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Earlier this week I received a personalised email from Keith Hanshaw and Uncle Steven Hanshaw, two master craftsmen. As an existing customer of theirs, they were letting me know that it’s\u00a0been 50-years since\u00a0Uncle Steven set up The Leather Satchel Co., a family-run business that\u00a0creates satchels based on the traditional style of Oxford and Cambridge schools. It brought to life how this was precisely the story that I\u2019d bought into a few months back. I had been hampering after a leather satchel for quite some time and had really done my research, reading through many a blog review and watching a ton of YouTube \u2018un-boxing\u2019 videos (yes, I know!). Ultimately it was the authenticity of The Leather Satchel Co. that grabbed me, and this is a growing trend. As their email stated, \u201cdeep down we all know you just can’t beat 50-years of experience\u201d.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s this kind of provenance that really matters to customers, on an increasing basis. People are attracted to brands that are true to their origins and values. Julie Napoli, a\u00a0marketing professor at Curtin University, recently reported in The Journal of Business Research<\/a>\u00a0that consumers see three dimensions to brand authenticity: heritage, sincerity and commitment to quality. These are fuzzy things to measure, but increasingly, customers want to buy into something more than just a logo. They want their purchase to tell a story, be handcrafted, or represent some eco or social conscience, and are willing to pay a premium for this. This has been the thinking behind the Selfish Mother brand<\/a>, which in addition to being a blogzine and an online community, sells t-shirts and sweatshirts designed specifically for hard-working mums, with all profits (approx \u00a315 per sweatshirt sale) going directly to women\u2019s charities. So far over \u00a3100,000 has been raised through sales,\u00a0for causes including\u00a0Women for Women International, The Refugee Council UK, KIDS, and Help Refugees UK. It\u2019s easy to see why so many mums, high-profile celebrities included, have bought into the concept and products. Furthermore, Selfish Mother has a thriving social media community with 25,000 followers, which does a good job of sharing images from its \u2018sisterhood\u2019. It\u2019s a no-brainer why such \u2018philanthropreneur\u2019 businesses are doing so well currently, as they tap directly into the consumer appetite for authenticity. The world of craft beer is another booming market where authenticity is rife. For millennials particularly, the growing breed of microbrewers tick a lot of authentic boxes, using traditional brewing methods, being eco-friendly in their production, and often using locally sourced ingredients. Brewdog<\/a>\n \n Get exclusive insights into digital \n \n \n Stay Forward <\/h2>\n
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