Marketing Brand Elements
PART 1. Choose 2 brand names that you like. You don’t have to like the brand’s products, but you do have to like the brand’s name. For EACH brand name, answer the following questions:
- (a) If someone who NEVER heard of this brand in his/her life first heard this brand name, do you think the brand name would be attention-grabbing and memorable to this person? (b) Explain what aspects about this name would (or would not) make the name attention-grabbing and memorable for someone who just learned about it.
- (a) If someone who NEVER heard of this brand in his/her life first learned about this brand name, do you think this person would feel that the brand name is fun or pleasant to hear/say in a phonetic sense? (b) Explain what aspects about this name would (or would not) make the name fun or pleasant to hear/say for someone who just learned about it.
- (a) If someone who NEVER heard of this brand in his/her life first heard this brand name, do you think this person will be able to guess what kinds of products/services the brand offers? (b) Explain what aspects about this name would (or would not) make it easy for someone new to guess what kinds of products/services are offered by the brand.
PART 2. Some brand names tend to be more abstract and do not specifically convey the product category (e.g, McDonald’s, Amazon) while other brand names tend to be more concrete and specifically convey the product category (e.g, Burger King, Office Depot). List at least 1 pro and 1 con for the former, that is, having an abstract brand name that does NOT specifically convey the product category.
PART 3. For the class project and the restaurant idea your group came up with in class (or feel free to come up with a new restaurant idea different from what you had in your worksheet), generate 1 brand name that you believe is not only effective, but also captures the unique positioning of your brand.
- Explain why you think this brand name would be likable, memorable, and effective in other ways.
- Go to the US Patent and Trademark Office website (CLICK HERELinks to an external site. and do a “Basic Word Mark Search”) and enter your brand name as a search term. Is the brand name already taken?
- Answer this question only if the answer above is “yes” (the name was already taken). Come up with other brand name ideas, until you can find one that is not yet registered. (a) What brand name did you end up with, and (b) how many trials did you have to go through to find a brand name that is not already registered?