Nia effect

The Nia effect - is consumer behavior effect, used in branding and states that consumers prefer shortened brand names over long ones and also tend to trim long brand names into short ones themselves.

Derivation

While same effect is often observed as Hypocoristic^[1] forms of nicknames in Linguistic morphology, short brand names are often invented by consumers themselves. Contracted from given names or directly invented as separate word.

In marketing

Effects in marketing, was first observed by Georgian marketeer: Giorgi Pirtskhalava, who stated that consumers might prefer short named brands over long ones and might as well invent their lesser form versions of brands. He noticed that short names are often used by couples in love to express their affection and close emotional bond, so it would be more profitable for companies to promote and advertise their short name versions of brands, including acronyms and abbreviations, for example: promoting GE might be more advisable then General Electric or Chevy for Chevrolet. EA (Electronic Arts) is another classic example of this effect, others include GM (General Motors), BMW (Bayerische Motoren Werke AG), IBM (International Business Machines Corporation) abbreviations.

In Culture

Even today the English terms Beemer, Beamer and Bimmer are used for BMWs of all kinds, cars, and motorcycles.^[2]

Short names of brands include

• Chevy - Chevrolet
• Coke^[3] - Coca-cola
• Bud - Budweiser
• Moto - Motorola
• Mac - Macintosh

Legal issues

Today companies often monitor their brands and when new short-named (lesser form of brand name) brands are born and adopted by consumers, they often register them as trademarks to avoid misleading and Cybersquatting generating goodwill for their brands at the same time.

References

1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, online edition: "hypocorism", accessed 2008-06-24
2. ^ "Difference between Bimmer and Beemer". http://www.boston-bmwcca.org/reference/Bimmer-Beemer.aspx. 
3. ^ "Trademark Status info". USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office). http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=77153712. 

External links