A Whole New Wurld? How Unusual Brand Name Spelling Negatively Affects Sensory Perceptions of New Products Through Cognitive and Affective Processing

Author

Ann E. McNeel, The Graduate Center, City University of New YorkFollow

Date of Degree

2-2017

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Program

Business

Advisor

Stephen Gould

Committee Members

David Luna

Sunaina Chugani

Sara Williamson

Subject Categories

Business | Marketing | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Keywords

sensory marketing, brand names, consumer linguistics, brand name spelling

Abstract

Introducing the importance of unusual brand name spelling to sensory marketing, this research shows that utilizing the linguistic device of unique brand name spelling can lead to differences in sensory perceptions and actual consumption of a variety of consumer products. Across five studies, we explore how perceptions of the uniqueness of a brand name can be achieved by varying one letter in the spelling of the brand name, and that such a small variation can result in less favorable sensory perceptions of taste (studies 1 and 3), scent (study 2), and vision (studies 4 and 5) as a result of brand name disfluency. We provide evidence that changes in cognitive processing (studies 3-5) and affective processing (study 5) contribute to the underlying process of this effect and demonstrate how the effect can be moderated by inducing concrete thinking (studies 4-5).

Recommended Citation

McNeel, Ann E., "A Whole New Wurld? How Unusual Brand Name Spelling Negatively Affects Sensory Perceptions of New Products Through Cognitive and Affective Processing" (2017). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1860