“Marketing used to be about advertising, and advertising is expensive.  Today, marketing is about engaging with the tribe and delivering products and services with stories that spread.”   - Seth Godin from his book “Tribes.”A colleague recently asked me “in today’s world of greater authenticity and transparency, how do you know what’s for real and what’s not?   How was we know if companies speak the truth or are merely continuing a next generation of green-washing (where companies said they were environmentally responsible in one aspect or another … but in many more ways, their claims were unfounded or exaggerated at best)?For the past few years, I have been gathering information and journaling about Tribalism, and when Seth Godin’s book “Tribes: We Need YOU to Lead” came out last year, it confirmed my perspective that the “Green Movement” has many characteristics of Tribalism.   One major component is the desire to be part of something greater than ourselves; a unity, a collective or a unifying movement.  And typically, these movements emerge because we see a common goal,  whether that be to protect our village, conquer another one, or in the case of environmentalism in corporate America, retool the way we create and sell and dispose of just about everything .Recently, I have noticed another big trend in story-telling and corporate marketing: Authenticity.  We first began to see the emergence of authenticity marketing following the Enron Scandal.   Corporate leadership was put under the magnifying glass more than ever and all stakeholders in the corporate sector (shareholders, employees and customers included) increasingly demanded honesty, and integrity from their CEOs and other executives.  Today, in a society riddled with Ponzi schemes, crumbling financial systems and a planet in distress, those original stakeholders are joined by more followers who want to know that the world is shifting even further to greater stability.  We have been offered authenticity as a solution to get us there. Authenticity marketing is not just telling the truth, but it is also about creating programs that support stakeholders during these trying times and equally during the best of times.   Corporations are rushing forward to tell stories of how they are more real, more honest, more about people and more about the planet.    As a child growing up in Florida, I was amazed at the outpouring of friendship and lending hands from seeming strangers following a Hurricane.  Neighbors you had never met were soon lending their gas powered chainsaws to help remove the tree from your roof.  In turn, you may have found yourself quickly grilling up the meat in your deep freezer and sharing it with anyone around who needed a meal.   During trying times, humans tend to show up to lend a helping hand.Recently, I began noticing Saturn television advertisement where a Saturn employee comes on the screen to tell you that Saturn understands if you lose your job, the last thing you want to tell your wife is that you also lost the car.  Saturn then offers to make your car payments if you lose your job.  Of course, Saturn Financing has figured out a way to recoup this expense on the back end of a loan or lease, but it still speaks strongly to a company showing up in an authentic way around real human needs.  My own company has been co-sponsoring with Interior Design Magazine and the IIDA (International Interior Design Association) a series of full day sessions for out-of-work Architects and Designers, called Re:Work.  These days are designed to offer career coaching, networking opportunities and overall job direction.     Previous b log entries have highlighted programs designed to help solve environmental issues.   As companies begin to offer better solutions tied to core business offerings, stakeholders will continue to migrate to their products and services.  Authenticity creates a Tribe.I look forward to tracking more examples of companies not just “talking” about humans and the planet, but actually offering up real solutions that help heal us in our current world situation.