Issues Associated with Effective Brand Names

When considering criteria for brand name effectiveness, there is much to be gained by drawing on the experience of other marketers. Some of the guideline to be found there includes –

The brand name should be simple The aim should be to have short names that are easy to read and understand. Consumers have finite mental capacities and find it easier to encode short words in memory. This is the reason why names with four syllables or more are usually contracted. Listening to consumers talk clarifies the way that long brand names are simplified (e.g. Pepsi rather than Pepsi Cola, Lewis’s rather than John Lewis). When consumers get emotionally closer to brands, they are more likely to contract the name, for example, Mercedes becomes Merc.

The brand name should be distinctive Brand names such as Kodak and Adidas create a presence through the distinctive sound of the letters and the novelty of the word. This creates attention and the resulting curiosity motivates potential’ consumers to be more attentive to brand attributes.

The brand name should be meaningful Names that communicate consumer benefits facilitate consumers’ interpretations of brands. Creativity should be encouraged at the expense of being too correct. A battery branded ‘Reliable’ would communicate its capability, but would not attract as much attention as the more interesting ‘Die Hard’. The brand name should also support the positioning objectives for the brand, e.g. Crown Paints.

The brand name should be compatible with the product The appropriateness of the name Timex with watches is more than apparent, reinforcing the meaningfulness of the brand name. However, marketers should beware of becoming too focused on specific benefits of the product, especially in a mature market. Orange offered a dramatic and refreshing alternative in a sector where the tradition of brand naming was built on suffixes ‘tel’ and ‘corn’, such as Betacom, Vodacom and Cabletel.

Emotion helps for certain products For those product fields where consumers seek brands primarily because they say something about the purchaser, as for example in the perfume market, emotional names can succeed. Examples here include Poison and Opium.

The brand name should be legally protectable. To help protect the brand against imitators, a search should be undertaken to identify whether the brand name is available and, if so, whether it is capable of being legally registered.

Develop names that allow flexibility The hope of any marketer is for brand success and eventually a widening portfolio, of supporting brands to better satisfy the target market. Over time more experienced consumers seek a widening array of benefits so, if possible, the name should allow the brand to adapt to changing market needs. For example, with the recognition of the reliability of Caterpillar Tractors, the company wished to diversify further into the earthmoving equipment market, but the word ‘Tractor’ blocked diversification. By dropping this word, Caterpillar was better able to diversify.

Develop names, which are internationally valid, It is essential to establish during the naming process what geographical coverage the brand will assume. When a name is intended for only one nation or one culture, the cultural associations linked to it are immediately evident. Whenever the brand name spans different languages and cultures, it becomes more difficult to forecast customers’ responses. For instance, the Spanish coffee Bonka has different implications in the UK market from those intended in Spain.

Once a decision has been taken about the brand name and the brand has been launched, the firm should audit the name on a regular basis. This will show whether or not the meaning of the brand name has changed over time as a result in changes in the market place. If the environment has changed to such an extent that the firm is missing opportunities by persisting with the original name, then consideration should be given to changing the name. For example, Mars saw economies of scale with a unified pan-European brand name strategy and changed the name Marathon to Snickers in order to capitalize on this.