What do the recent Super Bowl ads and the now defunct Mitt Romney campaign have in common? Both turned on a brand value that has emerged in the past year as an increasingly influential and important consideration for both consumers and voters: authenticity.

Two of the Super Bowl spots that ranked consistently in the top five of both professionals and consumers (and frequently took the #1 and #2 slots) were the Macy’s Parade balloon commercial for Coca-Cola and the Anheuser Busch Clydesdale Rocky ad. Both of these excellent spots (I felt the Coke commercial was by far the best of the game) used warm humor and not a little bit of schmaltz to communicate the essential authenticity of their respective brands. The humor in the Coke spot was the sharper of the two, but it still had plenty of warmth and even a gentle quality that was so missing from most of the other advertising in the game (the triumphant return of Charlie Brown was such a sweet way to end the spot). The Anheuser Busch commercial bordered on being too predictable, with the Clydesdale playing Rocky himself and the plucky little Dalmatian dog (the breed that rides on both the AB beer wagons and firetrucks) serving as the stand-in for the Burgess Meredith trainer character. You knew you were being manipulated with this spot (the Rocky theme song blared throughout), but it worked nonetheless.

Both ads played to and reinforced the undeniable authenticity of their brands, and they worked. Consumers and even hard bitten ad critics appreciated the commercials because they were comfortable and spoke to a very human desire for authenticity in a culture and society that increasingly is besieged by people, products and ideas that are the polar opposite of authenticity.

That leads me to the Romney campaign, which ended quite unceremoniously this week. In all of the postmortems on his pretty disastrous primary effort, Romney was criticized for his flip flopping, pandering just to get votes, lack of moral conviction on issues, and various other less than positive attributes. In other words, he was branded as being patently inauthentic — to the max.

Now, compare Romney’s spectacular failure to John McCain’s remarkable comeback. Rising from near campaign death last year, McCain this past week became the presumptive Republican presidential standard bearer for the national election in November. As much as Romney was branded fake and pandering, McCain is widely viewed as authentic and courageous — "an authentic American hero." Now there’s a tagline for the upcoming presidential race.

In both the Super "Ad Bowl" and the Republican primary (the Democratic race hinges on very different values — Clinton represents experience and competence, while Obama is hope, change and renewal) authenticity mattered most. And you can look around today and readily see how authenticity is rising in so many other business and cultural spheres. From the comebacks of true original brands like Levis and McDonald’s, to the growing troubles of Starbucks, which has been roundly criticized for straying from its true coffee roots, the desire for authenticity and realness is palpable.

We conducted national consumer research for a leading e-commerce company about a year ago and found a yearning for authenticity in our fast moving, computer connected age where communications and interactions are more often than not virtual. People are looking for authentic connections (with other people and brands as well), but that does not necessarily mean that kids will cease texting instead of calling. It just means that they will seek out that authenticity fix in other areas of their lives.

Of course, authenticity is one of those brand values that actually has to be earned. You can’t buy it or change your views and beliefs to try to appear real and authentic (like Romney was accused of doing). McCain truly did earn his authenticity…the hard way. By becoming a bona fide hero during the Vietnam War (when he refused release because his cellmates were still imprisoned, resulting in another four years locked in the brutal Hanoi Hilton), and by sticking to his policy guns when he knew they were very unpopular with his Republican conservative base and much of the electorate (i.e., immigration reform, campaign finance reform, no torture, and his continued strong support of a deeply unpopular war), McCain has lived up to his authentic "icon" status.

In terms of products and brands, either you have authenticity (Chevrolet Corvette, Omega watches, Tiffany, Beretta firearms, Oxxford clothing, etc.), or you don’t. If you try to fake it and assume the mantle when you don’t really deserve it, the market will reject you pretty quickly. People’s inauthenticity meters for products, politicians and policies are more acute than ever these days.

The hard lesson here for both marketers and politicians is to find what you do well (which is usually what you really love doing), commit yourself to becoming the best at that, and stay true to your beliefs and your brand. If this authentic approach can work for Coke, Anheuser Busch and John McCain, it can work for you, too. 

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