Firm Up with Consumers You’re a Family Firm

Restricting control of business operations to members of a single family can limit the size of the business. This shifts greater importance toward favorably distinguishing in consumers’ minds the image of the business from that of larger enterprises. Researchers at University of Bologna, The University of Adelaide, and University of Verona wondered in what ways marketing a family firm identity might augment this favorable distinction.
     For most of us, the concept of family does carry the association of long-term orientation, and the studies did document how this carried over to the image of a business known to be a family firm. Identity as a family firm also indicated to consumers that the business was socially responsible, strove for quality, and offered uniqueness.
     To varying degrees, these characteristics increased consumer trust and brand satisfaction across the study samples, consisting of wine consumers in Australia, Italy, and the U.S. However, for the Italians, long-term orientation was a positive, while for the Americans, long-term orientation was associated with lower consumer satisfaction. The researchers attribute this to an old-world country treasuring tradition, while Americans fear that long-term consistency means insensitivity to changing consumer needs.
     The researchers acknowledge the limitation of their inquiry to wine companies, but do show that the general conclusions are supported by studies covering a range of hedonic product categories. Talking of family control humanizes the business. Researchers at Babson College and University of Innsbruck suggest humanizing by using fonts which resemble hand printing on labels, ads, and signage. The researchers found that the use of these fonts enhanced the perception of a human connection with the shopper, resulting in more favorable brand evaluations and actions. However, this was true only for entities in which emotional attachment sells.
     Even when the product category is more utilitarian than hedonic, the success of humanizing operates through the emotional channel. In an East Carolina University and Hansei University study, two versions of a story in an ad for a fictitious luggage company differed only in these sentences: 

• I needed something different—and that's why I started a luggage company…. Dura. 
• I needed something different—and that's when I found out about Dura.

     Study participants exposed to the first version—the founder story—compared to those exposed to the second version, had more positive emotional responses. Still, both versions produced better emotional responses than did a version which gave just facts about the luggage.

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