Effects of Alphanumeric Brand Names: a Selective Anchoring Perspective

This research reports four studies that investigated how alphanumeric brand names influence consumer judgments. We propose that consumers utilize numbers contained in alphanumeric brand names as self-generated anchors, which subsequently bias a series of judgments (e.g., price estimation). Experiment 1 demonstrated this effect, and experiment 2 show that consumers rely on such anchors only when they are relevant. Experiment 3 and 4, using different manipulations, show that this anchoring effect happens when consumers employ a heuristic (vs. systematic) processing style.

Citation:

Dengfeng Yan and Rod Duclos (2011) ,"Effects of Alphanumeric Brand Names: a Selective Anchoring Perspective", in AP - Asia-Pacific Advances in Consumer Research Volume 9, eds. Zhihong Yi, Jing Jian Xiao, and June Cotte and Linda Price, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 61-62.