When a Brand Acts Like a Person

I’M BEGINNING TO THINK CREDIBILITY is like art or pornography: It’s hard to define, but I’m pretty sure I know it when I see it. A few weeks ago I wrote about the role of authenticity and transparency in establishing credibility. Those are two critical pieces, but there’s more to it than that and I’ve been thinking a lot about what I would put on the “definitive” list of credibility factors.

The temptation to keep adding things makes me feel like Steve Martin in “The Jerk” when his fame and wealth come crashing down and he’s left to fend for himself again. “All I need is this chair,” he says at first. Then, as he makes his way to the street, he expands his list to include a ridiculous litany of other things until his arms are overflowing with “necessary things.”

Although it’s a bit of an armful too, my working thesis is this: Credibility = Expertise + Authenticity + Transparency + Consistency + Empathy.

For the moment, my focus is on empathy in particular. I came to the idea in a roundabout way …

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