As a brand strategist, I'm expected to deal in the currency of ‘authenticity’. It should be a given in how I approach my work, but it’s a word that has been so bandied about and misused that it’s become a cliché that’s almost meaningless. Instead, I try to deal in the currency of truth and like cash, it can be cold and hard but ultimately, very rewarding.

It’s a fine line you walk when using ‘authentic’ and ‘branding’ in the same sentence. I am, fundamentally, in the business of selling and that’s where the conflict arises. By it’s very definition, any attempt to try to appear authentic proves you to be the opposite. And here’s where ‘Craft’ has come in very handy in recent years.

The craft beer revolution has been a challenger brand wet dream come true with small, independent ‘David’ micro breweries taking on, and defeating, the Goliaths of the industry. With their ‘real and human’ founders, innovative and varied product, small batches and compelling stories born of passion and love (or just sheer bravado) ‘Craft’ has become the shorthand for REAL authenticity. When the big corps started buying out these breweries (AB InBev with Camden Town, Goose Island to ABI to name just a few) the cracks started to show in Craft. Which is why, it too is now in danger of becoming as banal as the A word.

Be it sheer laziness, lack of imagination or worse still, try-hard desperation, using the Craft moniker is the current perceived easy route to success. But there’s nothing worse than the whiff of desperation and today’s consumers have a very strong sense of smell and can sniff out a faker faster than you can say ‘lovingly crafted’.

Just look at last year’s reboot of Top Gear as a case in point. The main reason the show was such a car crash wasn’t so much Chris Evans’ shouting (as annoying as he is), but because they tried to be authentic to the original, not true to themselves. It may appear easy to replicate someone else’s winning formula for success, but any carbon copy is in fact, fake and unoriginal. If the original also happens to be loved and revered, then be prepared for the backlash that’s inevitably coming your way (refer back to Camden Town Brewery and their loyal customers damning response to their ‘sell out’).

It’s got to the point that I am now seeing a lot of the C word in client briefs in any given category as it's now no longer simply attached to the drinks industry. But I have to question if this is their truth or just them jumping on the Craft bandwagon. Any reluctance to work on projects that I think uninspiring or, day I say it, inauthentic, isn’t just about professional integrity. If I don’t believe in it, then how can I expect anyone else to? That might be a little harsh, but it happens to be my truth.