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Name Research
Brand Name Research
The brand name is a “bucket” that you hope to fill with goodwill
and positive feelings about your product over time. The brand name is memory
linkage to your product and is an identifier that distinguishes your brand from
all other brands. Needless to say, the brand name is a critical marketing variable
in virtually all product categories. It is most important to avoid a bad brand
name, such as a name no one can remember, or a name that does not fit the product,
or a name that reminds consumers of some other product. That’s why research
is so vital.
The starting point for developing a new brand name is qualitative research.
What are the most important consumer motivations related to the product category?
What motives and perceptions drive the brand-decision process? How are each
of the major competitive brand names perceived? What do competitive brand names
communicate? Based on this qualitative understanding, what should be the communication
objectives for the new brand name? Qualitative research is somewhat useful in
screening large numbers of possible brand names, and helpful in refining and
developing new brand-name possibilities.
One approach is to let consumers help develop brand-name possibilities. Once
basic consumer motivations and perceptions are understood via qualitative research,
consumers can be used to help generate hundreds of brand-name possibilities.
Not just any consumers will do, however. Highly creative individuals are the
key. They can help create new brand names that fulfill the communication objectives.
Decision Analyst maintains a panel of over 2,000 highly creative people (called
Imaginators®), who work in small groups, online or offline, to generate
hundreds, or even thousands, of brand-name possibilities. Decision Analyst’s
Insights & Innovation Team then uses these brand-name suggestions as starter
ideas to create even more brand names. At this point, the number of brand names
is generally whittled down to 50 or 100, based on human judgment and the communication
objectives. The final steps involve quantitative testing.
Brand NameScreen®
The product-naming process typically begins with the creation of a large number
of potential names. NameScreen® is our online system to identify the best
names. Respondents review, sort, and rate the 50 to 100 brand-name candidates.
The 5 to 10 highest-rated names are recommended for further development and
testing, usually in context of a product test, package test, or concept test.
Brand Name Testing
The final testing would typically involve placing the new product with its
new brand name in a shelf-set display, to measure which of several brand names
is most effective in stimulating interest in buying and using the new product.
This can also be accomplished through concept testing, or product testing, where
the only difference among different sample cells is the brand name. By holding
all of the other variables constant, the effect of the name itself can be measured.
Brand Name Research
Decision Analyst is a leading international marketing research firm and a recognized
leader in brand name research. If you would like more information on Brand Name
Research, please contact Jerry W. Thomas, President/CEO (jthomas@decisionanalyst.com),
or call 1-800-ANALYSIS (262-5974) or 1-817-640-6166.
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