IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ijrema/v30y2013i2p179-184.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Making sense of numbers: Effects of alphanumeric brands on consumer inference

Author

Listed:
  • Yan, Dengfeng
  • Duclos, Rod

Abstract

This research examines when and how the presence of seemingly innocuous, non-diagnostic numbers in brand names (e.g., 7-UP) impacts consumers' judgments. Building on anchoring theory, our central proposition is that numbers contained in alphanumeric brand names can act as implicit anchors that subsequently bias (either upward or downward) consumers' assessment of a product's price, weight, volume, etc. We qualify this proposition, however, by showing that such anchoring effects occur primarily when (a) the numeric component of a name appears relevant to the judgment at hand and (b) consumers evaluate product attributes superficially (rather than systematically).

Suggested Citation

  • Yan, Dengfeng & Duclos, Rod, 2013. "Making sense of numbers: Effects of alphanumeric brands on consumer inference," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 179-184.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ijrema:v:30:y:2013:i:2:p:179-184
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijresmar.2012.09.007
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167811612000936
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2012.09.007?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tina M. Lowrey & L. J. Shrum, 2007. "Phonetic Symbolism and Brand Name Preference," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 34(3), pages 406-414, June.
    2. Ford, Gary T & Smith, Ruth Ann, 1987. "Inferential Beliefs in Consumer Evaluations: An Assessment of Alternative Processing Strategies," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 14(3), pages 363-371, December.
    3. Friedman, Monroe, 1985. "The Changing Language of a Consumer Society: Brand Name Usage in Popular American Novels in the Postwar Era," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 11(4), pages 927-938, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Santana, Shelle & Thomas, Manoj & Morwitz, Vicki G., 2020. "The Role of Numbers in the Customer Journey," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 96(1), pages 138-154.
    2. Das, Gopal & Spence, Mark T. & Agarwal, James, 2021. "Social selling cues: The dynamics of posting numbers viewed and bought on customers' purchase intentions," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 994-1016.
    3. Mansur Khamitov & Marina Puzakova, 2022. "Possessive brand names in brand preferences and choice: the role of inferred control," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(5), pages 1032-1051, September.
    4. Jose A Martínez, 2016. "The magic of ‘great’ linked to product names," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(2), pages 179-196, March.
    5. Haoyu Liu & Lifeng Yang & Duane T. Wegener, 2023. "Effects of labeling on risk taking in “leveling-up” decisions: ascending versus descending permutations and ending in terminal values," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 125-138, March.
    6. Koçaş, Cenk & Dogerlioglu-Demir, Kivilcim, 2020. "The 1 in 1,000,000: Context effects of how numbers cue different kinds of incidental environmental anchoring in marketing communications," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 536-544.
    7. Timucin Ozcan & Kunter Gunasti, 2019. "How associations between products and numbers in brand names affect consumer attitudes: introducing multi-context numbers," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 26(2), pages 176-194, March.
    8. Kunter Gunasti & Berna Devezer, 2016. "How competitor brand names affect within-brand choices," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 27(4), pages 715-727, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. George Doorn & Bryan Paton & Charles Spence, 2016. "Is J the new K? Initial letters and brand names," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(6), pages 666-678, November.
    2. Stacey M. Baxter & Jasmina Ilicic & Alicia Kulczynski & Tina M. Lowrey, 2017. "Using sublexical priming to enhance brand name phonetic symbolism effects in young children," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 565-577, December.
    3. Ketron, Seth & Spears, Nancy, 2021. "Sound-symbolic signaling of online retailer sizes: The moderating effect of shopping goals," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    4. Richard Klink & Gerard Athaide, 2012. "Creating brand personality with brand names," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 109-117, March.
    5. Avramova, Yana R. & Dens, Nathalie & De Pelsmacker, Patrick, 2021. "Brand placement across media: The interaction of placement modality and frequency in film versus text," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 20-30.
    6. Richard R. Klink & Lan Wu, 2017. "Creating ethical brands: the role of brand name on consumer perceived ethicality," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 411-422, September.
    7. Shrum, L.J. & Lowrey, T.M. & Luna, David & Lerman, D.B. & Liu, Min, 2012. "Sound symbolism effects across languages: Implications for global brand names," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 275-279.
    8. Abhishek Pathak & Carlos Velasco & Charles Spence, 2020. "The sound of branding: An analysis of the initial phonemes of popular brand names," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 27(3), pages 339-354, May.
    9. Lynch, John G. & Bradlow, Eric T. & Huber, Joel C. & Lehmann, Donald R., 2015. "Reflections on the replication corner: In praise of conceptual replications," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 333-342.
    10. Khenfer, Jamel & Cuny, Caroline, 2020. "Brand preference in the face of control loss and service failure: The role of the sound of brands," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    11. Yana R. Avramova & Patrick De Pelsmacker & Nathalie Dens, 2018. "How reading in a foreign versus native language moderates the impact of repetition-induced brand placement prominence on placement responses," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 25(6), pages 500-518, November.
    12. Richard Klink, 2009. "Gender differences in new brand name response," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 313-326, September.
    13. Alina Duduciuc, 2015. "Advertising Brands By Means Of Sounds Symbolism: The Influence Of Vowels On Perceived Brand Characteristics," Studies and Scientific Researches. Economics Edition, "Vasile Alecsandri" University of Bacau, Faculty of Economic Sciences, issue 21.
    14. Jamel Khenfer & Caroline Cuny, 2021. "How to project action through the sound of brand names?," Post-Print hal-03189336, HAL.
    15. Jun, Yesel & Lee, Hyunju, 2022. "A sound brand identity design: The interplay between sound symbolism and typography on brand attitude and memory," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    16. Djavlonbek Kadirov & Ahmet Bardakcı & Murat Kantar, 2018. "The impact of linguistic proximity and diglossia on brand name and slogan extension tendencies in the Turkish, Russian and Arabic contexts," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 25(2), pages 147-159, March.
    17. Baxter, Stacey & Lowrey, Tina, 2014. "Examining children's preference for phonetically manipulated brand names across two English accent groups," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 122-124.
    18. Kohli, Chiranjeev S. & Harich, Katrin R. & Leuthesser, Lance, 2005. "Creating brand identity: a study of evaluation of new brand names," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(11), pages 1506-1515, November.
    19. Kronrod, Ann & Lowrey, Tina M., 2016. "Tastlé-Nestlé, Toogle-Google: The effects of similarity to familiar brand names in brand name innovation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 1182-1189.
    20. Carnevale, Marina & Luna, David & Lerman, Dawn, 2017. "Brand linguistics: A theory-driven framework for the study of language in branding," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 572-591.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ijrema:v:30:y:2013:i:2:p:179-184. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/international-journal-of-research-in-marketing/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.