The effect of sound symbolism on brand name selection

Brand names are of great importance for both businesses and consumers in terms of the meaning they convey. Brand names, which are among the most difficult brand elements to change for businesses, have a critical role in the brand identity that the business wants to convey and the brand image that it wants to create. For consumers, brand names are considered as a clue to make inferences about the product and facilitate decision-making. In this sense, it is possible to say that it is much more important for businesses to understand the messages conveyed by the brand name to the consumers. These messages may originate from the meaning of the brand name itself, as well as the meaning conveyed by the sounds (vowels and consonants) that make up that brand, which are expressed as sound symbolism. In this thesis, two experiments were carried out to determine whether the brand names in Turkish can convey a message about the features of the product with that brand name through the sounds (vowel-consonants) in the brand names beyond their own meanings. Vowels and consonants in the brand name were tested for 11 different product features. While a total of 778 associate and undergraduate students participated in Experiment 1, 130 graduate students participated in Experiment 2. The data collected from a total of 908 people were analyzed separately within the scope of Experiment 1 and Experiment 2, and the findings were presented. Results of the study reveal that, vowels and consonants in the brand name, give an idea about the features of the products with that brand name such as size, thinness, weight, speed, strength, softness and sharpness. Brand names with front vowels and fricatives when compared to the brand names with back vowels and stops were described as smaller, lighter, softer and more feminine. Revealing that the effects of sound symbolism are also valid in Turkish, this study will also provide practitioners with the opportunity to create strong brands with high transferability and emphasizing the desired messages by taking the meanings of the sounds in the brand name into account.