Repetitive brand names resonate

Kit Kat candy bars, Coca-Cola beverages and Jelly Belly candies are known to stimulate cravings and subsequently influence consumers' spending habits, but now researchers suggest just hearing the sound of those brands and others with repetitively structured names can induce similar outcomes, reports BusinessNewsDaily.

Hearing repetitive-sounding brand names favorably affects how consumers perceive and choose items and decide where to buy them, according to a study titled "The Sound of Brands" published in the Journal of Marketing, and this new information could prove beneficial to marketers and advertisers. Other repetitive brand names mentioned include Hubba Bubba, Tutti Frutti, Bits & Bites, Lululemon and Tostitos.

Companies have spent millions of dollars choosing their brands and their brand names and they've been picked explicitly to have an influence on consumers," wrote University of Alberta marketing professor Jennifer Argo. "We show that it can get you at the affective level." According to the researchers, "marketing managers would benefit from encouraging both salespeople and consumers to say aloud brand names that contain phonetic sound repetition."