Gender differences in new brand name response

Abstract

Conventional guidelines for naming new products overlook possible individual-level differences that may affect response to new brand names. This research draws on sound symbolism theory to investigate whether gender affects response to new brand names. Specifically, two studies are conducted to examine whether females respond more favorably than males to brand names with front vowels and whether males respond more favorably than females to brand names with back vowels. Results indicate that gender is associated with brand name response and that the gender asymmetries appear to be more pronounced in product categories where masculinity–femininity is a more salient product attribute. An implication is that gender targeting can be facilitated through the use of particular letters in brand names.