Survival analysis in names research

Ilia Baranov. Survival analysis in names research www.brnd.nameICOS XXVI. August, 2017
Who wants to live forever:
Survival analysis in names
research
Ilia Baranov
www.brnd.name

Commercial names research
Brand functions
Brand metrics
Business results
Linguistic properties
How are properties of the name directly related
to business success?
What brand functions do certain properties
perform?

Brand functions of name
1. Identification
2. Search cost reduction
3. Quality signaling
4. Risk reduction
5. Relationship
6. Habitual
7. Symbolic
(Round and Roper, 2012)

Semantics Grammar Graphics Phonetics
Identification
Search cost
reduction
Quality
signaling
Risk reduction
Relationship
Habitual
Symbolic
Connecting linguistics & branding

Identification
Search cost
reduction
Quality
signaling
Risk reduction
Relationship
Habitual
Symbolic
The higher the
imagery,
the better the
recall

Identification
Search cost
reduction
Quality
signaling
Risk reduction
Relationship
Habitual
Symbolic
Congruent
grammatical gender
of the name and the
product class
increases brand
evaluation.

Identification
Search cost
reduction
Quality
signaling
Risk reduction
Relationship
Habitual
Symbolic
Fine dining: low
fluency leads to
enhanced
desirability
High fluency
inspire
confidence.

Identification
Search cost
reduction
Quality
signaling
Risk reduction
Relationship
Habitual
Symbolic
Long movie names
have more box office
than short ones.
Foodservice chains
with short names
have better financial
performance than
with long names.

Measures of business results
Marketing:
Market share, sales volume
Financial:
Brand margin, firm value, stock price
Integral:
Lifetime before renaming or closure
Lifetime before change of owner
Owner on the cover of Fortune 

Commercial names research
Brand functions
Business results (lifetime)
Linguistic properties
Survival
analysis Brand metrics

Survival Analysis
1999 2013
Censored
Uncensored
Time
Cases

Survivor bias
Consider not only
Top100 brands,
but a
representative
sample.

The sample
Moscow, 1999–2013
Cafes
N 820
Restaurants
N 1,143
p<.001
Time, years
Cumulative
proportion
surviving

Named vs. no-name cafes
Noname < Named
Named
N 820
No-name
N 127
p<.001

Named vs. no-name cafes
Noname < Named

Notation
Х < Y — names with X property have a
significantly shorter lifetime than names with Y
property (p < .05).
X = Y — names with properties X and Y have
statistically equal lifetimes (p > .10).
X ≤ Y — names with X property have a shorter
lifetime, but not statistically significant (.05 < p <
.15).
O — absence of property

Brand name semantics
Identification
Search cost
reduction
Quality
signaling
Risk reduction
Relationship
Habitual
Symbolic

Meaning
O = Meaning
Low imagery < High imagery
(restaurants, not cafes)
Small < Big
Colour = O
Light = Dark

Category connection
Connected: food, tableware, taste,
relevant human properties, type of enterprise,
not nationality
Meaning = No meaning
Connected < O

Animacy vs. geography
Human = Animal
Domestic = Wild
O < Animate
Animate ≤ Country
Cardinal < City ≤ Country
points
O ≤ Geography
Thing = Idea = No meaning < Place = Animate

Gender
‘Restaurant’: masculine (M)
‘Cafe’: neuter; ‘food’ : feminine (F)
Entire sample: M < F
No meaning: M < F
Animated/O: M ≤ F
Equal in length M < F

Soviet names
Мечта
Главпивтрест
Ангара
Березка
Entire sample: Soviet names = O
Restaurants:
O < Soviet names
Cafes:
Soviet names < O
Dream
Beer
River
Birch

Brand name grammar
Identification
Search cost
reduction
?
Quality
signaling
Risk reduction
Relationship
Habitual
Symbolic

Name structure
Пойдем в Онегин — Let’s go to Onegin
Пойдем в У Онегина — Let’s go to At Onegin’s
Noun < Prep+Noun
Онегин
У Онегина

Name structure
1-word < 2-word = 3-word
2-word:
Noun+Noun < Adj+Noun < Prep+Noun
11,3 14,0 10,3Length
Place < At+place; Person < At+person’s
Article+Noun < Noun+Noun < Prep+Noun

Brand name graphics/visuals
Identification
Search cost
reduction
Quality
signaling
Risk reduction
Relationship
Habitual
Symbolic

5 7
15 17
Length
.
Mid 8–13
Short 2–7
Long 14+
p<.001

Letter recognition fluency
1. Perimetric complexity:
Simple < Complex = Medium
2. Legibility: high < low
(nouns, length=6…10)
The worse, the better?
P2/S
Easy:
Р, X, O
Hard:
К, H

Letters and N-grams frequencies
Name no effect
Sample letters and 2-grams: freq = rare
3-grams: freq < rare
4-grams: freq < mid < rare
Speech letters and 2-grams: rare=freq
3-grams: freq ≤ rare ≤ mid
words: freq < mid < rare
Frequent < Rare

QWERTY effect
Left-handed < Right handed
(length = 5…11 or 4 beginning letters in name)
1999 — 2013

Brand name phonetics
Identification
Search cost
reduction
Quality
signaling
Risk reduction
Relationship
Habitual
Symbolic

Consonants
Voiceless < O = Voiced
Soft = O = Hard
‘Badness’ Voiceless Voiced
Soft (palatalized) 70 42
Hard 68 41
(Zhuravlev, 1974)

V-fluency
Easy: в Анапу, в Грот, во Вкус
Middle: в Баку, в Хмель
Hard: в Вертикаль, в Феникс
Hard < Middle = Easy

Summary
Identification High imagery,
not food
Search cost
reduction
Country
Preposition
+ noun
Rare 3-grams,
less legible
Quality
signaling
Voice
consonants
Risk
reduction
Big Long
Relationship Animate, Female
Habitual Right-handed V- fluent
Symbolic Soviet

Conclusions
Name lifespan is sensitive to various linguistic
levels of the name.
In service names, survival analysis could shed
light on the relationship of their linguistic
properties and brand functions.

Ideal Russian restaurant name 
Long,
high imagery
Soviet-sounding
female name
with voiced consonants,
Prep + noun…
У Валентины (At Valentina’s)
Thank you!

Survival analysis in names research

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