22 July 2014

Keeping it Real

22 July 2014
Keeping it Real

“The real McCoy” is an idiom and metaphor used in much of the English-speaking world to mean “the real thing” or “the genuine article”, e.g., “he’s the real McCoy”. One theory for the origin of the term “The real McCoy is that railroad engineers looking to avoid inferior copies would request it by name, inquiring if a locomotive was fitted with ‘the real McCoy system”. According to the Webster’s dictionary Real means: something which is actually existing or happening, not imaginary, not fake, false, or artificial and it is also important to note that real is important and deserving to be regarded or treated in a serious way.

To be or not to be authentic, real or genuine not copied or false true and accurate. This takes guts because sometimes our authentic selves are not always the best look. For example Domino’s Pizza has been running an add “We are not afraid to fail” Brilliant! This speaks volumes about who is running this company and the message I took away from this ad is that this company would rather own their mistakes rather than just pretend they don’t make any. At last a company being human those are qualities I can trust.

Sleemans the beer company has been running an ad claiming that they fought prohibition and the adversity the company faced during this period where it was illegal to sell alcohol. Not the prettiest past however, it’s real and they own it a brand with a back bone. Bacardi ran a similar add which spoke to there turbulent times during the prohibition era. This trend of companies telling it like it is and saying hey we went through tough times too and we made it through resonates with most people today. It is nice to know that we are not alone in our struggles and that everyone goes through good times and bad and it is not something to be ashamed of but something that we over came from and learned from and built character.

This new trend of “Own it marketing” is a game changer and we have the internet to thank for this, the days of the attractive face on television and the huge corporation that can do no wrong are over. Recently GM says faulty ignition switches were responsible for at least 13 deaths. It took the company 11 years to recall the cars. GM settled a huge law suit over 50 cent ignition switch problem and if you watched the senate committee hearing an internal report found GM attorneys signed settlements with the families of crash victims but didn’t tell engineers or top executives about mounting problems with ignition switches. It also found that GM’s legal staff acted without urgency. Today corporations are just as, if not more so scrutinized by the public and so what this translates to is a better customer experience because today someone is always watching.

Nexonta Technologies Inc