Brand Naming Practices
Brand Naming Practices
Brand Naming Practices
By
YeshewaseSitottawAyele
RESEARCH PROJECT CONDUCTED FOR THE PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE
Advisor
BushaTemesgen
November, 2016
Contents
1. Chapter 1......................................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1
Chapter 2 ............................................................................................................................................... 7
Literature Review .................................................................................................................................. 7
2.1. Brand ....................................................................................................................................... 7
Chapter 3 ............................................................................................................................................. 16
Research Methodology ........................................................................................................................ 16
3.1 Research Design .................................................................................................................... 16
Chapter 4 ............................................................................................................................................. 20
Results and Discussion ........................................................................................................................ 20
4.1. Results ................................................................................................................................... 20
II
4.1.1. Background Information ................................................................................................. 20
Chapter 5 ............................................................................................................................................. 33
Conclusion and Recommendation....................................................................................................... 33
5.1. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 33
Annexes ................................................................................................................................................ 39
III
List Of Figures
Lis of Tables
Table 8: Customers rating of brands against brand name evaluating criteria …………………..29
IV
ABSTRACT
A brand in general and brand name in particular form the perception or personality consumers
attach a company. A brand name is a core indication of the brand. Therefore a careful selection
of a brand name could communicate various product or service attributes desired by the
producer/provider like ruggedness, sophistication, friendliness or sincerity. For the hotel industry
in particular, the brand name is an integral component of all marketing efforts. Research also
suggests that a hotel’s brand name should be intense and vibrant that is able to relate to multiple
level of the senses while at the same time serve as a reminder of pleasant experience. Despite the
rapid growth of the hotel industry in Addis Ababa, a peculiar observation suggests that a well
thought of branding/brand naming practice is not in place. This research therefore tried to
understand the brand naming practice of hotels in Addis Ababa with the aim of improving the
practice. A questionnaire was used to gather information about the importance of brand names
from owners/managers and the process they used to develop the brand names for their hotels.
Another set of questionnaire was used to understand how the brand names of those hotels were
perceived by their clients. The findings indicate that owners/managers associate a lot of
importance to the brand name but do not actually think guests use it to choose hotels. It was also
found that majority of them use no particular process to develop a brand name. On the other
hand, guests indicated that brand name is very helpful for the selection of a hotel but is does not
particularly apply to the hotels they selected implying that the names being developed by
owners/management are not distinctive enough to assist in the selection of a hotel by guests.
V
1. Chapter 1
1.1 Introduction
The concept of brands and branding has been around for a long time. It cannot however be said
that all present-day businesses have mastered it. A brand is name, term, design, symbol, or any
other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers
defines it as “a promise about who you are and what benefits you deliver that gets reinforced
every time people come in contact with any facet of you or your business”. A brand comprises
tangible and intangible features of a business that it stands for. A successful brand is an
identifiable product or services that customers perceive as relevant or unique.A brand is the sum
total of all functional and emotional assets that differentiate it among the competition and
distinguish it in the audience’s mind. A brand therefore develops characters in the minds of its
audience such as a brand identity which is the visual and verbal articulation of a brand, brand
image the customer’s beliefs about what the brand stands for, brand equity which is the value of
Branding on the other hand is a process in which the organization uses a name, phrase, design,
symbols, or combination of these to identify its products and distinguish them from those of
competitors (Kerin and Hartley,2013). It include the entire development process of creating a
brand, brand name, brand identity, and, in some cases, brand advertising(Landa, 2006).
A brand is a valuable asset for any company that its product or service marketing success hangs
brand communicates a message about the quality, cost, performance and distinction from other
1
competing products. For the customer a brand must be reassuring or risk minimizing which in
Brands in general influence or form the perception or personality consumers attach to it.
According to Murphy (1987) on Wai-sum Siu and Yi Zhang (n.d.),a brand name is a core
indication of the brand.Klink and Athaide(2012) on the other hand has indicated that a careful
selection of a brand name could communicate various product or service attributes desired by the
significance of brand names, many research have attempted to develop a guideline to develop the
appropriate brand name ((Klink, 1999;Klink, 2000; Klink and Athaide, 2012; Siu and Zhang,
n.d.; Shipley, Hooley, and Wallace, 1988; Kohli and LaBahn, 1997).Research also suggests the
The choice of a brand name also applied to the hospitality industry where perception and image
are of vital importance. Research also suggests that a hotel’s brand name should be intense and
vibrant that is able to relate to multiple level of the senses while at the same time serve as a
Yibeltal (2014) indicates that Addis Ababa is the third largest host of diplomatic missions and
UN organizations stressing the need to a hotel industry ready to serve this community. The
General Assembly of the European Council on Tourism and Trade (ECTT) has also recently
selected Ethiopia as World Best Tourist Destination for 2015 (MOCT, 2015). Addis Ababa being
the only gate way to Ethiopia for the international community, this brings significant traffic to
2
According to Addis Ababa City Administration Culture and Tourism Bureau, the hotel industry
in Addis Ababa at its current level have 128 star level hotels which are not yet given their stars
pending the final outcome of the current rating attempt. The industry can be considered booming
with a 20% growth from last year. Twenty five newly constructed hotels have joined the industry
in the last two years only (AACA Culture and Tourism). The primary market these hotels tend to
serve is foreign nationals. Hence, the role of branding and brand image to these hotels is of
significant importance. The brand name is an integral component of their branding efforts. A
high level of observation around the city however shows mostly functional brand names that
mean more to the owners themselves than the potential customers. Foreign sounding hotel brand
The aim of this research was therefore to explore the brand naming practice of these hotels with
an intention of understanding the thinking behind the brand names. The research assessed the
perceived importance of brand names by the hotel management, explored the brand naming
process followed, and observed the performance of the brand names through the eye of
undisputed.Brand name has been a well endorsed component of the marketing strategy in the
hotel industry. O’Neill and Mattila (2010) further suggest a brand name should be intense and
vibrant that is able to relate to multiple levels of the senses while at the same time serve as a
consideration. Research in the area of sound symbolism also suggests that a carefully constructed
brand name brings inherent strength to a brand and adds other desirable characters to services.
3
The highly expanding hotel industry in Addis Ababa is seeing lots of new brand names every
day. In contrast to research findings and guidelines, a simple stroll in the streets of Addis Ababa
shows hotel brand names such as ‘Bed and Breakfast Hotel’, ‘KZ Hotel’, ‘NT International
Hotel’, ‘Top Ten Hotel’ … where the intension of the names is just to signal that the facility is a
hotel. Such types of hotel names are neither catchy nor does not speak about the character of the
hotel. For example, out of a sample of hotel names considered majority are names of historic
places, names of individuals and towns (Lalibela Hotel, Kaleb Hotel, Pacific Hotel, Dessie Hotel,
Washington Hotel). Although one cannot claim an inherent problem in those brand names, it
signals a loss of great opportunity to develop a brand name that could grow to become the hotel’s
strong asset while at the same time raises the question about the process followed in developing
• What was the level of importance placed on the brand naming by the management or
• How have the brand names been perceived by customers’ of those hotels?
industry, this research in general intended to understand the brand naming practice of owners or
managers of hotels in Addis Ababa with the aim of improving the practice.
4
• Understand the degree of importance the owners or management placed on the role of a
brand name
• Explore the performance of the brand name from the view point of the customers’ of
those hotels
Given the lack of research in the area of brand names, particularly in this part of the world, this
research was the first to explore the practice of developing brand names in the hotel industry.
Further, understanding brand naming process as well as how brands were perceived by
customers, will enable hotel owners and brand managers to better connect or influence their
existing and potential customers. The research also createdan opportunity to identify
improvement areas and maximize the opportunity of creating a band name that can assist the
hotels’ image and possibly expand further geographically as well as in to other products. The
research can also serve as a base for further research in the area.
Research in to brand names covers linguistics and the attempt to create a better sounding brand
name. Sound symbolism that looks at the direct linkage between sound and meaning is also
explored in relation to brand names. The effect of the service provided on the perception of the
brand name is also another study area. The scope of this study however was limited to the
considerations taken or process used in developing a brand name for new hotels in Addis Ababa.
The researcher was therefore only able to draw inference on the care taken or rigorousness of the
methodology employed in developing the brand name and not the quality of the brand names.
5
On the other side, finding the primarily responsible resources that are responsible for the
development of the brand names is a big challenge. Hence the quality of the findings was limited
to the extent of marketing managers understanding of how the brand name was developed.
The first chapter begins with an introduction to the study and goes on to discuss the problem
statement that initiated the researcher to conduct the study. The first chapter also covers the
objective of the study along with other relevant considerations such as the significance of the
study, as well as the scope and limitation. The second chapter covers a review of literature,
canvasing the issuefollowed by the third chapter presenting the methodology used. the fourth
chapter presents the findings and discussed their implication which lead to the conclusions and
6
Chapter 2
Literature Review
2.1.Brand
Landa (2006, p 4) define a brand as “… a brand is a proprietary name for a product, service, or
group is used to denote a company, organization, corporation, social cause, issue, or political
group”. According to Kotler et al. (2005, p. 315) a brand comprises a name, sign, symbol,
design, or a combination of these elements that are expected to differentiate a product or services
from other similar products (Oh and Pizam, 2008). Landa (2006) differentiates between the
• The sum total of all characteristics of the product, service, or group, including its
physical features, its emotional assets, and its cultural and emotional associations;
Lim and O'Cass 2001 cited on Hosany, et al. (2006) agree by saying that a strong brand can
differentiate a product from its competitors and help the customer make easy decisions that could
reduce cost of searching the appropriate product. Consumers place greater confidence in a
particular brand than another brand enhancing loyalty and willingness to pay a higher price for
the brand. It is therefore possible to conclude that a brand is a mean of maintaining relationship
with the consumer, a promise to the consumer and source of products and services.
Chiaravalle and Schenck(2015) further list the following as a must be known terms:
7
Brand identity: The name and visual marks that present the brand, usually in the form of
colors, package shape, even soundsand smells associated with the brand.
Brand image: The beliefs about what the brand is and what it standsfor that exist in the
Brand position: howthe brand fits in with and relates to various other brands within the
competitive market.
promise across your entire organization and through allcommunication channels, and
2.2.Branding
Branding on the other hand is a process in which the organization uses a name, phrase, design,
symbols, or combination of these to identify its products and distinguish them from those of
competitive advantage (Holt, 2003a).Branding has grown to include the entire development
process of creating abrand, brand name, brand identity, and, in some cases, brand advertising.
2.3.Brand Names
A brand name is any word, device (design,sound, shape, or color), or combination of these
used to distinguish a seller’sproducts or services. Some brand names can be spoken while
others cannot. A brand name assists a consumer in the process of recalling a brand or
maintaining a favorable image to it. Research byKlink and Athaide (2012)has indicated that
8
consumers develop a non-neutral opinion about a product based on the brand name. Usunier
and Shaner (2002) also note influence of the linguistic content of the brand name on its
verbal, auditory and intellectual meaning and its interpretation by consumers. Asa brand
name is the first experience of a brand, a good brand name can communicate with customers
in a positive way and identify the service offering. A brand name is a powerful source of
identity and carry an incorporated virtue in to the brand.It also differentiates a firm from its
competitors, raise curiosity, and help the consumer memorize the brand. Failing to do a good
job in the brand naming process, if not misleading the customer, it will fail to make a positive
impression. It should also be understood that if a product or a service fails to deliver the
The development of a brand name should consider the core value of the organization and the
characteristics it plans to project. Failing to develop a brand name right the first time might entail
an expensive rebranding exercise at a later stage of the life of the company. The name should be
able to connect with its target audience rather than just the personal test of the owner. The use of
is descriptive and abstract names are the two broader classifications of brand names.
Descriptive Names: these are names that clearly describe the goods or services being
offered. According to Clifton and Simmons (2003), the use of a descriptive or abstract
brand names depends on the history, culture of the organization, and the competitive
situation. While descriptive names are the easiest to come up with and easily make sense,
their usage and expansion to other products and geographic areas could be very
constraining. For example a descriptive name that is well accepted in one region may
9
have difficulty getting acceptance due inability to relate to its meaning. Descriptive
names are often preferable if the company runs on a limited marketing budget.
Fanciful/abstract names: this kind of names are made up or a real name used out of
context. Clifton and Simmons (2003)also explains that abstract brand names are difficult
to introduce but could prove to be more memorable and relatively easy to expand in to
other products and geographic area. Such names are easy to trade mark because of their
distinctiveness however it would require proper marketing to help customer connect with
According to Catchword (2012) a brand name could originate from other languages,
acronyms of an already existing brand name could possibly result in a loss of brand
personality and character. Clifton and Simmons (2003)also share the opinion that brand
Brand naming could be a very long and expensive processs for some. For example, the use of a
creative development company could be very expensive. The brand naming processs indictaes
the methodical approch implimented to come up with the name. The process should follow a
degree of delibration and testing to assure the proper name is chossen. McNeal and Zeren (1981)
studied the process deployed by copmpanies in developing a band name. Their study outlined a
six step process followed by most. Their study noted the development of branding objective and
branding criteria. Kohli and LaBahn (1997) further explored the process and came up with a
more condensed five stage process. Their study identfied that most managers use a formalized
10
process but frequently undermined a thorough adhernace to it. In their conclusion they
recommended the the folowing (figure 1) five step process to help managers undertake the
naming properly.
Step 1: Set out clear objective for the naming process that reflects the company’s desider
Step 4: Systematically apply the objetive identifiedin step one to choose the final brand
name.
Step 5:Register the trademark. Consider few alternative names from the final pool in case
of rejection.
Specify Objectives
Trademark Registration
Figure 2: The brand name development process (Kohli and LaBahn, 1997)
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2.5.Brand Name in the Hotel Industry
Hospitality service providers need to understand that their value propositions to their customers
consumers show a clear influence by the brands and brand images and this affects the consumer
behavior as it reduces the perceived risk incorporated into their hospitality purchases (Williams,
2002). For quite some time now, the concept of branding has been center stage to the hotel
industry’s marketing effort. For hotels, developing a brand that serves different segments has
become a common experience. Permarupan et al. (2013) has revealed brand strength of hotels
will provide benefit to their customers such as greater customer loyalty in choosing a hotel
(Keller, 2001).
In today’s dynamic hotel market place where traditional distribution channels are under threat
from the online re-sellers and from new brands appearing all the time, it becomes more
imperative for a hotel to build and strengthen its own brand in order to keep the hotel at the top
of the traveler’s mind and minimize the threat for the hotel to be commoditized and equalized
Kayaman and Arasli (2007) further indicate brand names are so important in the hotel industry
that majority of hotels prefer to join a well recognized hotel brands rather than be independent.
This allows them to bit their rivals as well as charge a premium price over and above the other
competitors.
There are various kinds of research conducted in the area of branding and the process of brand
name development. Although none of the researches conducted deny the relevance of brand
12
naming and the use of the right process, the empirical research conducted can be observed to
follow three different issues or perspectives. Some researchers have looked at the impact of
efficient marketing or the quality of service provided by the hotel on the brand name itself
(Permarupanet al. 2013; Kayaman and Arasli, 2007). Other researchers have studied if brand
names can carry the desired product attributes from a sound symbolism perspective (Klink,
1999;Klink, 2000; Klink and Athaide, 2012). The third groups of researchers have studied the
actual processes followed in the development of a brand name (Siu and Zhang, n.d.; Shipley,
Research in to the process of developing a brand name is a relatively less researched area (Kohli
and LaBahn, 1997). One of the pioneers in the area were McNeal and Zeren (1981) who assessed
the practice of 82 brand managers to come up with the process used. Shipley, Hooley, and
Wallace (1988) followed suite and did a minor extension of the first model by McNeal and Zeren
(1981). Kohli and LaBahn (1997) further explored the process and came up with a more
condensed five stage process. Their study identfied that most managers use a formalized process
but frequently undermined a strict adhernace to it. The five steps in their process include
specifying brand objective, develop candidate names, evaluate candidate names, choose the
Another study that looked at Chinese enterprises have identified a four step approch(Siu and
Zhang, n.d.).The steps idetified were generating brand names, screening brand names, choosing
brand names and apply for registration. The research identified that the differnce in approch
could be the result of differences in institutional factors, legal system or socio-cultural values.
Siu and Zhang (n.d.) further indicate that the selection of brand names is based on the
13
consideration of cultural, linguistic and marketing potential. Cultural dimentions such as ‘good
Another area of brand naming research is sound symbolism that looks at the direct linkage
between sound and meaning. Plenty of research has been done in this area. For example,Klink
(1999) conducted a research to see if how a brand name sounds could communicate an inherent
product feature. Their study concluded that a direct relationship existed between sound and
meaning. For instance a brand name with higher acoustic frequency was perceived to be smaller,
faster, thinner and lighter. Such relationship was observed to hold not only for variety of
products but also for service. Similarly, a research by Klink and Athaide (2012) also concluded
that ‘ruggedness’ is better created by using vowels at the back than in the front. It also concluded
that ‘sophistication’ and ‘sincerity’ are better communicated by brand names with front vowels
Such researches imply that while developing a brand name, the character or personality of the
product desired to be communicated at the onset should be kept in mind. In this regard, carefully
Permarupan et al. (2013)argue that a brand is a valuable resource for a hotel in differentiating it
from others. However, he claimed that a brand’s strength is a reflection of the service. In line
with this, his research evaluated what customers value the most in selection of a hotel from the
brand, the service or the strategy used to influence customers. Permarupan et al. (2013)based on
a survey result of 200 tourists, he concluded that the service quality weight more than the brand.
14
Similarly, Kayaman and Arasli(2007) also conducted a research to evaluate the impact of the
seven dimensions of service quality on the customers’ perception of the brand image. Their
results indicated that the service quality reflects a lot on the brand.
Such findings are agreeable and make sense. The choice of a hotel for its service rather than its
brand based on previous experience of the service is a common practice. However, such research
does not explain the choice of hotels by tourists or foreigners with no prior knowledge the hotel
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Chapter 3
Research Methodology
This chapter presents the research design, population, the sampling technique and data collection
instruments along with the method of analysis that was implemented in conducting this research.
Research in to brand names are very few. The researcher has found no other similar research in
the hotel industry late alone an Ethiopian case. In light of this, the researcher was not able to
engage in test of hypothesis or model formulation to explore the issue. On the other hand, a
descriptive research is generally used whenever the characteristics of a population are either
unknown or partially known (Kumar and Singh, 2006). Taking the two points in mind, the
research was designed as a descriptive research using both quantitative and qualitative
techniques.
The population of this study covers hotels in Addis Ababa city. According to the Addis Ababa
City office of hotel and tourism, Addis Ababa currently have 125 registered star level hotels. Of
these, about 5 are international brands or hotel chains and hence not part of the study. Since the
study was attempting to explore the methodologies used in the development of those hotels’
brand names, subjects of the study were required to provide their account of the naming process
they used. This implied that hotels which has been in the industry for long or those that had
changed hands (brand naming not done by them) could not be able to provide the information
regarding the brand naming. Hence the research population considered was new hotels that
16
joined the industry in the last two years. According to AACA Culture and Tourism, 25 new
hotels have joined the industry in 2007 while 37 new hotels registered in 2006.
The research also tried to see the perception of guests on the brands names of those hotels.
As described above the brand naming practice covered relatively new hotels in the industry that
have developed their brand names recently. This gave us 62 hotels that joined the industry in the
last two years satisfying the criteria. Pilot testing of the instrument indicated that much
variability was not to be expected between different hotels. The researcher therefore decided no
more than 25 hotels (40%) were required for this study. Due to the lack of city wide map
showing geographic location of each hotel coupled with proximity challenges to the researcher,
the sampling method used was a non-probability sampling method, particularly a convenience
The second group of respondents were customers’ of those hotels. The customers were
considered for the purpose of providing their perception of the hotel’s brand name. For a
descriptive study with a categorical data, Berkowitz and Lynch (n.d.) suggested the use of the
formula N= 1/E2 (where E stands for allowable margin of error). Accordingly, for 95%
confidence with a 10% margin of error, the suggested sample size was 100. It was observed that
hotels were not willing and eager to allow contact with their guests. The researcher therefore
used a non-probability sampling method of convenience to collect data from those that were
available. Kumar (2006) also confirms that for a descriptive study with a non-probability
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3.4 Data Collection Methods
Primary data was collected using two sets of questionnaires developed. For the purpose of
collecting information about the process used for the development of brand names, a
questionnaire was developed based on McNeal and Zeren (1981)study ofbrand naming process.
The second set of questionnaires that was delivered to customers of those hotelswas developed
by the researcher based on points raised in the first set of questionnaire. The questionnaire
included questions relating to their perception of the brand name of the hotel they are staying at.
The development of those questionnaires by the researcher raises the issue of validity and
with which the instrument measures an attribute. One way of assuring the reliability of the
instrument is Cronbach’s Alpha. The researcher therefore used Cronbach’s Alpha to test the
reliability. Validity on the other hand looks at the instrument has measured what it sets out to
measure. The fact that the questionnaire was developed based on McNeal and Zeren (1981)study
answers the issue of validity but further principal component analysis was partially done to
Descriptive statistics was used to analyze and characterize the demography of the participants. In
addition chi-square test was implemented to see if the demographic variables had a statistically
significant impact on the subjects’ perception of importance of brand names. Further, since the
research was designed to be a descriptive research, descriptive statistics was further used to
summarize the results and derive inferences. Comparison of findings to the findings of previous
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3.6 Ethical Consideration
The objective of the data collection instruments (questionnaire and interview) are solely intended
to understand the thinking and process used behind the brand names we see in the hotel industry
in Addis Ababa. To this end, only relevant questions were asked. All responses were kept
confidential unless revealing them is relevant upon which the consent of the subject is acquired.
If the participating hotels/individuals are interested, a version of the finding could be shared with
them.
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Chapter 4
The study targeted 25 newly (recently) set up hotels and 100 of their customers. Accordingly, the
questionnaires were distributed to twenty five recently established Hotels of which about 22
returned a completed questionnaire resulting in 88% rate of return. On the other hand 100
With the intention of gathering only relevant back ground information, only three demographic
questions were raised to the participants asking their level of education, their overall work
20
This three questions were intentionally forwarded to see if either their education, general work
experience, or particular marketing related experience has influenced their opinions regarding
brand name development. Most respondents had first degree, followed by masters. 40.5 % had
an overall work experience between 11 – 15 years and 22.7 % had between 16 – 20 years of
overall work experience. Regarding experience in marketing, more than 72% of the respondents
One of the main issues of interest in this study was the level of importance respondents placed on
brand name. To see if the any of the background information had any impact on this variable,
cross tabulation along with chi-square test was conducted. None of the testes indicated any
statistically significant difference in the importance of brand name due to the background data
(see Table 1). This implies that the respondents reply to questions regarding the brand name did
not show a statistically meaningful difference due to the respondents’ difference in background
Chi-Square Tests
Asymptotic Significance (2-
Value df sided)
a
Pearson Chi-Square 14.884 9 .094
Likelihood Ratio 16.558 9 .056
Linear-by-Linear Association .138 1 .710
N of Valid Cases 22
a. 16 cells (100.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .27.
The research used two sets of questionnaires, one for the Hotels and the other for the customers
of the Hotels. The questionnaire delivered to the Hotels included eight questions that varied
21
between choices and Likert scale questions. Factor analysis was done for the question six which
had seven sub-questions with a five point Likert scale and question eight with thirteen sub-
Principal component analysis was conducted on the seven sub-questions under question six to
see if each of them are measuring the same aspect of the issues. The PCA with varimax rotation
resulted only one component was extracted indicating a single dimension. Similarly, for the
thirteen dimensions under question 8, eleven of the dimensions load on the same dimension with
the exception of three items. We can therefore assume that the instrument is valid.
22
Cronbach’s alpha was used to measure the reliability of the instrument. Accordingly an alpha of
0.927 was observed which is well beyond the acceptable value of 0.7 (Stien, 2001). Hence we
The research set out with the objective of looking into three issues; understand the degree of
importance the owners or management placed on the role of a brand name, identify the brand
name development process used if any as well as explore the performance of these brand names
One of the primary objectives of the research was to see what level of importance hotel owners
or marketing managers responsible for the brand name attach to it. Owners/marketing managers
were asked to rate the importance of ‘brand name’ for their success and if a brand name affects
customers’ choice of a hotel on a five point Likert scale ranging from none to very high. 7(31%)
think brand name is very important for their success followed by 7(31.8%) who thinks it has high
importance. In contrast to this however, a total of 18 (81.8%) of them think customers’ choice of
a hotel is not affected, has very little or little effected by the brand name.
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4.1.3.2 Use of a brand name development process
The second important question this research raised was the use of a brand name development
process in developing a brand name. Respondents were asked if they have used a specific
process in developing their brand name. The result shows only 40.9% used a process while
This point was further explored to see if the respondents have used any element of a name
development process with or without considering them as a process. They were given a yes or no
U SE D E L E M E N T S O F A N A M E I N G P R O C E SS
Yes No
0%
73% 82%
86% 86%
100%
27% 18%
14% 14%
SPECIFYING CREATE EVALUATE CHOOSE THE NAME
NAMING CANDIDATE CANDIDATE FINAL NAME REGISTRATION
OBJECTIVE NAME NAMES
As can be seen in figure 2 above, only 27% of the respopndents developed a naming objective
before they developed their brand name. Development of candidate names as well as evluation of
candidate names were not also a popular activity with only 14% of respondents indicating the
have done both. The choice of a final name however done by all respondents wheather it was
preceeded by any activity or not. Registration of the brand name is another activity that is not
done by most where only 18% indicating they have done it.
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Although most had indicated that they have not developed a naming criteria, all respondents
were asked to rate potential naming criteria to see what they think is relevant in developing a
brand name. In a five point Likert scale indicating a criteria being not useful, slightly useful,
useful, very useful as well as extremely useful, expressing a character was rated the highest with
a mean of 4 and sd of 1.6. Establishing image and product differentiation were second highest
with a mean of 3.9 and sd of 1.29 and 1.57 respectively (see table 5 below); the three can
Std.
Although the use of a process was seen to be very minimal, the naming criteria is different from
evaluation of the available alternatives. Similarly, a five point Likert scale indicating a potential
evaluation points from not useful, slightly useful, useful, very useful to extremely useful were
given to the respondents. Once the potential name is known, evaluating the name from the
perspective of establishing image, the name’s availability and attractiveness were considered
very useful and extremely useful with a mean of 4.72, 4.40 and 4.10 respectively.
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Mean Std. Deviation
Another element of the naming process explored was the source of the brand name. Here, except
a single respondent, all indicated that the idea for the name came from the individual creation of
the owner. This might suggest a lack of creativity, a fresh look or professional touch on the brand
names developed.
26
Figure 4: Brand name testing and changes made during testing
Brand name testing was also looked at within the process of brand name development. The chart
above indicates that only 36% of the respondents conducted testing of the brand name. To see if
difficulty was encountered in the registration process, only 3 respondents were forced to make
changes during registration. Here it should be kept in mind that the majority do not go for
registration.
Another objective of this research was to look at how the brand names were doing from the
perspective of the guests of those hotels. Those customers were asked if a band name matters to
them in general as well as the particular case of the hotel they are staying at. Particularly, they
were asked how useful a ‘brand name’ is in their choice of a hotel in general and in the selection
of the particular hotel they were staying at. A five point Likert scale was given to the guests to
rate from not useful, slightly useful, useful, very useful up to extremely useful.
27
Not Slightly Very Extremely
useful useful Useful useful useful
Majority (37.5%) indicated that brand name is very useful in selection of a hotel in general
followed by 30.5% who think it is useful. In contrast to this however, when asked if the brand
name was important in the selection of the hotel they are staying at, 45.12% said it was slightly
The next question raised to the guests was if the brand name of the hotel they are staying at was
able to communicate any kind of attribute to them. A significant portion (54%) indicated it did
communicate an attribute to them. Keeping in mind 46% of them didn’t feel any attribute, the
follow up question of what kind of attribute was perceived by those who did was forwarded.
From the brand name, those who perceived economic hotel and modern/contemporary hotel were
similarly 23.2%. Those who felt luxurious from the brand name were only 4.9%.
28
Mean Std. Deviation
Easy to recall 3.42 1.03
Attractive 3.28 1.24
Guests were also asked to rate the brand names of the hotels they were staying at against brand
name evaluation criteria given to the hotel owners. The highest rated criteria was ease of recall
with a mean value of 3.42 and a standard deviation of 1.03. This was followed by ability to
project a particular image and enabling market positioning with mean values of 3.41 and 3.36
respectively. It can therefore be assumed that all the brand names are rated as ‘fair’ with regard
4.2. Discussion
The research set out with the objective of looking into three objectives:
• Understanding the degree of importance the owners or management placed on the role of
a brand name
29
• Identify the brand name development process used if any
• Explore the performance of the brand name from the view point of the customers’ of
those hotels
As presented above, a total of 62% of owners/marketing managers thought brand name was very
important or highly important. But at the same time, (81.8%) of those owners/marketing
managers think customers’ choice of a hotel is not affected by or has very little to little effect.
Empirical assessment of other research however shows those who are responsible for brand
name development indicate choice of an appropriate brand name was critical in assisting
The guests on the other hand indicated a total of 67.7% indicated that a brand name is useful and
very useful. This clearly indicated a mismatch between owners/management of the hotels and
their guests. As a result the brand names of the hotels are not helping the guests make their
choice using brand names. This is further indicated in the fact that 45.12% and 25.61% of the
guests indicated the brand name of the hotel was not effective in their selection of the particular
Coming to the use of a particular process for the development of a brand name, it was indicated
above that only 40.9% used a process while 59.1% did not use a process. In contrast, studies
elsewhere indicated that Companies followed a detailed and systematic process (Kohli and
LaBahn, 1997). Shipley, Hooley, and Wallace (1988) and Shipley and Howard (1993) in their
attempt to develop a brand naming process have found out that companies already are using
defined processes.
30
For those who used a process or otherwise, which activities they performed out of Kohli and
LaBahn (1997)five step process, only the fourth step of ‘selecting the final name’ was done by
all. Very limited use other steps was observed (27% developed naming objectives, 14%
developed alternative names and evaluated alternatives, 18% registered their name). In contrast
to this, studies elsewhere showed an average of 46 names were created as an alternative while
use of individual creative thinking and brainstorming were most commonly used to generate
alternative names (Kohli and LaBahn, 1997; Siu and Zhang, n.d.).
Another interesting point explored was to see how owners/management of the hotels rate brand
name selection criteria and how guests rated the hotel brands on those criteria. The
brand name higher. However, guests rated the brand names much less than the importance
attached to it by the management. The guests thought the brand names did better in
pronunciation than the importance the owners/management has given it. Similar research showed
31
conveying the intended positioning of the product and establishing product differentiation were
the most commonly specified naming objectives (Kohli and LaBahn, 1997).
Further the guests also indicated that the brand names of the hotels they stayed at were able to
project a certain attribute and were able to judge whether the hotels were luxurious, economic,
modern/contemporary or traditional from their brand names. In addition, a majority of the guests
agreed the brand names matched the service they received (56%).
32
Chapter 5
From the presentation of findings and the discussion made above the following conclusions can
be made:
• Majority of owners think brand name is important for their success but they do not think
• Guests on the other hand indicated brand names are important in their choice of a hotel
but they were not able to make their selection based on brand names. This indicates a
missed opportunity by hotel owners/managers to develop a distinct brand name that could
• Majority of the owners/managers did not use a particular process in developing a brand
name. Further, four of the steps suggested by Kohli and LaBahn (1997) are not practiced
by the significant portion of the hotel owners/management except directly selecting the
final name.
• Eventhough the majority did not indicate the use of alternative brand name evaluation
image, the name’s availability and its attractiveness very useful and extremely useful.
• Guests thought based on alternative brand name evaluation criteria, the brand names of
hotels they were staying at were doing better in memorableness (ease of recall), ability to
33
The above findings suggest that no particular approach, particularly a scientific, exercise of
developing a brand name is not being practices by most hotels entering the industry. This
represents missed potential advantages that hotel owners could have gained from developing
appropriate brand names. Further, since brand names have long term implications, hotel
owners are also missing on an initial opportunity to develop a brand name for the future even
if hotel owners think the name is not highly important at this stage of the development of
5.2. Recommendation
The importance of brand names was seen to be an important activity by many however it was
also observed the use of appropriate process is not given due attention. Whether the brand name
is of the highest importance for competitive purposes or not at this point in time, new hotels are
missing out on an opportunity to develop a standout name that can carry their brand for a very
long time in the future. In this regard, owners/managers should use a systematic approach to
• Set out clear objectives for the naming process based on their competitive strategy and
• Develop a list of alternative names which they think are suitable to represent their
objectives. Here, using various sources can be helpful to assure creativity and out of the
box thinking.
• Follow a systematic evaluation of the candidate names. It is important to consider the list
34
• Further consider testing of the brand names to see if the potential pool of customers
• Another over looked practice is the registration of the names a protected brand name.
From a research perspective, further exploring the brand name development practice to see if in
fact the guest’s perception of the names is similar to the owners/management perception is a
further area of research. Further expanding this research to include other products and services
35
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38
Annexes
Annex I: Questionnaire for Hotel owners and marketing managers involved in the brand name
development
Dear respondents:
This questionnaire is intended to gather information for the purpose of a research in title
“BRAND NAMING PRACTICES: AN ASSESSMENT OF HOTELS IN ADDIS ABABA”. Please note
that the information gathered will only be used for the purpose of the research project.
Below you will find few demographic questions and questions regarding the brand name
development process. Please give your frank opinion to each of the questions as appropriate to
your experience.
1. Level of Education
39
2. Do you think your brand name affects your customers’ choice of a hotel?
Yes No
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
______________________________
1 2 3 4 5
40
5 Express the desired characters of
the service
6 Establish market segmentation
0–5 6 - 10 11 - 15 16 - 20 Above 20
1 2 3 4 5
1 Memorable
2 Personal interest
7 Modern or contemporary
8 Attractive to customers
10 Persuasive
13 Ease of pronunciation
41
Individual creation by owner Marketing department
How?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
____________
42
Annex II: Questionnaire for guests of Hotels under study
Dear respondents:
This questionnaire is intended to gather information for the purpose of a research in title
“BRAND NAMING PRACTICES: AN ASSESSMENT OF HOTELS IN ADDIS ABABA”. Please note
that the information gathered will only be used for the purpose of the research project.
Below you will find questions regarding attributes of a brand name that is considered by many
as important considerations in developing a brand name. Please give your impression of those
elements as indicated below.
2. Was the decision to stay at this particular hotel influenced by the brand name?
Yes No
4. If your reply was ‘yes’ for question 3, what was the attribute you perceived?
Luxurious Traditional
5. Were the attributes perceived from the ‘brand name’ congruent to the service received?
43
Yes No
1 Easy to recall
2 Attractive
7 Modern or contemporary
10 Understandable
11 Ease of pronunciation
44
Annex III: Cross tabulation and Chi-square test of demographic variables with importance and
impact of brand names
Chi-Square Tests
Asymptotic Significance (2-
Value df sided)
a
Pearson Chi-Square 19.382 12 .080
Likelihood Ratio 21.239 12 .047
Linear-by-Linear Association 1.065 1 .302
N of Valid Cases 22
a. 20 cells (100.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .09.
45
Importanceof Brand Name
Very Little Little High Very High Total
Over all 0-5 Years 1 1 2 3 7
experience 6-10 Years 0 1 0 1 2
11-15 Years 1 1 4 2 8
16-20 Years 1 2 0 1 4
More than 21 yrs 0 0 1 0 1
Total 3 5 7 7 22
Chi-Square Tests
Value df Asymptotic Significance (2-sided)
a
Pearson Chi-Square 8.770 12 .722
Likelihood Ratio 10.457 12 .576
Linear-by-Linear Association .626 1 .429
N of Valid Cases 22
a. 20 cells (100.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .14.
Chi-Square Tests
Asymptotic Significance (2-
Value df sided)
a
Pearson Chi-Square 14.682 16 .548
Likelihood Ratio 17.925 16 .328
Linear-by-Linear Association 1.137 1 .286
N of Valid Cases 22
a. 25 cells (100.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .05.
46
Very Little Little High Very High
Marketing 0-5 Years 2 2 5 4 13
Experience 6-10 Years 0 1 2 0 3
11-15 Years 1 0 0 3 4
16-20 Years 0 2 0 0 2
Total 3 5 7 7 22
Chi-Square Tests
Value df Asymptotic Significance (2-sided)
a
Pearson Chi-Square 14.884 9 .094
Likelihood Ratio 16.558 9 .056
Linear-by-Linear Association .138 1 .710
N of Valid Cases 22
a. 16 cells (100.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .27.
Chi-Square Tests
Asymptotic Significance (2-
Value df sided)
a
Pearson Chi-Square 15.222 12 .230
Likelihood Ratio 16.616 12 .165
Linear-by-Linear Association .498 1 .480
N of Valid Cases 22
a. 20 cells (100.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is
.09.
47