The European Centre for the Experience Economy and Shiraz partners completed a research project with Motivaction on what the Dutch consumer considers to be the building blocks of authenticity. Which companies and brands does he or she consider to be very authentic and which are the least authentic? The top three concepts are “originaliteit” (original, new, fresh), “oorspronkelijkheid” (the original source, from the source), and “echt” (real, genuine) together with “betrouwbaarheid” (trustworthiness). The results also show which kinds of people (according to Motivaction’s mentality segments) embrace specific kinds of authenticity.

Ex en Lengkeek (2000) differentiate between material authenticity (made of the original material), conceptual authenticity( made according to the intention of the original maker), contextual authenticity (in the right context) and functional authenticity (being used in the traditional way). Furthermore they differntiate between historical (when aging is shown) and a-historical authenticity (when aging is hidden or the object is restored). We will study now if these concepts of authenticity confirm or falsify the theory of the five genres of Gilmore & Pine.

As the most authentic Dutch brands were mentioned: Albert Heijn, Douwe Egberts, Philips and Calvé. All specific Dutch companies that have a long history. We assume that a sort of Dutch nostalgia plays an important role. Perceived as the least authentic companies were the energy suppliers, telecoms and ICT suppliers. When asked about inauthenticity, respondents speak more about business sectors than about individual companies. The same research was done for the financial service industry. The most authentic bank is RABOBANK and the least authentic is ABN AMRO. We would like to replicate this research in other European Countries. Please contact us if you are interested.Further research will be done in the hospitality and retail industry.