Creating brand identity: a study of evaluation of new brand names

This research focuses on branding strategies for new products. Meaningful brand names (those that suggest a positive attribute or benefit of the product) are typically evaluated more favorably on overall liking and are easier to recall than non-meaningful brand names. The study reported here is the first such investigation of evaluation of brand names over repeated exposure. Of particular interest are differences in the extent to which meaningful versus non-meaningful brand names benefit from repeated exposure. Results of the study show that meaningful brand names continue to be evaluated more favorably than non-meaningful names, even after repeated exposure, but that evaluations of non-meaningful brand names may improve at a greater rate than those for meaningful brand names. The brand names also influence evaluations of quality and other product attributes. Implications of the research for branding strategies in both domestic and international markets are discussed.