Strategy and Marketing

Managing for Marketplace Authenticity

Module code: N1662
Level 6
15 credits in autumn semester
Teaching method: Lecture, Workshop
Assessment modes: Take away paper, Coursework

Authenticity is a meta-driver of consumption and central to marketing in the post-modern era. Being perceived as genuine, real, and true is central to aligning brands with consumer identity goals and has been identified as driving price premium, brand preference, positive word of mouth, and competitive strategy.

This module will focus on unpacking authenticity as a consumer identity goal and explore how authenticity can be rendered in the marketplace by marketers. We will then use this to examine how to be successful with a number of topical marketing strategies including brand activism, internal branding, communal branding, and working with influencers.

Module learning outcomes

• Systematically understand the nature and attributes of authenticity
• Analyse the nature and attributes of authenticity in terms of individual and collective consumer identity goals
• Creatively apply the marketing mix to render authenticity across a number of marketing decisions