My well-tabbed copy of “Tell the Truth” shows that there’s much to discuss between these covers

A few years ago, comedian/social commentator Stephen Colbert coined the exceptionally apt phrase “truthiness” to describe the political/commercial/cultural corruption of the entire concept of telling the truth in America,  lampooning the growing preference given to opinion and feeling over fact.

In their relatively new – and, I believe, important – book “Tell the Truth:  Honesty is Your Most Powerful Marketing Tool,”  Sue Unerman and Jonathan Salem Baskin take on the topic of truth and its absolute importance to marketing, offering this fairly optimistic conclusion:   “More and more marketers are turning away from easily constructed spin and digging deep in to the truth of their brands. We believe that in five years we’ll look back on the art of spin as an anachronism.”

While I can’t agree with their conclusion, I encourage everyone to read their often enlightening book (that light emanating from a number of good interview-based case histories), because I do agree with the statement that immediately follows it: “The truth is the future of successful advertising.”  In fact, I would expand that to read “Truth is the future of advertising – and the lack of it will be end of advertising.”

Signs of the End:  Surveys Predict the Adpocalypse
If you track the various trust-related surveys, you know that the trend is advertising trust is down.  Way down.  You can see it in Nielsen’s Global Trust in Advertising and Brand Messages, and in Edelman’s Brand Trust Barometer.  The only way to change that direction is to build trust; and the only way to do that is to start by telling, and showing, the truth.  Unless we do that, start looking for advertising trust in the single digits – and also start looking for a new job.

Highlights of “Tell the Truth”
I’m glad to say that there are two many meaty issues raised by this book to be adequately condensed into a manageable review, but even a look at the table of contents will give you a good overview of their observations and recommendations:

The Case for Truth

Content

1. Acknowledge Reality
2. Deliver Real Change to Services and Company Structure
3. Take Consumers on the Brand Truth Journey with You
4. Enlist Third-Party Advocates

Context

1. Be close
2. Find a Truth Turning Point
3. Use Point-of-Action Media
4. Leverage Routine

 Note:   I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher after I commented, in another copyklatsch post, on an abstract of it. I have no financial or other material interest in the book.

RECOMMENDED ADDITIONAL READING 
Review of “Tell the Truth:  Honesty is Your Most Powerful Marketing Tool”
Branding Magazine

OK, so no one actually took me up on my plea for ideas as to how we might improve the believability/accountability of political ads.  Here’s one techno-possibility: The Truthy Project, out of Indiana University.  Yes, the name was inspired by Stephen Colbert’s oft-imitated use of “truthiness” (not actually his coinage), mentioned today in an interesting piece in The New York Times Magazine and recently also in FastCompany, wherein it is described as “a sophisticated new Twitter-based research tool that combines data mining, social network analysis and crowdsourcing to uncover deceptive tactics and misinformation” on Twitter.  The article continues to say that Truthy can therefore detect “when PR teams inject memes into the discourse by disguising them as genuine “grassroots” behavior. With the simple click of a “Truthy” button, users can call BS on claims that smell fishy.”  (Please note that the Truthy architecture, below, includes “Klatsch Analysis”… coincidence?)

If technology can provide a collective conscience to tisk-tisk on Twitter, why not in other outlets for political ads?  Of course, there’s still the question of, even if exposed, will enough people on any side of the political spectrum care about the lies to make a difference? Do we all just want to believe what we want to believe, and the truth be damned (and our society along with it)?

One other sobering notion for all of us in marketing, guilty by association with those vilified PR teams above… if Truthy can be applied to political tweets, why not also commercial mis-messaging?  I suppose the “easy” fix then would be for all to stick to the simple truth about their brands.  (Let the laughter begin…)