The value of provenance: Part 2
30th November 2006 by Tim Wilson
“Degrees of shoparation” is the extent to which I don’t know the provenance of a product — it might be that I don’t have any connection with it at all.
How does this affect brands and branding?
Brands give me prima facie provenance:
“I know this comes from my favourite brand/label”
but historically those brands have deliberately obfuscated any messaging beyond that:
“It’s good because we tell you it is”.
So there was (used to be, maybe still is, but diminishing) value in containing provenance boundaries within the brand:
“It must be good because it comes from my favourite brand/label”
If we assume that transparency is coming, where does that value lie in future? Is it lost, or just reinvented?
I remember writing papers 7 years ago that said that in future it would be supply chain vs. supply chain, but is it actually “my story vs. your story”.
