Abstract
In the marketing literature, the ‘K effect’ refers to the claim that the letter K is overrepresented as the initial letter of brand names. To date, however, most findings have only considered the frequency of the written letters incorporated into brand names. Here, we argue that since letters sometimes sound different when pronounced in different words (e.g., ‘C’ in Cartier vs. Cisco), a phonemic analysis of the initial phonemes is likely to be more insightful than merely a comparison of the written form (as reported by previous researchers). With this in mind, the initial phonemes of top brand names were analyzed and compared with: (1) words in the dictionary; (2) a corpus of contemporary American English; and (3) the most popular current children’s names in the USA. We also analyzed a different list of top brands, including both corporate brand names (e.g., Procter & Gamble) as well as the product-related brand names (e.g., Pantene). We conclude by reporting the most underrepresented [vowels (/aʊ/, /ɜː/, /ɔɪ/, /ɔː/) and consonants (/r/, /ʒ/, /l/, /θ/)] and overrepresented [vowels (/iː/, /əʊ/) and consonants (/j/, /z/, /f/, /dʒ/, /p/, /j/, /t/)] initial phonemes in the brand names vis-à-vis the current linguistic naming conventions.
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Notes
“Adding these to the 49 brands that did begin with a K (33) or P (16) sound means that nearly half (93 of 200) of the top brands begin with or contain the K or P sounds”; Schloss (1981: p. 48).
Some interesting insights emerged from separate comparisons of male and female names. Note that for both comparisons, the Bonferroni adjustment was made at an alpha level of 0.00190 (0.05/26). For male names, a)/ʌ/, /ə/, /ɪ/, /p/, /t/, and /s/ were found to be frequent in brand names than in male names, b) /dʒ/ and /l/ were found to be frequent in male names than in brand names, c) /f/ and /j/ were found to be frequent in brand names, but not a single instance of their use was found in the male names, which may be reflective of the changes in naming conventions. For female names, a) /d/, /t/, and /w/ were found to be frequent in brand names than in female names, b) /l/ was found to be frequent in female names than in brand names, c)/θ/, /əʊ/, and /j/ were found to be frequent in brand names, but not a single instance of their use was found in the female names, d)/ɔː/ and /ʒ/ were found to be frequent in female names, but not a single instance of their use was found in the brand names. (See Appendix B for details.)
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Appendices
Appendix 1
IPA | Consonant examples | IPA | Full vowel examples |
|---|---|---|---|
b | buy, cab | ɑː | palm, father, bra |
d | dye, cad, do | ɒ | lot, pod, John |
dʒ | giant, badge, jam | æ | trap, pad, ban |
ð | thy, breathe, father | aɪ | price, ride, file, fine, pie |
f | fan,, phi | aʊ | mouth, loud, foul, down, how |
ɡ | guy, bag | ɛ | dress, bet, fell, men |
h | high, ahead | eɪ | face, made, fail, vein, pay |
hw | why | ɪ | kit, lid, fill, bin |
j | yes, hallelujah | iː | fleece, seed, feel, mean, sea |
k | sky, crack | ɔː | thought, maud, dawn, fall, straw |
l | lie, sly, gal | ɔɪ | choice, void, foil, coin, boy |
m | my, smile, cam | oʊ | goat, code, foal, bone, go |
n | nigh, snide, can | ʊ | foot, good, full, woman |
ŋ | sang, sink, singer | uː | goose, food, fool, soon, do |
p | pie, spy, cap | juː | cute, mule, puny, beauty, huge, tune |
r | rye, try, very | ʌ | strut, bud, dull, gun |
s | sigh, mass | ||
ʃ | shy, cash, emotion | ||
t | tie, sty, cat, atom | ||
tʃ | china, catch | ||
θ | thigh, math | ||
v | vie, have | ||
w | wye, swine | ||
z | zoo, has | ||
ʒ | equation, pleasure, vision, beige |
Appendix 2
Distribution of initial phonemes in brand names, male, and female names.
Phoneme | Example | % MNs | Z value (MNs) | p value (MNs) | % FNs | Z value (FNs) | p value (FNs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ɒ, ɑː | Tot, Father | 2.31 | 0.52 | 0.60 | 2.71 | 0.08 | 0.93 |
æ | Cat | 5.89 | − 0.20 | 0.84 | 7.41 | − 1.09 | 0.27 |
ʌ, ə | Duck | 0.32 | 7.00 | < 0.0001 | 7.29 | − 2.73 | 0.0068 |
ɔː | Lawyer | 0.00 | NA | NA | 1.14 | NA | NA |
aʊ | Couch | 0.00 | NA | NA | 0.00 | NA | NA |
aɪ | Hide | 1.85 | − 1.70 | 0.09 | 0.46 | − 0.14 | 0.88 |
b | Bat | 5.88 | − 1.53 | 0.13 | 3.14 | 0.42 | 0.67 |
tʃ | Chess | 1.13 | − 0.49 | 0.62 | 0.00 | NA | NA |
d | Dog | 5.02 | 0.13 | 0.90 | 1.01 | 6.61 | < 0.0001 |
ð | Then | 0.00 | NA | NA | 0.00 | NA | NA |
e | Bed | 4.18 | − 0.14 | 0.89 | 7.22 | − 1.97 | 0.05 |
ɜː | Pearl | 0.00 | NA | NA | 0.00 | NA | NA |
eɪ | Gate | 3.79 | − 2.81 | 0.005 | 3.24 | − 2.53 | 0.01 |
f | Forest | 0.00 | NA | NA | 0.43 | 9.60 | < 0.0001 |
ɡ | Golf | 2.83 | − 0.41 | 0.68 | 2.10 | 0.33 | 0.74 |
h | Horse | 3.33 | 0.59 | 0.55 | 3.45 | 0.48 | 0.63 |
ɪ | Pit | 0.48 | 6.18 | < 0.0001 | 4.29 | − 0.85 | 0.39 |
iː | Sheet | 2.48 | − 0.49 | 0.62 | 1.65 | 0.44 | 0.66 |
dʒ | General | 17.78 | − 5.53 | < 0.0001 | 4.23 | 0.13 | 0.89 |
k | Keen | 10.49 | 0.36 | 0.71 | 8.85 | 1.30 | 0.19 |
l | Lot | 7.41 | − 3.26 | 0.0012 | 6.78 | − 3.00 | 0.0029 |
m | Moon | 6.81 | − 0.01 | 0.99 | 9.31 | − 1.36 | 0.17 |
n | No | 4.15 | − 0.12 | 0.90 | 3.28 | 0.64 | 0.52 |
ŋ | Samsung | 0.00 | NA | NA | 0.00 | NA | NA |
əʊ | Note | 0.00 | NA | NA | 0.00 | NA | NA |
ɔɪ | Boil | 0.00 | NA | NA | 0.00 | NA | NA |
p | Post | 1.13 | 6.08 | < 0.0001 | 2.49 | 2.75 | 0.006 |
r | Rose | 2.95 | − 2.01 | 0.04 | 2.76 | − 1.89 | 0.056 |
s | Samsung | 2.79 | 4.24 | < 0.0001 | 9.68 | − 1.33 | 0.18 |
ʃ | Shell | 0.22 | 0.59 | 0.55 | 1.11 | − 1.07 | 0.28 |
t | Tiger | 2.26 | 3.13 | 0.0019 | 0.91 | 7.13 | < 0.0001 |
θ | Earthy | 0.25 | 1.75 | 0.08 | 0.00 | NA | NA |
ʊ | Hood | 0.00 | NA | NA | 0.00 | NA | NA |
uː | Tune | 0.00 | NA | NA | 0.00 | NA | NA |
v | Ivy | 0.58 | 1.29 | 0.20 | 2.75 | − 1.4961 | 0.13 |
w | Away | 2.72 | 0.85 | 0.39 | 0.26 | 10.33 | < 0.0001 |
j | Yes | 0.00 | NA | NA | 0.00 | NA | NA |
z | Easy | 0.97 | − 0.91 | 0.36 | 1.82 | − 1.68 | 0.09 |
ʒ | Measure | 0.00 | NA | NA | 0.21 | NA | NA |
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Pathak, A., Velasco, C. & Spence, C. The sound of branding: An analysis of the initial phonemes of popular brand names. J Brand Manag 27, 339–354 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41262-019-00183-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41262-019-00183-5