What’s in a name?
In this guest post, Moensie Rossier wonders about the power of names for brands and marketers.
Brands have been having a bit of fun with names lately, not to mention a fair bit of success. Interbrand just named a headhunting firm Cloak & Dagger. And ‘Share a Coke’ showed how much power there is in a name.
The Coke campaign effectively short-circuited the usual mechanics of communication. It undoubtedly stroked people’s egos. But, I believe, its success stems from the fact that it directly and automatically affected people’s behaviour, rather than doing so indirectly by shaping attitudes.
It used a type of behavioural economics, which is a rather fancy name for a simple theory. When our names are called out, we’re hard wired to respond. It’s a simple nudge, a Pavlovian response. And, with the alacrity of hungry dogs, we fought the other Kates and Adrians and Matts down to the last bottle – and cried for more in social media.
I love Moensie Rossier
Awesome piece Moensie, as always on the money.
totally agree with you about the importance of names, Mary!
Vodafail
didn’t Dale Carnegie say this about 50 years ago?
nice article. i thought along similar lines last year and how the whole process of naming something has become an overly complicated but how the importance of getting it right has never been stronger
http://itsallaboutyou.typepad......-name.html
eventhough purchasing is an act of commerce, i’m not sure that a consumer buying a coke because they like the sound of their own name qualifies as an example of behavioural economics at work
I’m with Lee on this one
Great article, Moensie.. although now I feel like I need to change my first name to be more cool and memorable
Interesting stuff – thanks,
I just have a small comment re this part though; ” In a digital world, we wear them lightly and adopt new personae at will, each reflecting a different aspect of our life story”
I think this is less true in some ways than it was a few years ago. Facebook has meant that there is an increased focus on our true identity. Google+ does the same thing encouraging us to be ourselves (a googled version of ourselves). This does not mean you don’t represent different parts of your world to different people. But it does tend to mean its one name or identity to do so.
Expressing oneself digitally via a single consolidated name leads us to a closer attachment to that name and easier access to our online history / curated view of the world.
Why – because of the same reasons Coke was successful. We like to see our name in lights, to see (and allow others to see) our digital footprint. This feeds our inherent need for recognition and to be acknowledged as individuals.