Comunicato Stampa: Sincerity Matters | The Power Of Truth In Ambidextrous Branding • Allegro 234

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Woops! Remembering What Ambidextrous Branding Means

Ambidextrous Branding is the ability of a brand to operate with two hands -one strategic, the other creative- in perfect coordination. It blends long-term vision with short-term adaptability, stability with innovation, control with experimentation.

Instead of being trapped in either-or thinking -“are we purpose-led or profit-driven?”-, ambidextrous brands embrace the both-and mindset.

Cynicism Doesn’t Sell… Sincerity Is the New Currency

Let’s be honest: we’ve had enough of brand baloney. We live in an era where trust is scarce, greenwashing is rampant, and most people can smell corporate BS from a mile away. In this noisy, polarised world, sincerity -the radical act of aligning what a brand says with what it does- is not just desirable. It’s vital.

Unlike authenticity -which focuses on being true to oneself-, or transparency -which is about visibility-, sincerity is about intention. It’s the active choice to behave with integrity, consistency, and coherence.

According to Omnicom’s Authenticity Gap 2025 Report, more than half of a brand’s perceived authenticity is shaped by its societal impact and business practices – not just by what it sells-. This means consumers expect brands to go beyond performance. They must prove their contribution to people and planet.

Superficial, uncommitted communication, especially on social and environmental fronts, increases the authenticity gap. The message? Know your gap and fix it. That means lowering expectations and raising commitment.

Sincerity is directly related to relevance. Brands that are relevant tend to act on what matters most to people. Their decisions have an impact not only because they are timely, but because they are perceived as sincere. A brand’s relevance could be understood as its ability to consistently succeed in four areas: obsession with stakeholders, relentless pragmatism, distinctive inspiration, and widespread innovation. Without sincerity, none of these characteristics can be sustained over the long term.

People, especially Gen Z and millennials, are acutely tuned to contradiction. They reward alignment between purpose and practice. When a brand’s DEI – diversity, equity and inclusion- post goes viral while employees face discrimination inside the company, the disconnect destroys trust instantly. Sincerity is a proactive strategy, not a PR patch.

Brands Are Living Systems, They Are Truth in Action

No longer a comms exercise, a logo or a campaign, the brand is now a dynamic value system, a living, learning, adapting organism embedded in culture, technology, and business. Brand is not just about driving premiums; it’s about fuelling business growth holistically. This demands sincerity at scale:

Brands must act as enterprise multipliers, not just marketing assets.
They should orchestrate experiences that reflect strategic intent.
They must behave in ways that adapt to context, culture, and community needs.

The change is enormous. In the past, experience was the result of strategy. Now, experience is the strategy -a strong ambidextrous statement. Customer interactions are where the brand is most real, and any gap between message and behaviour is instantly noticed.

Brands are no longer just communication platforms; they are value drivers. Experience is not a result; it is the system for creating value in a solid and long-lasting sense.

Brands should be understood as living systems, meaning they’re constantly redefined by the relationships they foster. In that view, sincerity isn’t a checkbox, it’s a state of being. It becomes central to building brand ecosystems that are self-aware and mutually beneficial.

In The Core Attributes of Conscientious Brands -paper written by Nathalia Tjandra, Alessandro Feri, Nicholas Ind, Oriol Iglesias, Christof Backhaus, and Barbara Seegebarth- this idea is complemented by five traits, all of which, in my humble opinion, are based on sincerity:

Empathy as strategy: not just listening but acting in accordance.
Integrated ethics: not delegated to CSR but lived through operations.
Sustainable foresight: sincerity about future impact, not just current optics.
Courageous transparency: revealing flaws with intent to fix them.
Cultural stewardship: protecting and enhancing societal values.

Brands that Mean It… and those that Don’t

Let’s name names. Some brands consistently behave with sincerity. Others… not so much.

Brands Doing It Right

Patagonia: Walks the talk on environmental activism. Donated its entire company to fight climate change.
Tony’s Chocolonely: Radical transparency in the fight against slavery in the cocoa supply chain.
IKEA: Aligns sustainable ambitions with affordable, inclusive design and corporate practices.
LEGO: Consistently ranked high in Prophet’s Brand Relevance Index for its commitment to education, creativity, and environmental shifts.

Brands That Falter

Volkswagen: Dieselgate remains a masterclass in the cost of insincerity.
H&M: Criticised for “conscious collections” that barely scratch the surface of sustainable fashion.
Meta -Facebook-: Ongoing ethical concerns around data use, platform integrity, and societal impact.
BrewDog: Faced backlash for internal culture misalignments, despite rebellious branding.

Are you interested in exploring how brands can design sincere strategies based on their essence?

Sustainability and Sincerity in Branding | Common Sense in Times of Woke Excess
Brand-Led Experience | Synchronising Strategy, Service, and Sincerity Across Every Touchpoint

Designing Sincerity into the Brand System

How do we create sincerity by design? Not as a happy accident, but rather as an architectural principle of ambidextrous branding.

Start with the business, not the brand: A solid brand strategy doesn’t begin with a manifesto — it begins with the business model. Sincerity emerges when we truly understand the brand’s real role as a driver of business strategy.
Build sincerity into every touchpoint: A lovely purpose statement on the website won’t do. Promises must come to life through internal policies, customer experience, products, culture, and digital channels.
Orchestrate with meaning, not with slogans: Use technology to listen, learn, and adapt your brand system. Design for interaction, not for broadcast. A brand should live through people’s real rituals and moments, not just in campaigns.
Measure coherence, not just reach: Stop counting likes. Start measuring how people actually perceive your commitment in real time. Identify your sincerity gaps and fix them before making new promises.