For the most recent episode of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast I got real – as in Authentic, with James Gilmore, co-author of Authenticity what consumers really want.

I was reading the back of a box of Captain Crunch cereal (Yes, I was eating it) and it struck me a bit odd that they claimed it possessed some kind of real goodness. Everybody wants to be real – problem is you can’t be real, you are real, and that’s what consumers want.

If something is real, authentic, then you don’t need to say it – in fact, when someone tells you how real they are its often a reason to be suspicious. For example, there’s the “House of real meat, cooked only on real charcoal” O.K., I don’t know where to start with that one, but I do know that if you can tap something authentic, put it in everything that you do, live it and create a story around it, then you might find your marketing life won’t revolve around price any longer.

So, how do create authentic experiences? How do you become more than a commodity?