scholarly journals ADVERTISING BRANDS BY MEANS OF SOUNDS SYMBOLISM: THE INFLUENCE OF VOWELS ON PERCEIVED BRAND CHARACTERISTICS

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alina Catalina Duduciuc
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Current Practice ◽  
Semantic Differential ◽  
Brand Names ◽  
Sound Symbolism ◽  
Brand Name ◽  
Front Vowel ◽  
Applied Social Psychology ◽  
Back Vowel ◽  
And Performance

The aim of this study is to test the influence of sound symbolism on perceived characteristics of a brand as well as to highlight the importance of applied social psychology to current practice of advertising. Previous research showed that the phonetic structure of brand name communicates its characteristics, i.e. it drives consumers to assess certain features and performance of the product. I assumed that when consumers encounter an unknown brand name, they automatically infer characteristics from the meaning conveyed by the sounds (e.g. phonemes). Therefore, I supposed that a brand name for a shampoo (artificially created on experimental purpose) containing back vowel is evaluated better by consumers when they compare it to another brand name with front vowels. Furthermore, for the accuracy of responses, I used the semantic differential scale to measure the differences between two brands in terms of certain attributes of product. To this end, fifty students (N=50) participated in a research based on questionnaire. As the results of the current research showed, the brand name with back vowel outnumbered the brand name with front vowel on two dimension, i.e. on brand activity and brand efficiency. The brand name containing front vowel was rated better when subjects evaluated the product in generally. Last, but not least, when it comes to convey meanings, the sound of back vowels [a] could be used more when marketers promote products that communicate its characteristics such as efficiency, velocity and health. The back vowel could be also assessed to products with larger packing or special sailing such as extra quantity. Meanwhile, the brand names with front vowels [ie] could be created for more expensive products with good quality, mainly addressed to men.

scholarly journals BRAND NAMING: SOUND SYMBOLISM, BRAND PREFERENCE AND BRAND PERFORMANCE

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alina Catalina Duduciuc ◽  
Loredana Ivan
Keyword(s):  
Applied Research ◽  
Brand Names ◽  
Sound Symbolism ◽  
Brand Preference ◽  
Brand Name ◽  
Brand Performance ◽  
Front Vowel ◽  
Experimental Purpose ◽  
And Performance

The aim of this study is to highlight the importance of sound symbolism for Romanian marketing and advertising applied research. Previous research showed that the phonetic structure of brand name communicates its characteristics, i.e. it drives consumers to assess certain features and performance of the product. We assumed that when consumers encounter an unknown brand name, they automatically infer characteristics from the meaning conveyed by the sounds (e.g. phonemes). Therefore, we supposed that a brand name for a shampoo (artificially created on experimental purpose) containing back vowels is evaluated better by consumers when they compare it to another brand name with front vowels. Furthermore, we tested the influence of the stops and fricatives consonants in inferring certain attributes of product. To this end, fifty nine students (N=59) participated in a research based on questionnaire. The results revealed that subjects evaluated better the brand names containing back vowels than brand names with front vowel. No effect was obtained regarding the presence of stops and fricatives consonants in assessing the brand performance.

EXPRESS: Is Nestlé a Lady? The Feminine Brand Name Advantage

2021 ◽  
pp. 002224292199306
Author(s):  
Ruth Pogacar ◽  
Justin Angle ◽  
Tina M. Lowrey ◽  
L. J. Shrum ◽  
Frank R. Kardes
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Conditions ◽  
Brand Names ◽  
Brand Name ◽  
Brand Performance ◽  
The Feminine ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Typical User

A brand name’s linguistic characteristics convey brand qualities independent of the name’s denotative meaning. For instance, name length, sounds, and stress can signal masculine or feminine associations. This research examines the effects of such gender associations on three important brand outcomes: attitudes, choice, and performance. Across six studies using both observational analyses of real brands and experimental manipulations of invented brands the authors show that linguistically feminine names increase perceived warmth, which improves brand outcomes. Feminine brand names enhance attitudes and choice share–both hypothetically and consequentially–and are associated with better brand performance. The authors establish boundary conditions, showing that the feminine brand name advantage is attenuated when the typical user is male and when products are utilitarian.

scholarly journals Are Tims hot and Toms not?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franziska Hartung
Keyword(s):  
Sound Symbolism ◽  
Vowel Quality ◽  
Front Vowel ◽  
Functional Feature ◽  
Physical Size ◽  
Gender Group ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Back Vowel ◽  
The Relationship

Sound symbolism – the idea that there are motivated links between the sound of a word and its meaning has been established to be an existing phenomenon across different languages. Especially size sound symbolism seems to be a functional feature in many languages meaning that different types of vowels in words are associated with different physical size. Words with front vowels (e.g. little, tiny) are more likely to be used to indicate small physical size whereas words with back vowels (e.g. humungous, huge) are more likely to indicate large physical size. Because physical size plays an important role in ratings of attractiveness, we tested whether vowels in first names can influence how attractive the bearer of the name is perceived. In our experiment, participants saw faces paired with popular first names and rated the attractiveness of the depicted person. Masculine names were paired with pictures of men and feminine names with pictures of women. The names either contained a front or back vowel in the accented syllable and were within gender group randomly paired with pictures. We found that female raters preferred faces paired with back vowel names while male raters preferred faces paired with front vowel names, showing that the rater's gender – far more than the gender of the depicted person – determined the relationship between vowel quality and perceived attractiveness of faces. Our results confirm the role of sound symbolism in perception of attractiveness.

Examining the brand name – mark relationship in emerging markets

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (4/5) ◽  
pp. 262-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard R Klink ◽  
Gerard A. Athaide
Keyword(s):  
Emerging Markets ◽  
Emerging Market ◽  
Brand Names ◽  
Sound Symbolism ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Brand Name ◽  
Intended Meaning ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Marks ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to investigate whether the brand name–mark sound symbolism relationship extends beyond US marketplaces to emerging markets. Sound symbolism research indicates that consistent brand name meaning can be conveyed across international marketplaces. Yet, prior work has not investigated whether visual branding elements provide consistent meaning across such contexts. Design/methodology/approach – To contrast effects across international contexts, we replicate both studies of Klink (2003) with bilingual subjects in Mumbai, India. Study 1 examined whether the sound symbolic relationship between brand name and brand mark holds in this emerging market. Study 2 investigated whether both the brand name and brand mark together can enhance brand meaning in this context. Findings – Study 1 finds support for the relationship between higher-frequency brand names and brand marks that are angular and smaller in size, with limited support regarding color. Study 2 finds a significant effect for brand marks and a marginally significant effect for brand names on conveying intended meaning. Originality/value – The authors confirm the relationship between the brand mark and brand name; however, color meaning may be less universal than prior theory and research indicates. In addition, the effect of the brand name on conveying sound symbolism meaning may be less important than visual branding elements in emerging markets. Hence, future research may wish to include additional branding elements in experimental stimuli when testing sound symbolism theory.

Consonants in brand names influence brand gender perceptions

2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 101-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amelie Guevremont ◽  
Bianca Grohmann
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Brand Personality ◽  
Brand Names ◽  
Sound Symbolism ◽  
Brand Name ◽  
Personality Dimensions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Marketing Literature ◽  
Gender Perceptions ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – This paper examines to what extent consonants in brand names influence consumers’ perceptions of feminine and masculine brand personality. Design/methodology/approach – Four experiments empirically test the influence of consonants on feminine and masculine brand personality. The experiments involve different sets of new brand names, variations regarding the consonants tested (the stops k and t, the fricatives f and s), as well as different locations of the focal consonant in the brand name. Findings – Consonants influence consumers’ brand perceptions: brand masculinity is enhanced by stops (rather than fricatives), and brand femininity is enhanced by fricatives (rather than stops). Consonants specifically affect feminine and masculine brand personality, but not other brand personality dimensions. Consumers’ responses to brand names and resulting brand gender perceptions (i.e. likelihood to recommend) were moderated by salience of masculinity or femininity as a desirable brand attribute. Practical implications – This research has implications for brand name selection: consonants are effective in creating a specifically masculine or a feminine brand personality. Originality/value – This research is the first to specifically link consonants and feminine/masculine brand personality. By specifically examining consonants, this research extends the marketing literature on sound symbolism that is characterized by a focus on vowels effects. This research is also the first to address whether the position of the focal phoneme in the brand name matters.

Communicating product size using sound and shape symbolism

2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 472-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stacey M Baxter ◽  
Jasmina Ilicic ◽  
Alicia Kulczynski ◽  
Tina Lowrey
Keyword(s):  
Sound Symbolism ◽  
Vowel Sound ◽  
Brand Name ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Product Attributes ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Logo Design ◽  
Back Vowel ◽  
Symbolic Cues ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate children’s perception of a product’s physical attribute (size) when presented with brand elements (brand name and brand logo) manipulated using sound and shape symbolism principles (brand name sounds and brand logo shape), across children of different developmental ages. Design/methodology/approach – The relationship between sounds and shapes was examined in a pilot study. A 2 × 2 experiment was then undertaken to examine the effect of brand name characteristics (front vowel sound versus back vowel sound) and brand logo design (angular versus curved) on children’s (from 5 to 12 years) product-related judgments. Findings – Older children use non-semantic brand stimuli as a means to infer physical product attributes. Specifically, only older children are able to perceive a product to be smaller (larger) when the product is paired with a brand name containing a front (back) vowel sound or an angular (curved) brand logo (single symbolic cue). We illustrate that brand logo-related shape symbolism effects are weaker and appear later in age when compared with brand name-related sound symbolism effects. Further, younger children are able to infer product attribute meaning when exposed to two symbolic cues (that is, brand name and brand logo). Practical implications – When selecting an inventive brand element, consideration should be given to the relationship between the vowel sounds contained in a brand’s name and product attributes, and also the shape of the brand’s logo and product attributes. Originality/value – This is the first experiment undertaken to examine the combination of brand name- and brand logo-related symbolism effects in the context of children. We demonstrate that age-based bounds may be overcome through the provision of multiple symbolic cues.

scholarly journals Preprint Are Tims hot and Toms not?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Klenovsak ◽  
Franziska Hartung ◽  
Luenya Santiago ◽  
Dietmar Zaefferer
Keyword(s):  
Sound Symbolism ◽  
Vowel Quality ◽  
Front Vowel ◽  
Functional Feature ◽  
Physical Size ◽  
Gender Group ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Back Vowel ◽  
The Relationship

Sound symbolism – the idea that there are motivated links between the sound of a word and its meaning has been established to be an existing phenomenon across different languages. Especially size sound symbolism seems to be a functional feature in many languages meaning that different types of vowels in words are associated with different physical size. Words with front vowels (e.g. little, tiny) are more likely to be used to indicate small physical size whereas words with back vowels (e.g. humungous, huge) are more likely to indicate large physical size. Because physical size plays an important role in ratings of attractiveness, we tested whether vowels in first names can influence how attractive the bearer of the name is perceived. In our experiment, participants saw faces paired with popular first names and rated the attractiveness of the depicted person. Masculine names were paired with pictures of men and feminine names with pictures of women. The names either contained a front or back vowel in the accented syllable and were within gender group randomly paired with pictures. We found that female raters preferred faces paired with back vowel names while male raters preferred faces paired with front vowel names, showing that the rater's gender – far more than the gender of the depicted person – determined the relationship between vowel quality and perceived attractiveness of faces. Our results confirm the role of sound symbolism in perception of attractiveness.

Branding and Linguistic Anthropology: Brand Names, Indexical Fields, and Sound Symbolism

2014 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-41
Author(s):  
Andrew Wong
Keyword(s):  
Linguistic Anthropology ◽  
Brand Names ◽  
Sound Symbolism ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Front Vowel ◽  
Related Information ◽  
The World ◽  
Anthropological Research

While the last few decades have witnessed a growing interest in the value of sociocultural anthropology to marketing and advertising (e.g., Sherry 1995; Sunderland and Denny 2007), linguistic anthropology has received significantly less attention from marketing theorists and practitioners. One notable exception is linguistic and linguistic-anthropological research on sound symbolism (e.g., Nuckolls 1999). Sound symbolism is the idea that speech sounds (i.e., vowels and consonants) by themselves convey meanings. For instance, the high front vowel [i] has been found to suggest small size to speakers of different languages around the world. Marketers have taken notice of ideas like this and used them to develop brand names that highlight brand- and product-related information.

scholarly journals The influence of dialect in sound symbolic size perception

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Andrew Shibata
Keyword(s):  
American English ◽  
Sound Symbolism ◽  
Size Perception ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Object Size ◽  
Front Vowel ◽  
Reading Task ◽  
Back Vowel ◽  
Listening Task ◽  
Referent Object

Prior research on sound symbolism and referent object size establishes that words with front vowels are perceived to refer to smaller objects than do back vowels (Ohala 1997; Klink 2000). Some dialects of American English exhibit vowel movement along the front-back axis which may influence perceived object size. This study focuses on California English /u/-fronting (Hinton et al. 1987) and predicts that shifting from a standardly back vowel [u] to a more front vowel [ʉ] is paired with a shift from a large perceived object size to a smaller perceived object size. This paper describes two experiments in which participants either silently read (reading task) or listened (listening task) to stimulus words and rated perceived object size. California English speakers in the reading task experiment perceived words with /u/ to be smaller than did non-California English speakers. This result suggests that sound symbolic perception is sensitive to fine phonetic variability due to a person’s dialect.

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