Comments on: Art or Logo? How a Familiar Four-Letter Brand Affects Perception

By: Rozie

Rozie — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 04:06:05 +0000

I would say the brand COACH, has became very popular here in Singapore…inerestingly everyone I know called it “coach” and not C-O-A-C-H

By: Jamie

Jamie — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 18:11:01 +0000

How about Saab? While they are now know as the word “Saab” (read: sob), they originally started as Swedish Aerospace, AB. “AB” in Sweden is similar to ,Inc or ,Co in the US. Years later, it was officially shortened to Saab because that’s what everyone called them. (**Assuming the story I heard from a Saab employee is true!)

By: Dani Nordin

Dani Nordin — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 22:54:00 +0000

I can see the difference, mostly in the shape of the letterforms and the stacking of them, but I can definitely see where it can be confusing.
On the French Connection UK brand, I remember when I first passed that shop on Newbury Street in Boston I was floored. Simply floored. I thought it was hysterical, but still wouldn’t go there.

By: Clark Nelson

Clark Nelson — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 10:53:41 +0000

Acronyms abound (AA) in my world of government agencies (GA), and of course, they’re sprinkled throughout conversations (STC), though they are often pathologically lacking the fun and creativity put forth by our kids with the ubiquitous IDK (I Don’t Know), LoL, or in the fun examples dissected by Ms Dwyer above. 3 letters are an agency’s holy grail, and as critical to the government’s version of branding as in any commercial venture. Acronym speak is critical to success. The global awareness of CIA and FBI are well known. The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGIA) absolutely HAD to go from 4 to 3 letters to gain credibility with the big boy agencies. In a stroke of creative brilliance and decisiveness, the then Director – General James Clapper – inserted a hyphen between Geospatial and Intelligence (Geospatial-Intelligence), thus creating NGA, now a 3-letter agency far more capable of competing for budget money and respectability on Capitol Hill. Government agencies, whether they (or we) know it or not, are just as engaged in branding as commercial ventures.

By: san

san — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 23:09:35 +0000

I am not sure is related to brands. Outside the brands you also have a more often use of 3 letters acronyms, like DIY, TCL, GOP. Business and texting are helping the coming back of the 4 letter acronyms such as IMHO, OTOH, etc.
By some reason though in the medical world four letters has been more usual from AIDS to ADHD…
In brands I have to add:
- TGIF
- AmEx (not a pure acronym I know, but near to one and very used by the users)
- FIAT: the Italian cars (acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino even though it also means “let it be” in Latin)
- ESPN : Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (this is an oddity, among channels all other acronyms are three words except LOGO and that is not an acronym AFAIK)
- BCBG (clothing) is a French acronym for ‘bon chic bon genre’ more or less “good style, good class”
In Sports, FIFA (International Federation of Association Football, in French Fédération Internationale de Football Association) has become a brand by itself in all the countries where soccer is big.
And I am sure there are a couple more out there.
BTW, me too would have taken DRNK for DKNY but the fact that they are stacked helps on that too.
My 2 cents, San

By: Gwyneth Dwyer

Gwyneth Dwyer — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 18:07:51 +0000

Pete,
I don’t actually believe 4 letters are more effective for establishing a memorable brand. In fact, I don’t recommend letters (or, more specifically, acronyms) at all when establishing a new brand.
Most customers are fed up with acronyms and they always require explanation. See Qisda above, a most unwieldy acronym, which was brought to our attention by Titel. Thanks again for that Titel.
You’re absolutely right about cadence. It’s incredibly important in developing a memorable brand name. Here are two brand names my organization developed that I think exhibit good cadence:
Asian Zing™ – Onomatopoetic name for zingy Buffalo Wild Wings hot sauce.
Nexen – invented name, perfectly balanced, simple cadence. Captures the back-and-forth motion integral to this manufacturer of clutches, brakes, and rotary motion-control products.
Thanks for your comments and your question.

By: Pete P.

Pete P. — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 18:47:18 +0000

This is interesting. What is your theory on why 4 letters (rather than, say, 3 or 5) are more effective in establishing a memorable brand? Is it the cadence when spoken — de de da da? Take T.G.I.F. For me, it just comes to life with the 4 letters, where as a brand like TCF has me wanting to always add the word “Bank” after it.

By: Gwyneth Dwyer

Gwyneth Dwyer — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 22:58:25 +0000

Hey thanks for the examples.
BenQ. Well now that’s a stretch: Bringing Enjoyment aNd Quality to life.
And Quisda. According to Engaget.com, that mouthful of an acronym stands for “Quality, Innovation, Speed, Driving, and Achievements.”
Go ahead. Memorize that. Better yet, try to say it.
I will tell you that acronymfinder.com (a great resource, by the way) doesn’t know what QISDA means–at least not yet. (But it does recognize BenQ, the earlier name.)
Compare BenQ to Pebl and Razr, which are clear and clever names, rather than difficult acronyms.
And back to DRNK, the word in the painting. A missing vowel seems to make a word more difficult to comprehend than missing consonants.

By: Titel

Titel — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 21:19:33 +0000

BenQ is a brand name for computers, accessories and telecommunication products. Originally a spin-off of giant Acer Computer, this brand name is an acronym which stands for “Bringing Enjoyment aNd Quality (To Life)”. (Google “BenQ history” for details.) Recently they changed their name again to Quisda. Weird name, I guess they’re fond of the Q.
Computer industry loves acronyms and many brands there have such conotations. But getting back on the topic, some brands are so ubiquitous that fakes are a multi-million dollar industry, based on misleading customer perception. Take the brand “Nike”, for example: chinese shoes branded as “Mike” fill emerging markets, or their checkmark logo printed backwards. Written with just the right font and angle, and you’ll notice the letter replacement only at a careful look.
The cleverness behind Pebl and Razr is twofold. First, they want to trademark the brand, which can’t be done for common words like “pebble” (please correct me if I’m wrong). Second, the missing letter brings in the cool factor in a world where the target consumer thinks e-mail is SO outdated and instant messaging/texting abbreviations comes as a second nature.

By: Gwyneth Dwyer

Gwyneth Dwyer — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 18:45:00 +0000

Compulsive Use of Acronyms. I love it!
And I don’t love acronyms. Nor do I recommend them as brand names for clients. Just want to get that straight for the record.
Although I do think O.D.C.Y. is very clever.

By: Ann Handley

Ann Handley — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 17:51:47 +0000

Perhaps CUOA? (Maybe not a brand, but central to this discussion nonetheless!) http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/Compulsive+Use+of+Acronyms : )

By: Gwyneth Dwyer

Gwyneth Dwyer — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 17:43:51 +0000

Caryl,
It was indeed a *blink* moment. A snap judgement. “Rapid cognition” as Gladwell calls it.
The painting surprised me as I entered the gallery and I immediately thought: wait a minute, it’s a logo–
Now, the more I look at the painting, the less similar it seems to the DKNY identity, but I cannot deny the force of my initial impression.
Ann,
Yes, it’s French Connection UK. (That’s the brand I jokingly said I didn’t want anywhere near this post.)
Pebl and Razr are great examples of metaphorical brand names that used invented spellings. I’m still wondering if any readers know of four-letter acronym brands beyond the ones cited in my post. (The three letter ones are plentiful.)

By: Ann Handley

Ann Handley — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:48:44 +0000

I would have confused it, too!
Another four-letter brand: FCUK (French Connection UK, I think?)
Also: Motorola’s Pebl and Razr phones. SIGG bottles.

By: caryl Hull

caryl Hull — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 13:16:29 +0000

Kudos to the writer who went passed the initial BLINK read of DKNK to challenge her own assumption, and see what was there.
Is it art? In my opinion NO. The creator simply made use of an easy cliche.
Is it branding? Throw a tagline on that baby, send it virally, and you may indeed have a provocative campaign that delivers a message! Now, that’s an art!