Brands must be more authentic, says report

‘Companies have to go further to inspire consumers’ and art and design could ‘do more to inspire commercially orientated companies’, says Mat Hunter, former Ideo partner and newly independent consultant.

Hunter (pictured) will say as much at a conference next week, based on a report, Beyond Experience: Culture, Consumer and Brand, that Arts & Business commissioned business author Joe Pine and James Gilmore to write.

Beyond Experience aims to ‘unlock the power of culture in the way businesses and brands engage with their customers in the future’, say its authors.

Arts & Business is assembling a panel of speakers, including Hunter, to scrutinise the findings of the report.

Debate will centre around Pine and Gilmore’s argument that ‘businesses charge for the experience they can offer, focusing on authenticity as the new consumer sensibility and business imperative’.

One of the conclusions reached in the report is that businesses must find ways of working with the arts to create a dialogue with customers.

Communications director at Arts & Business Sebastian Paul says, ‘Arts and culture have more to offer as they become more closely connected with business. This provides businesses with new channels to communicate in an authentic way. We’ll use the report to develop this relationship further.’

Beyond Experience takes place on 8 December at Cass Business School, London EC1.

Start the discussionStart the discussion
  • Post a comment

Latest articles