Creating Global Brand Names: The Use of Sound Symbolism

ABSTRACT

Creating meaningful brand names for international markets can be particularly challenging because translation may distort intended meaning. To mitigate this issue, marketers can imbue meaning into a brand name with sound symbolism, which refers to the direct linkage between sound and meaning. The aim of this article is to examine whether sound symbolism effects are maintained after translating a brand name from English to Hindi. Results of an empirical study with Hindi-speaking subjects indicate that the sound–meaning relationship can persist after translation. A primary contribution is that sound symbolism can help create global brand names with consistent meaning across languages.     

Got slogan? Guidelines for creating effective slogans

Slogans are a key element of a brand's identity, and contribute to a brand's equity. In today's marketplace, almost all brands employ slogans; they enhance a brand's image, aid in its recognition and recall, and help create brand differentiation in consumers' minds. While there is general consensus on the importance of the device itself, little agreement exists as to what constitutes a successful slogan. As such, although marketing managers use slogans extensively, they are often at a loss when it comes to creating them. In turn, this leads to ineffective use of slogans and, ultimately, the possibility of a surprisingly poor linkage between a brand and its slogan, even among the most well-known brands. To explore this phenomenon, we surveyed articles from a variety of academic streams related to slogans, and also looked at industry publications for relevant case studies. Based on our investigation, we propose in this article a series of guidelines for the strategy behind slogans, and on creation and utilization of effective slogans. In particular, our findings should be of use to business practitioners.     

Taking a global view on brand post popularity: Six social media brand post practices for global markets

Brand post popularity positively relates to consumers’ purchase intentions, actual sales, and stock prices. Research suggests that social media posts should be vivid, practical, interesting, personalized, and interactive. However, cross-cultural research also suggests that practices might not be equally effective across different regional markets. While vividness and practicality could be consistently important across cultures, characteristics of interest, personalization, and interactivity might need to be adapted to the cultural conditions of specific target markets. We consider how individualism/collectivism, long-term orientation, uncertainty avoidance, power distance, and high-context/low-context cultures could influence brand post effectiveness. We provide suggestions for how to manage social media brand post popularity from a cross-cultural perspective to inform both domestic and global social media marketing campaigns. Suggested practices include: (1) making brand posts engaging; (2) targeting the ‘I’ in individualistic cultures and the ‘we’ in collectivist cultures; (3) focusing on consumers’ identity in less long-term oriented cultures and on functional information in more long-term oriented cultures; (4) ensuring that posts help reduce uncertainty; (5) planning for one-way communication in higher power distance countries and two-way communication in lower power distance countries; and (6) making messages less direct in higher-context cultures and more direct in lower-context cultures.     

Better support for supportive jobs. How to improve brand performance through better compensation and training for in-store merchandisers

Through an experimental field study, we link improved working conditions for supportive jobs to enhanced brand sales. Results show that improved working conditions for in-store merchandisers based on monetary and non-monetary rewards yield a significant increase in sales, which might be facilitated through enhanced on-shelf availability. We underline the strategic importance of the job profile and identify explanatory mechanisms, enabling managers to optimize training and compensation in the context of supportive jobs in retailing. The study enhances the literature on the importance of supportive jobs in driving brand performance in accordance with the motivational framework based on rewards and recognition.     

Developing brand identities for international new ventures under uncertainty: Decision-making logics and psychic distance

While many models describe efforts to build brand identity, none specifies the brand identity development for small firms facing uncertainty, such as rapidly internationalizing international new ventures. By examining four such case firms informed by interviews and archival data spanning five years, this study identifies three brand identity development states: unbranded, sporadically branded, and focused branded international new ventures. Brand values, brand personality, and brand relationships are critical brand identity dimensions that manifest in the three states. A related model and propositions help explicate how uncertainty owing to psychic distance moderates the impact of decision-making logics on brand identity development. We show how the role of decision-making logic affects the prominence given to different dimensions of brand identity in the developmental states. Moreover, we reveal the associated change and state mechanism allowing for the rapid advancement of brand identity states in international new ventures.     

Applications of the behavioural homogeneity evaluation framework: The predictive ability of consumer involvement for international food market segmentation

Abstract

This article proposes a framework of alternative international marketing strategies, based on the evaluation of intra- and inter-cultural behavioural homogeneity for market segmentation. The framework developed in this study provides a generic structure to behavioural homogeneity, proposing consumer involvement as a construct with unique predictive ability for international marketing strategy decisions. A model-based segmentation process, using structural equation models, is implemented to illustrate the application of the framework.