Consumer perceptions of brand names

Abstract

Recently in the marketplace we have seen the use of punctuation marks in prominent brand names such as Yahoo!, Toys "R" Us, and Chick-fil-A. Whether an exclamation point, dashes, a greater than symbol, a question mark, or quotations, these brands have made the intentional choice to incorporate something different into their names. This irregularity causes us to pause and consider the brand's choice. Whether the addition of a punctuation mark produces any meaningful or measurable change for the firm employing its use has been previously unexplored in academia as no prior research has ever looked at this phenomena.

The purpose of a brand is essentially to differentiate the firm from its competitors. An effective brand name must then find a way to stand out from that of a competitor and to instill potential customers with positive associations about the firm it represents. The question for brands such as Yahoo! then becomes, is the addition of an exclamation point accomplishing this goal? More broadly, has this incorporation of punctuation marks made a meaningful difference in the success or failure of these brands? Can a punctuation mark prompt a specific response or perception from a consumer? Does a punctuation mark have the power to influence how consumers view and respond to brands? These questions highlight the importance of the present study.

In examining brand names and their usefulness, we draw from Keller's associative network theory to better understand how consumers are going to respond to punctuation in brand names (Keller, 1993). This theory illustrates the brand schema that is created in the minds of consumers as an array of associations branching out from the brand itself forming the cognitive basis for brands (Keller, 1993). From this, we know that every touchpoint the consumer has with a brand creates an association branching out from the brand, however we do not know what role punctuation plays in this psychological process. Among the extensive research surrounding brand names and their effect on consumer perceptions there is no mention of punctuation in brand names. Our study aimed to address this gap in brand name research.

For our experiment, we used an Amazon Mechanical Turk sample that was deemed representative of the U.S. population. Respondents were randomly shown one of four experimental conditions, which included either a punctuated brand name or its non-punctuated counterpart. They were next asked to indicate their feelings on how exciting, interesting, and fun they felt this brand name was. This study found that punctuation indeed has a measurable effect on consumers' perceptions of brand names. Respondents found brand names with an exclamation point to be more exciting, more fun, and more interesting than brand names without an exclamation point.