The Dictionary program is perhaps the most useful (and overlooked) application that comes pre-installed on most Macintosh or Windows computers. For this trained scribe, the tool is more than just a way to look up words. It's actually my muse.

As the Edelman Digital leadership team codified our positioning, I found myself turning to the Dictionary app over and over again for inspiration. Here's a quick summary of how Oxford defines authentic....

When one dives head-first into each bullet, the second one - "based on facts, accurate or reliable" - really jumps out. It's particularly profound when "authentic" is used as an adjective to describe "communications." The two words feel somewhat contradictory when you consider how the public classically sees marketing, whether it be digital or analog. 

Consider, for example, the almighty search engine ad. This is perhaps the greatest innovations to hit marketing in 20 years. Still, despite its utter simplicity and efficiency, a recent Nielsen study found they're not trusted. One reason, I suspect, is that 10 words doesn't offer much in the way of content that promotes information that can be verified.

The same Nielsen study, however, does note that peer-to-peer communication carries the highest trust. This mirrors the findings of the Edelman Trust Barometer. One can infer that this is because conversation is part of an ongoing collaborative process, rather than a single impression. When people openly collaborate, we challenge what we're reading and bounce ideas around the ether until we form a strong opinion based on facts. These opinions, once formed, are part of what drives a purchase.

The conclusion - at least the one I draw here - is that the more a brand can open itself toward communication that can be verified for accuracy by its stakeholders, the more likely it is they will be viewed as authentic. The digital space is the most efficient, effective and measurable medium to make this happen.

So does this mean that one should forgo other, less authentic genres like search engine ads in favor of say blogs? Hardly. The secret is to mix these together in a way that harnesses the respective strengths of each format.

However, what's unmistakeable is that verifiable truths beget trust. And this collaborative process promotes authenticity.