The Brand Name Development Process

Although the literature contains much prescriptive comment, there has been little or no academic research on how firms develop brand names in practice. This article is the first academic study of how British companies select brand names. It supports, augments and extends the only other article on this topic (from the USA). The article offers a brand-naming model and survey evidence to support it. It is concluded that firms commit substantial amounts of resources to brand name selection and that the process involves top management, multiple departments, specialist agencies, customers and distributors. Customer participation is considerable and the whole process is heavily marketing orientated.