Connotations in the look and sound of brand names: the moderating role of perceptual fluency

Doyle, John R. and Bottomley, Paul Andrew ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8131-6768 2010. Connotations in the look and sound of brand names: the moderating role of perceptual fluency. [Working Paper]. Social Science Research Network. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1634788

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

We show that typographic symbolism and sound symbolism both have an effect on the perception of brand names. The visual letters in a brand name (typographic symbolism) and the name’s silently ‘spoken’ phonemes (sound symbolism) both contribute approximately equally to the connotative meaning/affective meaning (assessed using Osgood’s dimensions of evaluation, potency, activity) that people attribute to the name. Furthermore, these contributions are moderated by the role of perceptual fluency in processing (a) the visual letters in the name, and (b) the sounds in the name. The contribution of typographic symbolism is enhanced when names are difficult to process visually, e.g. by having unusual letter combinations. Similarly, sound symbolism is enhanced in names that have difficult to process sounds. We discuss our findings with reference to the literature on the visual-sound orientation of East-West languages.

Item Type:	Monograph (Working Paper)
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Business (Including Economics)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HF Commerce
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Typography ; Sound symbolism ; Brand name ; Affective meaning ; Evaluation ; Potency ; Activity ; Perceptual fluency
Publisher:	Social Science Research Network
ISSN:	15565068
Last Modified:	20 Oct 2022 08:10
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/27449

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item