Divine connection: religious brand name priming

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Purpose Brand names are crucial to a brand’s identity, in building brand resonance and creating customer-based brand equity. This study aims to introduce religious brand names as a novel brand name creation strategy. Design/methodology/approach Four experiments and one field study explore the effects of religious brand name priming on brand morality perceptions and self-brand connection, and the downstream consequences on consumer responses including brand attitude, purchase intention and actual behavior. Findings Religious brand names prime brand morality perceptions, subsequent self-brand connection and downstream effects, for those consumers with more religiosity. The relationship between brand morality and self-brand connection following exposure to religious brand names attenuates when more religious consumers place low importance on moral self-identity. Research limitations/implications This study is limited to the USA and UK, which are predominantly Christian cultures. This study also looks at brand names only, rather than other religious symbols used in brand logos. Practical implications This research is of practical importance as numerous examples of religious brand names such as Worship, Prophet and Heaven in the marketplace suggest that marketers use religious words in the creation of brand names. Marketers and brand managers should consider religious brand names in their brand name creation strategies to enhance self-brand connection and positive consumer responses to the brand. Originality/value This research advances brand name creation research in marketing by examining the effectiveness of various religious brand names beyond religious agents (e.g. angel), such as religious objects and practices (e.g. altar, worship and gospel) or spiritual terms (e.g. heaven).