Is Nestlé a Lady? The Feminine Brand Name Advantage
研究发现，语言上女性化的品牌名称能提升感知温暖度，从而改善品牌态度、选择份额和绩效，但在典型用户为男性或产品为实用品时效果减弱。
A brand name’s linguistic characteristics convey brand qualities independent of the name’s denotative meaning. For instance, name length, sounds, and stress can signal masculine or feminine associations. This research examines the effects of such gender associations on three important brand outcomes: attitudes, choice, and performance. Across six studies, using both observational analyses of real brands and experimental manipulations of invented brands, the authors show that linguistically feminine names increase perceived warmth, which improves brand outcomes. Feminine brand names enhance attitudes and choice share—both hypothetically and consequentially—and are associated with better brand performance. The authors establish boundary conditions, showing that the feminine brand name advantage is attenuated when the typical user is male and when products are utilitarian.