More the merrier: Effects of plural brand names on perceived entitativity and brand attitude

This research finds evidence for a plural name advantage on brand attitude. Six studies, including two archival datasets with real market brands and four experiments using fictitious brands, show that brands with plural names (e.g., Dunkin' Donuts) are associated with more favorable brand attit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of consumer psychology 2025-01, Vol.35 (1), p.150-157
Main Authors: Gupta, Tanvi, Chen, Shirley (Shuo), Mohanty, Smaraki
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
brand name
entitativity
linguistics
morphology
premium brands
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Summary:This research finds evidence for a plural name advantage on brand attitude. Six studies, including two archival datasets with real market brands and four experiments using fictitious brands, show that brands with plural names (e.g., Dunkin' Donuts) are associated with more favorable brand attitude than brands with singular names (e.g., Dunkin' Donut). This plural brand name advantage is driven by perceptions of brand entitativity emerging from the collective reading of plural entities. However, the positive effect of plural brand names on brand attitude is attenuated in the case of premium brands. This research has practical implications for brand name strategy and makes a theoretical contribution by bringing attention to the under‐researched space of morphology in brand name linguistics.
ISSN:1057-7408
1532-7663
DOI:10.1002/jcpy.1409