduced to a communications strategy. Trust, transparency, and credibility are operational qualities before marketing assets. Content can reveal them, but it can’t create them.
This is the challenge at the centre of the authenticity arms race. Every organisation wants to appear more human. Every organisation wants to appear more transparent. Every organisation wants to build trust.
But the more aggressively businesses compete to demonstrate those qualities, the more easily audiences are able to distinguish performative authenticity from the real thing. Remembering the difference is key, since authenticity was supposed to be evidence of something real, not a marketing strategy.
Samer Bejjani is co-founder of Shootday, a global photography and video production partner for businesses, operating across 150+ cities worldwide.
