EXPRESS: BMW is POWERFUL, Beemer is Not: Nickname Branding IMPAIRS Brand Performance

Abstract

This research investigates nickname branding, a novel phenomenon whereby firms incorporate the ‘street’ names consumers give brands into their own marketing (e.g., Bloomingdale’s opening a Bloomie’s store). While practitioners anticipate positive results from deploying this tactic, the current research serves as the first empirical investigation of its likely effectiveness. Drawing on speech act theory, we theorize that using a nickname in place of a formal name serves as an act of power redistribution, effectively signaling submission to consumers, thereby reducing the perception of a brand’s power and weakening its performance. Using a multi-method approach that incorporates secondary data analyses, field studies, and pre-registered experiments, the results support this view across a range of performance metrics. In addition, we show this effect is contingent on two factors, such that nickname branding (1) harms performance more for competent brands than warm brands; and (2) is less pronounced when nicknames are used in messages that are communal-oriented (vs. transactional-oriented). Our research introduces a new theoretical perspective centering on the illocutionary meanings embedded in the process of naming brands and highlights actionable insights on how marketers should approach or avoid consumer-based slang in their marketing.