Research Idea: What’s in a brand name?

Brand salience is the key to brand performance.

While we have a solid understanding of the importance of brand logos, characters, and colours, we are yet to fully understand the importance of a brand name fully. 

To improve our understanding, research is needed that incorporates linguistic assets such as phonetics (sounds), etymology (roots of words) and rhetoric (persuasive discourse) into a conceptual framework that establishes how brand names affects brand performance. 

For instance, does the alliteration (and the "c' sound) of Coca-cola give it an advantage over Pepsi?

Does having ‘Nature’ in a vitamin name give it an advantage? Or is it a disadvantage when multiple brands contain ‘Nature’? Do names that include a category descriptor (e.g., tele for brands in the telecommunications category) help build stronger brand recognition? 

What about irreverent brand names like ‘Who gives a crap’, does this have a positive or negative effect? 

Your research could combine data analytics, literature reviews, focus groups and media analysis, to explore how meaningful brand names are built and how it can add value to consumer experiences.

If you're interested in marketing, you may consider undertaking an Honours project on this topic.