Alan Fong

The Conundrum of Authentic Advertising

Abstract

The aim of this research is to explore how advertising can embrace authenticity by delivering a message that is synonymous with a brand’s value. This project seeks to address how advertising practitioners can rebuild the trust lost due to brands neglecting their consumer. This will be achieved through a practice-based project whereby I design advertising campaigns on how brands can align their core values with the needs of the consumers. I will also undertake to find a balance between ethics and creativity in advertising communications. I will attempt to create an ethical framework that will inform my advertising practice, that act as a guide for advertising communications that embraces authenticity.

During this phase, I was focused on developing an ethics framework that will inform my future practice. At the same time, I was exploring ways to help my case study, AGL Energy rebuild the trust lost to consumer through an ad campaign.

In phase 2, I will be showcasing the ethics framework I developed through literature. As part of my research action cycle of my research, I was working on putting a 'face' to my brand, AGL Energy to help combat its poor customer support image. This was on assumption that it will help convey the brand as being more trustworthy.

For the final phase, I found myself connecting the previous two phases. This helped me to develop an ad campaign that balance the ideas of ethics and creativity. This ad campaign would address the needs of the consumer to be involved in the brand's effort to affect a positive change to the environment. As a result, it enabled me to answer my research question that it was possible for a brand to communicate authenticity and yet thrive.

Artefacts

Select Bibliography

1. Crawford, R. (2006) ‘‘Truth in Advertising’: The Impossible Dream?’, Media International Australia, 119(1), pp. 124–137. etrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1329878X0611900112

2. Pillot, DCS 2018, “Brands are Built on Trust.” The Post-Truth Business: How to Rebuild Brand Authenticity in a Distrusting World, Kogan Page, Limited, London. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/rmit/detail.action?docID=5527500.

3. Snyder, W 2016, Ethics in Advertising: Making the Case for Doing the Right Thing, Taylor & Francis Group, London. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/rmit/detail.action?docID=4732363.