Does a name really matter ?

In 1969 while speaking at a small scientific conference, Sir Roger Penrose, a Cambridge physicist announced his disco ery of what he called a !gra itationally totally collapsed ob"ect#! $he world yawned# %onths later, he changed his description to a !&lack 'ole! and the news of his disco ery raced around the world# $oday, the term &lack 'ole is a part of the world(s working ocabulary# )hat is the difference between a !gra itationally totally collapsed ob"ect! and a !&lack 'ole*! $o us, e erything# )e can(t understand, nor do we care about a collapsed ob"ect# &ut a &lack 'ole is something ery different# It is pro ocati e, intriguing, e+citing, and conceptual# %ost important, it is belie able# If someone tells you that a name really doesn(t matter, tell them about a &lack 'ole# $ell them that a name does matter# ,nderstanding the marketplace in which your company competes and working with you to de elop the con ersation you want to ha e with your customers is fundamental to our success and to yours# - great name is a ! essel! that allows you to tell a story, deli er an idea or make a promise# - great name uses semantics, sound symbolism, and phonetics to deli er a message and a personality all in less than a second#

Evaluation Tools

Sound Symbolism If you are creating a new brand, take note. traditional meaning is only one part of the communication e/uation# 'ere(s a simple pu00le# )hich one of the two nonsense words taketa and naluma do you think goes with each of these pictures* If you(re like irtually e eryone else, you(ll pair taketa with the angular illustration and naluma with the cur ed one# $hat(s because all the consonants in taketa are what linguists call obstruents, and all the consonants in naluma are sonorants# 1bstruents are percei ed as harder and more masculine2 sonorants as softer and more feminine# Consider the two brand names Cloro+, a hard3working laundry product, and Chanel, a perfume, and you(ll get the idea# )elcome to the world of sound symbolism, a concept whose implications linguists ha e debated for years# In an economy where global brands are the norm rather than the e+ception, a greater understanding of sound symbolism will be able to achie e the ob"ecti e of !a uni ersal language of the brand#! Anatomy of a name !4ima! is the Russian word for !winter#! Russian odka is the /uintessential clear alcoholic be erage associated with both the aristocracy and the common man#

Syllable structure# $wo perfect syllables, each consisting of a consonant 5C6 and a owel 576# $he resulting prosodic shape of this name 5C7C76 is the uni ersally preferred shape for words in all languages# Stressed syllable 80ee9 plus stressless syllable 8ma9# $his is one of three ways of making a nickname in :nglish# $his allows the name to be easily personali0ed# Since it already sounds like a nickname, 4ima becomes a

great bar3call# 4ima has nothing but straight, angular letters 5no 1, R, S, &, ;, etc#6# $his orthographic structure reinforces the clarity, light taste and simplicity of the be erage# Linguistics - name will e oke a wealth of reactions and associations in a population of di erse interests and e+periences# $hus, it is important to be aware of the e+pressi e power of names in arious languages and the aesthetic effects produced by sound and spelling patterns and to predict the kind of semantic associations that are likely to result from word forms# $hat is where linguistics plays its most essential role# Methodologies $he methodologies used by linguists and psychologists employ e+cursions that put names into a richer and more isual<tactile conte+t than the actual product category# ;epending on the needs of the assignment, techni/ues can be implemented in one3on3one in3person inter iews, con ersation groups, or in a /uantitati e study 5including web3based sur eys6# $he form of the study will influence which of the following techni/ues are employed# Polarity Profiles %onadic profile of each candidate on a set of appro+imately 1= polar opposites, e#g# >riendly 3 ,nfriendly, >ast 3 Slow, -d anced 3 $raditional, etc# $he results are compared to an !ideali0ed! profile for the brand name# Analogy Excursions Profiling candidates in an analogous but more !e+periential! category, e#g# looking at food brand names as if they were restaurants# Attribute Profiles Comparati e techni/ue using forced choice /uestions such as !)hich brand sounds the friendliest*! $ypically you de elop rankings based on ?3 1= customi0ed attributes# In a /uantitati e study, significant differences are identified# Appropriateness Ratings on an appropriateness scale for the product under discussion#