Authentic, Human, Trustworthy:
Qualities we reward in the brands we buy
Brand Authenticity: Manufacturing site matters
Many brands, as they grow from local icons to more global players, have added production sites in different countries. Such moves could be driven by lower manufacturing costs, capacity issues in the original location or closeness to important markets.
How do consumers react upon learning that products are manufactured at sites that differ from what they perceive to be the “original”? For example, many shoppers expect Levi‘s Jeans to be from San Francisco, Guinness beer to originate from St James‘ Gate brewery in Dublin and Godiva chocolate to be crafted in Belgium. The experiments show a substantial loss in perceived value and a significant drop in willingness-to-pay. The main explanation for the effect is that the brand loses some of its essence. The original site is contagious which renders products manufactured there more authentic and valuable.
If brands are still manufacturing at their original location, they should exploit this effect: Consumers believe in higher levels of craftsmanship, the spirit of the founder or more experience by the workers.
More human – less fair?
Brand anthropomorphization is the association of a brand with human-like characteristics, motivations, and behaviours. This link is often purposefully established to enable closer relationships between consumers and brands (think of car fronts that look like faces or cartoon characters representing the brand).
A recent study shows that such a strategy impacts consumers’ perceived price ‘fairness’: consumers develop greater negative reactions to a price increase when the brand is humanized. They also show higher levels of price sensitivity towards more humanized brands (see figure for some examples). Interestingly, men react even more negatively to price increases of humanized brands than females. Companies relying on humanized branding strategies should prepare communication strategies to explain their motives when raising prices.
Want to come across more human? Use handwritten typefaces!
Manufacturers increasingly emphasize humanness in their packaging design by using typefaces that appear handwritten. Think of brands like Lindt with its Hello Chocolate bars, Rachel’s yoghurts or Urban Bakery cookies. A recent academic study examines how such humanization impacts consumer choice:
- Products with a handwritten typeface on the packaging were purchased more frequently compared to products relying on machine-written typefaces.
- 30% of all respondents actually purchased crisp-bread using a handwritten typeface on the packaging vs. only 6% buying the same crisp-bread but with a machine-written typeface.
- Consumers evaluated products using handwritten typefaces more favourable: handwritten fonts signal human presence leading to stronger emotional attachment to the product.
- If consumers lack emotional attachment products that signal sensual pleasures benefit most from handwritten type-faces whereas machine-written fonts support a more functional positioning.
Human-like designs and handwritten typefaces are an effective and easy-to-implement humanization strategy to impact shoppers’ behaviours. Especially new brands or brands that lack attachment can use this strategy to build emotional connection with consumers.
