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The Power of Brand Names [Series by Sophia University Associate Professor Taku Togawa Part 2]
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The Power of Brand Names [Series by Sophia University Associate Professor Taku Togawa Part 2]

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This series is written by Taku Togawa, an associate professor at the Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Economics, Sophia University, who researches “sensory marketing.” In this second article, he will explain the importance of brand names and the psychological mechanisms by which consumers choose brands, based on the results and precedents of research in which he has participated so far.

Brand naming is an important process in brand strategy, and is an element that has a large impact on the brand image and impression that customers have. Using specific examples, we will delve into how to select a brand name and how to use it effectively.

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Ota’s Isan is bought by Mr. Ota.


“Consumers with the surname Ota are more likely to choose Ota’s Isan when purchasing gastrointestinal medicines than consumers with other surnames.” It may seem like a sudden thing, but when someone says something like this, many people may suddenly find themselves unable to believe it.

In an industry-academia research project in which the author participated as a member, we were able to confirm this trend, albeit partially, through analysis of purchasing data (for details, see

Togawa, Isoda, Suzuki, & Onzo, 2023

). This study used sales data from a supermarket chain to analyze purchase history of comprehensive gastrointestinal medicines. The data included the last names of 15,967 customers who purchased comprehensive gastrointestinal medicines from the chain in one year, the name of the comprehensive gastrointestinal medicine items they purchased, and the number of items purchased.

The Power of Brand Names [Series by Sophia University Associate Professor Taku Togawa Part 2]

The analysis showed that the overall probability of choosing Ota’s Isan when purchasing a comprehensive gastrointestinal medicine was a little over 30%, but when looking only at consumers with the surname Ota, the probability was 49.3. %. Moreover, interestingly, there was a tendency for Ota’s Isan to be chosen more easily among consumers with the same surname as the product, rather than among consumers with the surname Ota or Tada.

At first glance, this may sound far-fetched. However, this tendency is actually called the name letter effect, and it is a behavior that has been theoretically supported. We will explain in detail why this effect occurred and what it means for business in the second half of this article.

In this second installment of the series, I would like to focus on brand names. Brand names have the potential to influence customer behavior without even realizing it. In this article, I will first introduce the importance of brand names and what has been revealed in recent academic research, and then explain the name letter effect mentioned earlier. I hope that I can provide some tips that can be used in business for marketers who are starting a new brand or reinforcing an existing brand.

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The Power of Brand Names [Series by Sophia University Associate Professor Taku Togawa Part 2]



Just a name, but a name



Naming is one of the most important aspects of brand strategy. Along with packages, logos, symbols, etc., names have been positioned as one of the brand elements that directly influences the image and impression of customers.

Many companies consider their brand name to be an important asset, often spending hundreds to tens of millions of yen to develop a single name. Conversely, when analyzing failure cases related to brand strategy, it is not uncommon to find that the cause was naming (

Hartley & Claycomb, 2013

).

The Power of Brand Names [Series by Sophia University Associate Professor Taku Togawa Part 2]

A brand name not only distinguishes a product from other competing products, but also plays the role of evoking a favorable image of the brand and promoting memory and understanding. McDonald’s puts the word “Mac” on all of its products, including Big Macs, McShakes, and Chicken McNuggets. This prevents the products from being recognized as mere shakes and gives each product a positive image associated with the McDonald’s brand (
Aaker, 2014
).

The deodorant brand Febreze is a coined word that combines the words “fabric,” meaning fiber or fabric, and “breeze,” meaning a breeze (
Krishna, 2013
). In English-speaking countries, this coined word can easily give an image of the experience and value of using the product.

The strategy of incorporating existing words into a name to reflect the meaning of the word in the brand image is also used in the Japanese market. The name of Coca-Cola Japan’s drinking water brand “I LOHAS” is a combination of the three letters “Iroha”, which are familiar to Japanese people, and LOHAS, which means a lifestyle with high environmental awareness and health consciousness. They were born as a result of the combination (

Advertising Asahi, 2010

). The brand has consistently been working towards the environment by reducing the environmental impact of its bottles by making them lighter, and by working to preserve forests that serve as water sources. However, even if you are not aware of these initiatives, just hearing the name “I LOHAS” will convey the brand’s concept.

Consumers are more likely to purchase a brand when they resonate with the brand’s philosophy. Hair care brand Botanist has a philosophy of “Botanical Lifestyle” (incorporating the bounty of plants into your life). By using the word botanical in its name, the company’s philosophy was understood and sympathized with, and it succeeded in gaining strong support in the highly competitive shampoo market (for details, see
Tanaka, 2023
).

When you see or hear a name, how the brand’s philosophy is conveyed and what kind of emotions and images are evoked are so important that it can almost be said to determine the fate of the brand.

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The Power of Brand Names [Series by Sophia University Associate Professor Taku Togawa Part 2]



Naming research


Academic research has revealed a variety of things about the characteristics of brand names and customer reactions.

For example, one of the most famous examples is the research results regarding rhyme. There are several types of rhyme, but a technique called repetition is used by many brands. 7-Eleven, TikTok, MacBook, Shake Shack, and KitKat are all examples of rhyming names known as repetitions. If you actually pronounce it, you will notice that the same rhythm is repeated.

Previous research conducted by Professor Jennifer Argo and colleagues at the University of Alberta has shown that people evaluate brands with names that have repeating rhymes more favorably than those with names that don’t. This effect did not occur when the names were read silently, but only when the names were read aloud. Based on this, it is thought that the vocal comfort felt when humming generates positive emotions, resulting in increased evaluation of the brand (

Argo et al., 2010

).

Some brand names intentionally use non-existent English words by changing the spelling of the original English words. For example, the photo-sharing community site Flickr uses the spelling of the English word flicker with the e removed. Examples include the ride-hailing app Lyft (replace the i in the English word lift with a y) and the microblogging service Tumblr (remove the e in the English word tumbler).

A recent study published by John Costello, an assistant professor at the University of Notre Dame, and colleagues found that these unconventional spellings generally lead to lower brand reputation (

Costello et al., 2023

). This is because using unconventional spellings can be perceived by consumers as “an attempt by marketers to overreach,” and lower their evaluation of the brand’s sincerity. However, these negative effects may occur if consumers perceive that the reasons for adopting the unconventional spelling are sincere (for example, if it is made clear that the brand name was adopted with consumer input). There wasn’t.

As mentioned earlier, the important role of a name is to convey some meaning or philosophy to consumers. Recent research has shown that long brand names evoke images of “luxury” (

Pathak et al., 2019

). Conversely, short brand names have been found to be associated with health in the food category (

Motoki & Pathak, 2022

). As mentioned in

the previous article

, given that vowels are associated with specific meanings (e.g., size, speed, strength, etc.), it is important to use sound symbols to select vowels that match product characteristics. It is also suggested that it is important.

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What is the name letter effect?


As mentioned at the beginning, the paper published by the authors revealed that preferences for brand names can change depending on the customer’s own surname. People tend to evaluate the brand favorably if the name contains the same characters as their own name, as was the case with Ota’s Isan for Mr. Ota.

This tendency can be understood as the “name letter effect,” which has long been discussed in social psychology. The name letter effect refers to the “tendency to favorably evaluate the letters in one’s own name” (

Jones et al., 2002

, p. 170), with the result that another object containing the letters (e.g. Favorable evaluations also spread to cities, occupations, and brands (

Pelham et al., 2002

).

Professor Brett Pelham, a social psychologist at Montgomery College, revealed this trend through 10 experiments and data analysis. For example, an analysis of the U.S. Social Security database found that women named Virginia were more likely to choose Virginia Beach as their place of residence than women with other names. A man named Philip chose Philadelphia as his place of residence over other men.

Image: Philadelphia skyline

Similarly, a statistical analysis of the directories of the American Dental Association and the American Bar Association found that there are many dentists whose names begin with Den, such as Dennis, and people whose names begin with the letter La, such as Laura. Many people with names starting with “lawyer”. The name letter effect has also been confirmed in recent psychological research (

Chatterjee et al., 2023

).

The name letter effect also occurs in a marketing context. Consumers evaluate brands favorably when the name contains the same characters as their own name (

Bredl et al., 2005

). Furthermore, a similar effect was confirmed on one’s own birthday. It has been revealed that consumers evaluate prices favorably when the characters in their name or birthday match the characters or values ​​in the price. For example, consumers with names starting with “F” such as Fred and Frank preferred the price of $55 (“fifty-five dollars”) over other prices. Similarly, consumers born on April 15 rated the price of $49.15 higher than other prices (

Coulter & Grewal, 2014

).

The reason why the name letter effect occurs is explained by concepts such as self-esteem and narcissism from social psychology. In general, people tend to view themselves in a positive light, such as being “capable” or “successful.” It is understood as a phenomenon in which people find not only themselves but also the characters that represent them favorable, and as a result, other objects (occupation, place of residence, brand, etc.) in which those characters are used are also viewed as favorable (

Jones et al. al., 2002

).

The Power of Brand Names [Series by Sophia University Associate Professor Taku Togawa Part 2]



Notation is important in Japanese


In Japanese, it is often expressed in the kanji of a person’s name. Therefore, even if Azuma is written in the surname column, it may be read as “Azuma” or “Higashi.” The notation “Uemura” can also be written as both “Uemura” and “Kamimura.” In the case of kanji notation, does the name letter effect occur even if the readings match, or does it occur when the spellings match?

In the paper published by the authors, we attempted to clarify this question as well. The results of the data analysis showed that, as mentioned above, the probability of choosing Ota’s Isan increased among customers with the surname Ota, but not among customers with the surname homonym (for example, Ota).

This is thought to be due to the characteristics of the characters. Psycholinguistic research shows that phonograms, such as the alphabet, represent pronunciation and are therefore processed as auditory information. On the other hand, ideograms such as kanji are processed as visual information, as the kanji “yama” is derived from the shape of a mountain (

Tavassoli & Lee, 2003

).

Therefore, in order for the name letter effect to occur in Japanese, it is necessary that the brand name and the customer’s last name match in terms of kanji notation.

The Power of Brand Names [Series by Sophia University Associate Professor Taku Togawa Part 2]



How to use the name letter effect


A while ago, Coca-Cola became a hot topic when it released bottles with their names on them. Some people may have found a label with the name of themselves or someone close to them printed on it and bought it without thinking.


These kinds of personalized campaigns are often held. Recently, Lotte ran a campaign to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the release of “Koala’s March” by putting 500 different names on sweets (
click here
for details). By promoting such branded products in campaigns, etc., it is possible to increase the probability that the product will be purchased.

Many brand names include people’s names, including not only Ota Isan, but also Ito Seipan, Yamazaki Seipan, Honda, and Suzuki. Considering the name letter effect, if a surname is widely seen in general, incorporating it into a brand name may elicit a favorable response from more customers.

The name letter effect can also be taken into account when conducting campaigns and sales promotions using flyers and direct mail. If the brand being promoted includes a person’s name, it would be possible to increase efficiency by sending promotional materials focused on customers who match the name, compared to sending promotional materials indiscriminately.

Of course, the name letter effect does not occur universally in all situations. Although the authors were not able to elucidate this in their paper, the effect may vary depending on how rare the customer’s last name is. Or, some people may have feelings of homophobia, such as, “I don’t want to buy it because it has the same last name as me.” Further research is needed to determine what types of people and situations are particularly likely to produce the name letter effect.

＊＊＊

In this article, we have discussed the importance and role of brand names, starting with the name letter effect. Because naming requires inspiration and flair, it tends to be thought of as having a strong artistic character. Although this is not a mistake, if you look at the phonetic characteristics, spelling, degree of match with the customer’s last name, etc. in detail, you can see that it is a science with certain rules.

Recently, by using generative AI, it has become possible to suggest highly complete names. However, current technology has not yet reached a stage where humans do not need to be involved at all. At the very least, human power is required in the process of making minor adjustments to the names devised by AI and deciding on adoption. We hope that the research findings mentioned above will serve as a basis for marketers when making naming decisions.

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The Power of Brand Names [Series by Sophia University Associate Professor Taku Togawa Part 2]

References