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Consumers want experiences, but not just any kind of experience. The more contrived and fast moving the world seems, the more do people demand what is real. Today, they look for authentic experiences. This is the message of Gilmore and Pine’s new follow-up book to their successful book on the experience economy.⁵ Because people have got used to a staged world in tourist attractions, cafés, media, entertainment and other experience sectors, they upgrade their demands. They want quality and true experiences that conform to their own self-image. No longer will they accept fake experiences. The demand for authenticity is not limited to specific segments of consumers. It is a general trend that includes eventually all consumers. Craving for authenticity may be considered part of a broader trend, too. Social responsibility in business and organizations in dealing with employees, customers, sub-suppliers, authorities, and other stakeholders as well as consciousness of the environment are other examples of a general trend among people and consumers that demand quality and honesty in all aspects of an experience and any product, for that matter. As man is a social animal, authenticity includes also social togetherness with family, friends and colleagues. Accordingly, the demand for authenticity may be seen as the heading for an age of rapid change and affluence when people respond by looking for more profound and lasting values, an ethical and quality-based approach to a continuous search for the meaning of life. This megatrend will require new management responses and offerings and open new business opportunities, too.

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2 Angus Maddison. The World Economy: Historical Statistics. CIA, World Fact Book 2000-2007. US Census Bureau, International Statistics. World Trade Organization (2007). International Trade Statistics 2007. Geneva: WTO.

3 International Telecommunication Union (2006). Digital Life. ITU Internet Report 2006. OECD (2007). Broadband and ICT Access and Use by Households and Individuals. Paris: OECD.

4 Ulrich Beck and Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim (2002). Individualization. London: SAGE Publications.

5 Gilmore, James H. and B. Joseph Pine II (2007). Authenticity. What Consumers Really Want. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business Publishing.