…it’s the lifeblood of a good brand, especially if you are trying to utilize testimonials as your strategy.

(exhibit A) I'm lost as to what I should think about this image... is she modeling, or is she a true outdoor product user?

I’ve had it in my mind to write this post since I received this terrible testimonial attempt in the mail a couple weeks ago. This catalog is so bad…it had the complete opposite effect on me as a consumer (from what I would assume they desired anyway). Maybe they wanted me to think, “do you really believe I feel this person uses the gear you sell?  Anyway, you can certainly argue that the brand I’m picking on would not feel the effect of such a non-authentic execution (based solely on the size of their operation/revenues), and maybe you even feel their audience wouldn’t really take notice.  I beg to differ though.

The use of “testimonials,” or in this case, contrived quotes, falls way short (Exhibit A and B).  Things get even worse when you couple the quotes with the images used, I’m lost as to weather or not they are just modeling the clothing and gear or if they’re actually trying to get me to believe that these, models, actually use outdoor products. Here is my point, I’m just simply confused by all of it, it’s not real…no authenticity. And, I believe their primary audience, the armchair outdoor product user, can see through this as well.

So what is the right way?  Backcountry.com has set the bar pretty high in this industry.

(exhibit C) now this is someone I can believe is a "real" user of outdoor product.

They started the Gear-Guru program (not 100% this is still what they call it), which is a way for common folk users to give feedback on product, do reviews, and just generally interact with all the brands that backcountry.com offers.

In a catalog execution a year or two ago they incorporated these users into a catalog (note: I’m not sure they are still doing a print catalog like this), it was so well done that it hung around my office for a few months and I’d occasionally pick it up and read about an adventure one of their “authentic users had on a remote river in Uganda or somewhere.  It was so legit that there was no way I couldn’t believe in what I was seeing and reading.

So in this world of social media blasting, corporate news feeds, and everything immediate…don’t assume your

(exhibit B) hmmmmmm, just because I see it print doesn't mean I belive it.

customers are absorbing every word your brand utters just because you can afford to print 500,000 copies of a catalog – keep it as real as you possibly can.  This is especially true in the social media game, I’m sure you’ve probably heard 100x’s that authentic conversations are most engaging and generate the most buzz…follow this rule in your print and paid media executions as well!