A word we hear and use a lot. There’s an increasing quest for more authentic products – things that seem more real to us, have more provenance or appear richer in terms of meaning, or soul even. Few brands or movements seem to escape this quest.  Everything has to be more real to be more successful. One interesting commentary on this movement comes out of the discussion around the gamer layer and notion that we’re becoming motivated as consumers by points, rewards, acknowledgment or the quest for some sort of goal. The most successful media of our era is focused on the being more real. From food to TV. See Jesse Schell’s DICE presentation for a thought provoking introduction to this idea: we’ve lived through a build-up of the virtual in recent years and we’ve become disconnected from nature and self sufficiency. There’s a part of our souls that needs to feel more real and that those notions of nature and connectedness are being nourished through our association with products that feel real, television that is reality and food where we can imagine a farmer. Whatever the motivation, here’s to reconnecting with lost arts. This is my next read….