The final exercise at thinkAbout was “the Big Idea.” But why limit ourselves to just one big idea? We brought back three (airport security in Nashville even let us carry them on the plane!).

Authenticity is the delivery of the brand promise. It goes with the belief that you have to deliver on the product. The best brand in the world is worthless if you don’t get the product right.
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Authenticity is a purely personal experience based on an emotional response to any combination of influences. No matter how much a brand tries to be authentic it is up to the individual to determine whether or not s/he sees it that way. It’s also because it’s so personal that it’s subject to the ebbing and flowing of the sum of influences that a person experiences every moment of every day. Authenticity isn’t something that can be measured quantitatively, but a range could be assigned to it on a qualitative basis.
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Authenticity is not simply having conversations between people and brands, but having conversations that people believe. Believable conversations result in trusting relationships. The brands people trust are the ones that will be successful., and will be authentic.
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And a bonus Big Idea from Future Perfect…

The present is the past of the future. All the great innovators and entrepreneurs approach their business as if the future they have laid out for them is already here, and act accordingly. Stop thinking of the future as “could be” and think of it as “is.”