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Trivia Tidbit Of The Day: Part 79 -- Product Names.

NONSENSICAL PRODUCT NAMES-

Ever get fed up trying to decipher what Gatorade's Riptide Rush (just as one example among many) is supposed to taste like? And what does that hazy purply sort of color represent, anyway?

Whatever happened to good ole easy-to-imagine Orange, or Lemon Lime, or even Fruit Punch?

Here's what:

...consumers react positively to imaginative names even if they are not particularly descriptive....

In studies of jellybeans and colored sweaters, the researchers found an overall positive reaction to names that gave little information about what a flavor or product color was really like, such as Millennium orange or Snuggly white....

In an initial experiment testing flavor names, 100 undergraduates were asked to complete an unrelated questionnaire on a computer. After finishing the questionnaire at the computer, the students were told they could take some jellybeans. The jellybeans were in six cups each with a sign attached listing the flavor. Half the subjects saw jellybean names that were common descriptives: blueberry blue, cherry red, chocolate brown, marshmallow white, tangerine orange and watermelon green. The other half saw flavors with ambiguous names: Moody blue, Florida red, Mississippi brown, white Ireland, Passion orange and Monster green. Researchers observed that the less common names were more popular.

As part of the experiment, some subjects were distracted by questions about the computer survey as they selected their jellybeans. In those cases, there was no preference for the unusually named flavors. That suggested that the decision to go with the less common name is a cognitive response indicating a person puts at least some thought into the decision.

Some interesting research. I guess the Gatorade people might know what they are doing, afterall. I always assumed it was because it is exceedingly difficult to artificially flavor something to taste like a fruit. With Cascade Crash and Glacier Freeze, Gatorade could focus on creating a drink that tastes acceptable-- and ambiguous, rather than trying to engineer authentic flavors found in nature. But it probably has more to do with simple marketing psychology.

Source:
Wharton School of Business.

Previous trivia tidbits:

Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7; Part 8; Part 9; Part 10; Part 11; Part 12; Part 13; Part 14; Part 15; Part 16; Part 17; Part 18; Part 19; Part 20; Part 21, Part 22; Part 23, Part 24, Part 25; Part 26; Part 27, Part 28; Part 29; Part 30, Part 31; Part 32; Part 33; Part 34; Part 35; Part 36; Part 37; Part 38; Part 39; Part 40; Part 41; Part 42; Part 43; Part 44; Part 45; Part 46; Part 47; Part 48; Part 49; Part 50; Part 51; Part 52; Part 53; Part 54; Part 55; Part 56; Part 57; Part 58; Part 59; Part 60; Part 61; Part 62; Part 63; Part 64; Part 65; Part 66; Part 67; Part 68; Part 69; Part 70; Part 71; Part 72; Part 73; Part 74; Part 75; Part 76; Part 77; Part 78.

Daily Trivia Tidbits cover a wide range of topics, and they're usually not trivial at all; you never know what you might find. Stay tuned to WILLisms.com for more.

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Posted by Will Franklin · 16 June 2005 09:21 AM

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