The market advantage of a feminine brand name

Press Release From the Journal of Marketing: The Market Advantage of a Feminine Brand Name (ama.org)

What do iconic brands Nike, Coca-Cola, and Disney have in common? They all have linguistically feminine names. In fact, the highest-ranking companies on Interbrand’s Global Top Brands list for the past twenty years have, on average, more feminine names than lower-ranked companies. How can you tell if a name is linguistically feminine? Easy—does it have two or more syllables and stress on the second or later syllable? Does it end in a vowel? If so, then it is a feminine name. Linguistically feminine names convey “warmth” (good-natured sincerity), which makes people like them better than less feminine names



EXPRESS: Is Nestlé a Lady? The Feminine Brand Name Advantage

A brand name’s linguistic characteristics convey brand qualities independent of the name’s denotative meaning. For instance, name length, sounds, and stress can signal masculine or feminine associations. This research examines the effects of such gender associations on three important brand outcomes: attitudes, choice, and performance. Across six studies using both observational analyses of real brands and experimental manipulations of invented brands the authors show that linguistically feminine names increase perceived warmth, which improves brand outcomes. Feminine brand names enhance attitudes and choice share–both hypothetically and consequentially–and are associated with better brand performance. The authors establish boundary conditions, showing that the feminine brand name advantage is attenuated when the typical user is male and when products are utilitarian.

 

Never really saw it that way, but makes some sense to me. Thanks for sharing

 

Very interesting, although this may upset some who are fighting for 'gender-neutrality' in marketing:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_neutrality#In_marketing

 

Lol.

“Latino” is now “Latinx.”

Some people get offended by “feminine” “masculine” regardless of facts. But, thanks, i too never saw that way

Here’s another marketing tip (Use smooth edges, instead of sharp edges in prospective logos— like look at the new GM logo; they generally appear less intimidating, and more amicable to Gen-Y & Gen Z.

 

Thanks, it's a new learning

 

How intriguing. Good to know!! Especially since we decided to name our brand new domain name suggestions tool besta.domains . Besta is more feminine to me than masculine I believe! Does it sound feminine you all?

 

Ah. So Ricardo is a feminine name. Got it.

This post needs some additional details re: languages and how words are gendered.

 

Very Interesting insight. Thanks.
A thread can be started to showcase Feminine sounding Domain names.

 

it's a new learning

 

great article, i really don't believe that coca cola is feminine at all, nor disney, think people may look way more into brand names than they need to