The Influence of a Brand Name's Association Set Size and Word Frequency on Brand Memory

Abstract

Theory that memory for brand information is enhanced by associations related to the brand name (because each association represents a possible retrieval cue) is countered by other theory that associations may cue competing concepts and so produce interference. The current research examines this issue in terms of the distinctiveness hypothesis. Results of two studies suggest that brand names composed of words encountered frequently in the language elicit nondistinctive processing, and memory for brand information is inversely related to the number of related associations. However, brand names composed of low frequency words stimulate distinctive encoding, which may eliminate or reverse the former pattern of effects.