브랜드네이밍의 전략 (STRATEGICALLY DESIRABLE BRAND NAME CHARACTERISTICS)

STRATEGICALLY DESIRABLE BRAND NAME CHARACTERISTICS

Kim Robertson

Inherent brand name characteristics leading to memorable names which support the desired product image are presented for the manager. This exposition of strategically desirable brand name characteristics is based upon a review of relevant psychological, linguistic, and marketing literature.

---

1. 브랜드네임은 간단해야 한다.

1. The brand name should be a simple word.

Often consumers themselves will simplify a more complex brand name. For example, a Chevrolet becomes a Chevy, a Corvette becomes a Vette, Coca-Cola becomes Coke and Pan American Airlines becomes Pan Am.

 

Examples of simple brand names are Aim, Raid, Edge, Bold, Sure, Off, Jif, Ban, Bic, and Tide,

 

2. 브랜드네임은 독특한 단어여야 한다.

2. The brand name should be a distinctive word.

Examples of distinctive brand names often cited are Apple, Mustang, Xerox, Kodak, and Exxon.

 

3. 브랜드네임은 의미있는 단어여야 한다.

3. The brand name should be a meaningful word.

Thus, brand names such as Slender (versus Metrecal) Die-Hard (versus Delco), Budget (versus Avis), and Sprint (versus MCI) should demonstrate an innate memory advantage.

 

4. 브랜드네임은 제품과 언어적, 음성적으로 연관되어야 한다.

4. The brand name should be a verbal or sound associate of the product class.

Examples of brand names that demonstrate this desirable characteristic are L'eggs (pantyhose), Craftsman (tools), Check-Up (toothpaste), Alley Cat (cat food), and Coin (financial services).

 

5. 브랜드네임은 '심상(mental image)'를 유도해야 한다.

5. The brand name should elicit a mental image.

Concrete nouns, with tangible, visual referents (e.g., "dog") more easily elicit these mental images than abstract nouns (e.g., "justice"). Therefore, concrete brand names such as Dove, Mustang, Rabbit, and Apple should inherently be more easily learned and/or retrieved from memory than abstract names such as Pledge, Tempo, Ban or Bold.

 

6. 브랜드네임은 정서적인 단어여야 한다.

6. The brand name should be an emotional word.

Practical marketing literature seems to recognize the desirability of emotional names by referencing "good" name characteristics such as the name having strong positive associations or connotations, engendering good effective feeling, arousing pleasant emotions, being pleasant sounding, and having strong symbolism.5, 15, 21, 26 Examples of such emotional names are Joy, Caress, Kiss, Love, My Sin,, and Opium.

 

7. 브랜드네임은 반복적인 소리를 활용해야 한다.

7. The brand name should make use of the repetitive sounds generated by alliteration, assonance, consonance, rhyme, and rhythm.

There are numerous brand names incorporating some type of repetitive sound. Some examples of such names include: Cascade, Solo, Crispy Critters, Rolls-Royce, Pampers, Deep Dish Danish, Max-Pax, Lean Cuisine, Gloss 'n Toss, and Shake 'n Bake.

 

8. 브랜드네임은 형태소(morphemes)를 활용해야 한다.

8. The brand name should make use of morphemes.

Such a morpheme-based approach to generating brand names has indeed been used4, 5, 33. For example, the brand names Compaq, Sentra, and Lucite were developed using English morpheme combinations. However, anytime a morpheme combination approach is used to build a brand name, it is critical to establish the target market's perceived meaning of the new name. While linguistic scholars may uniformly agree that the Greek root Nike, for example, means "victory," there is no guarantee that a consumer exposed to the running shoe brand name Nike is going to incorporate the concept of "victory" into his or her meaning perceptions.

 

9. 브랜드네임은 음소(phonemes)를 활용해야 한다.

9. The brand name should make use of phonemes.

For example, when asked to place "mal" and "mil" (differing only in the vowel phoneme /a/ or /i/) along the semantic dimension of size, about 80 percent of subjects agree that "mal" represents a large object and "mil" a smaller object.32 For example, the slogan "we sell the biggest burgers in town" encourages evaluation along the semantic dimension of size. If the desired brand image is one of big burgers, a brand name such as Mal Burgers is more likely to support that image than the name Mil Burgers.

 

음소 활용의 예

(1) 크기 Size: 

high, front vowel sounds (i,e) connote a small size while low, back vowel sounds (a,o,u) indicate a large size (e.g., Zee versus Koss);

(2) 움직임 Movement: 

high, front vowel sounds indicate dynamic movement while low, back vowel sounds are associated with slow or "heavy"movement, and the consonant combination sl indicates a gliding or slipping movement;

(3) 모양 Shape: 

the acute sounds associated with the high, front vowel sounds indicate sharp, angular shapes while the flat sounds associated with low, back vowel sounds indicate roundish shapes;

(4) 광택 Luminosity: 

high, front vowel sounds and the consonants k, s, and I indicate light while the low, back vowel sounds and the consonants d, m, gr, and br connote darkness;

(5) 젊음 Youth: 

the consonants j, g, ch, and the semi-vowels y and w connote youthfulness and joy (as in Joya and Jovan);

(6) 성 Gender: 

masculinity is associated with plosive and guttural sounds (as in "tiger" or "cougar") and with the low, back vowel sounds, while femininity is associated with the soft sibilants s and c, weak f sounds and the high, front vowel sounds (e.g., Silk-Ease, Zepher, and Cerissa.

---

The Authors

Kim Robertson, Assistant Professor in the Department of Business Administration at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas

Acknowledgements

Note: This paper was subsequently published in Journal of Product & Brand Management, Volume 1 Number 3, 1992.

Abstract

Considers psychological, linguistic and marketing aspects of brand name characteristics. Presents the inherent brand name characteristics which lead to memorable names that support the desired product image. Concludes that brand names should be simple, distinctive, meaningful, emotional, make use of morphemes, phonemes, alliteration, consonance, and should make a sound associate of product class, as well as being legally protectable; a well-planned brand name will require less marketing money to achieve recall and image targets.

Article Type:

 

Keyword(s):

 

Brand names; Language; Marketing strategy; Psychology.

Journal:

 

Journal of Consumer Marketing

Volume:

 

6

Number:

 

4

Year:

 

1989

pp:

 

61-71

Copyright ©

 

MCB UP Ltd

ISSN:

 

0736-3761