Authenticity, genuineness and the luxury brand
A friend of mine is a genuine, passionate Porsche fan. Awaken him from deep sleep and start asking him about the Porsches he has owned through the years, and you begin to see how deep his fountain of knowledge, and his genuine affection for and attachment to the brand run.
He showed me the letter that he received with his car. The opening paragraph talks about how Porsche is an exceedingly rare breed of automobile and continues to extol its virtues as follows:
“One born in the art of hand craftsmanship, with sporting bloodlines as genuine as the exhaust note. Every Porsche we build is a monument to authenticity … and the kind of unflinching performance that transforms the daily driving routine into one of fun, freedom and pure excitement.”
In the above, the bold is mine, the ellipsis theirs.
This is how the OED defines “genuine”:
adjective
1. Truly what something is said to be; authentic:
2. (Of a person, emotion, or action) sincere:
As I sat rifling through the pristine, understated luxurious contents of the welcome boxes — he keeps them all — the conversation turned to engine sound enhancement technologies. My friend told me about the Porsche sound symposer, an intake sound amplifier now fitted into the new 911 and the Panamera. Intake sound amplifier to them, fake engine sound enhancement technique to you and me.
I cannot speak for anyone else. But two months on from that conversation, I am still reconciling “as genuine as the exhaust note” with the “sound symposer”.
How authentic or genuine is the latter?
Is it ok to use it because customers demand a quiet cruise and yet the primal pull of the sound we have all come to recognise as the Porsche engine?
Indeed my friend’s car doesn’t have this amplifier. When I am visiting him and am at home, that engine sound is how I know he is back. To that extent the signalling effect of the Porsche brand of cars does lie in its exhaust note.
Of course, I realise that the car itself is a manufactured artifact.
Given that, does sound enhancement detract from the authenticity of the engine roar?
Or should it be seen as just another way to make the customer happy by addressing his or her changed needs, and indeed, in case of hybrid cars, a way to address the critique that their quietness is potentially hazardous on the roads?
Signalling is often of the key functions a luxury brand serves. And brands know that.
“We are not selling watches to tell the time. We’re selling them to people who belong to a certain social class, who want to show off.” — Dominique Perrin, President, Cartier (in 1987)
Luxury brands also seek to deliver a wholesome sensual experience encompassing sound, sight, smell and touch. Porsche’s sound symposer, one could argue, just serves to enhance the audio experience and the signalling function of the brand.
Are existential questions such as this surplus to the conversation about brand building, or integral to it? What then is the source of a brand’s claim to authenticity?
(This post first appeared on http://shefaly-yogendra.com/blog/2015/04/20/authenticity-genuineness-and-the-luxury-brand/ and is being cross-posted here.)
