Exploring human brands and their authenticity

Introduction While humans have engaged in identity construction, selfpresentation and self-promotion for millennia, the marketing literature has only recently recognized this phenomenon (Shepherd, 2005). Just like how firms and organizations engage in the branding of their goods and services, humans engage in the branding of themselves. This special issue, “Exploring Human Brands,” is devoted to better understanding the intricacies and nuances of what constitutes an effective human brand. Human brands refer to well-known persons who are subject to marketing communication practices (Thomson, 2006). Celebrities, athletes, politicians and academics are a few of the contexts in which human brands have been explored in marketing (Carlson and Donavan, 2013; Close et al., 2011; Kowalczyk and Pounders, 2016; Moulard et al., 2015; Zamudio et al., 2013). Other contexts in which human brands have been studied include the visual and performing arts (Fillis, 2015; Moulard et al., 2014). Nonetheless, the marketing of a person, sometimes referred to as personal branding or self-marketing (Shepherd, 2005), also pertains to “everyday” individuals that are seeking employment or more broadly, seeking to promote themselves or their business. For instance, those offering professional services (e.g. lawyers, physicians) and the self-employed (e.g. hairstylists, small business owners) must also be concerned about building their human brand. Recent trends, however, have thrust human brands to the forefront. The spread of the internet and social media has taken personal branding to a new level, allowing “everyday” individuals the potential to be well-known human brands. For instance, some social media influencers began as everyday individuals and now have millions of followers (although smaller “micro-influencers”must also prudently manage their human brand to remain viable). The research in this special issue uncovers different theoretical underpinnings and conceptual models that shed light on how human brands can earn trust of their customers or followers, foster positive attitudes and gain loyalty – all of which contribute to brand equity. Our following discussion of these special issue articles loosely revolves around concepts presented in a recent paper by Fournier and Eckhardt (2019). Their paper introduces the concept of person-brands – a dual-bodied entity that is both an actual person and a commercialized brand offering (e.g. Tory Burch is both a person and a brand). Given that the same name is used to refer to both the person and the brand offering, the person and brand are “inextricably united” and, thus, interdependent. Rather than focus on the qualities that make a person a brand, Fournier and Eckhardt (2019) focus on the qualities that make a person-brand human (Fournier and Eckhardt, 2019). In their case study of Martha Stewart’s person-brand, the authors uncover four aspects of the person that make person-brands unique: mortality, hubris (i.e. overconfidence), unpredictability and social embeddedness. They also recognize two person-brand pillar strengths: intimacy and authenticity. We touch on these ideas throughout our discussion. Following the summary of the special issue articles, we note the importance of authenticity for human brands. We then apply a recent conceptualization of authenticity – the entityreferent correspondence framework of authenticity – to a human brand context.