Authenticity: a healthcare brand’s most overlooked metric

What authenticity means — and why it’s a game changer in healthcare

What is authenticity and why does it matter? Do consumers value it? And what’s it got to do with healthcare anyway?

On one level, authenticity is about making sure the product or service you are buying is the quality you expect. It goes back to the early days of branding. The brand makes a promise, and the product or service should make good on that promise. If it does, you might buy it again. If it doesn’t… well, not so much.

But at another and more fundamental level, authenticity is about knowing who you are, what you believe in, and then acting and delivering accordingly. It’s about integrity and trustworthiness. It works at an individual level (think about your circle of friends, family and colleagues) and at an organizational or brand level too.

What Patagonia can teach healthcare brands about authenticity

Patagonia is the gold standard when it comes to brand authenticity. Founded by accomplished climber Yvon Chouinard, who started to make high quality pitons and climbing equipment from his own forge, the brand has stayed true to its original spirit and values — quality, integrity, environmentalism, justice, and not being bound by convention.

Patagonia lives its commitment to environmentalism and donates heavily to environmental causes. You can even send back your worn Patagonia gear, and they’ll repair and return it. The brand authenticity story peaked in 2022 when Chouinard, aged 83, placed the entire ownership of Patagonia in a trust designed to ensure that the company always stays true to the founding principles.

The origin story, DNA, and ownership structure of Patagonia allow it to be the gold standard. There are other examples too. Ben and Jerry’s is one of the best known.

Why authenticity gives healthcare brands a competitive edge

There are good reasons why healthcare brands should aspire to this purpose-driven style of authenticity.

Firstly, many healthcare brands claim to be mission or faith driven. If they can stay true to these drivers, they have a considerable advantage in the consumer’s heart and mind. As Jim Larmon, Chief Creative Officer of Unlock, says in “If it’s not interesting, it’s invisible — and that’s risky“:

[The] industry changes lives — literally saves them — every day. When you build your marketing around your organization’s mission and purpose, you have a significant advantage in making an emotional connection with your community.

Secondly, it’s what consumers and patients want. We know how consumers want to be treated. Patients today don’t want to be marketed to. They want to be seen. Understood. Cared for by systems that match their words with action.

That’s a challenge for any brand, but especially in healthcare, where distrust in institutions is at an all-time high. In healthcare, marketers have an advantage over other brands because they can generate authentic campaigns that highlight mission-based care, which is what patients want in the first place.

Authenticity, measured: 1,000 people reveal what they trust in healthcare — and what they don’t

At Unlock Health, we’ve long said that real matters. And now, we have the data to back it up.

We asked 1,000 healthcare decision-makers to define what authenticity looks like — and what makes a message believable. Their responses were clear: what consumers crave most is truthful, transparent, patient-first communication. The kind that owns imperfection and prioritizes people over polish.

These insights echo what Brandon Edwards writes in his book Authentic Healthcare Marketing:

In healthcare, you don’t get to fake it. If people don’t believe you, they won’t trust you. And if they don’t trust you, they won’t come to you for care.

This isn’t just theory — it’s urgent strategy. Because when we fail to meet the authenticity bar, patients don’t just disengage from our brands. They delay care. They walk away from health systems. And in many cases, they never return.

How authentic is your brand?

The survey revealed three questions every healthcare marketer and executive should be asking right now:

• Are we building trust or eroding it?
• Is our brand voice consistent with our patient experience?
• Can our marketing be both creative and believable?

Authentic healthcare marketing isn’t about perfection. It’s about alignment. Between your values and your voice. Between what you promise and what patients actually feel.

Want to see what your audience really believes?

Download our full survey, Authenticity in healthcare: a comprehensive 2025 report, and explore the results for yourself.

Unlock Health is a full-service marketing and communications agency that helps healthcare organizations make authentic connections with patients and communities. Every minute of every day, someone books services they need as a result of our work with clients.