Naming brands: implications for children's brand awareness

Many marketers aim plant the seed of brand recognition into the mind of young consumers. This paper examines whether brand name characteristics influence children’s brand awareness. Brands were assessed by three judges on the five name characteristics of simplicity, distinctiveness, meaningfulness, emotion and semantic appropriatenes. Brands also were evaluated with respect to the use of twenty-two specific linguistic devices. In total 192 children between the ages of eight and eleven years of age were asked whether they recognised six brand names. Results showed higher levels of recongition for brand names evaluated as the most representative for all name characteristics, with the exception of Emotion. Higher levels of brand recognition were also identified for brands that employed several linguistic devices.