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Deciphering The Indecipherable — The Dictionary of Branding
Welcome to the Scarcliff | Salvador Dictionary of Branding, the
most comprehensive glossary of branding and naming on the Web. Our
goal is to produce and maintain an up-to-date record of the terms
of art in use in our field, including the latest branding concepts,
naming styles and techniques, tagline types, and commercially-useful
linguistics terms.
Each entry is cross-referenced if appropriate and includes examples
from the marketplace wherever possible. Please contact us with your
suggested additions and corrections.
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Parent Brand (branding, marketing)
Any brand which lends a portion of its identity and equity to one
or more subsidiary brands, most often by sharing its name.
Paronomasia (naming, verbal branding)
The use in naming of a play on words, including but not limited
to punning. L’eggs pantyhose is a good example of paronomasia.
Paronym (naming, verbal branding)
Any brand name derived from an understandable word in a foreign
language. Many fragrance and cosmetic names take advantage of both
the cachet of French and the fact that English and French share
a great deal of vocabulary. Trésor perfume, where
‘trésor’ is the French source of the English word
‘treasure’, is a clear example of this brand strategy.
Pathetic Fallacy (naming, verbal branding)
The attribution of a human emotion to a product or service. Cheerios
cereal is an excellent example of a pathetic fallacy.
Patois (linguistics, verbal branding)
A regional dialect. The distinctive dialect of New Orleans is an
example of a patois.
Patronym (naming, verbal branding)
Any brand name derived from an actual, fictional, or mythical paternal
figure.
Pejoration (linguistics, verbal branding)
A semantic shift which results in a less favorable connotation.
Personification (naming, verbal branding)
A figure of speech in which a company, product, or service is given
human form. Mr. Clean cleaning products and the Nintendo
Game Boy game system are perfect examples of personnification.
Compare Eponym.
Phoneme (linguistics, brand name research)
A meaningful sound, the smallest unit of speech which distinguishes
one word from another in a given language. In the pair of words
‘bat’ and ‘mat’, for example, the distinguishing
sounds /b/ and /m/ are both phonemes.
Phonestheme (linguistics, naming)
A consonant cluster apparently associated with a particular semantic
field, but with no distinguishable independent meaning. Some English
examples are ‘gl-’, ‘sn-’, and ‘sl-’.
Phonogram (design, verbal branding, visual branding)
Any character or symbol used in place of a word. The now famous
@ sign is an example of a phonogram.
Poecilonymy (naming, verbal branding)
The use of multiple names for the same company, product, or service.
Also, the use of several words to create one brand name. Compare
Polyonomy.
Polyonomy (naming, verbal branding)
The use of multiple names for the same company, product, or service.
Also, the use of several words to create one brand name. Compare
Poecilonymy.
Polysemy (naming, verbal branding)
The proliferation of words sharing a single, ancestral root. For
example, the English words ‘aggregate’, ‘congregate’,
‘egregious’, ‘gregarious’, and ‘segregate’
are all derived from the Latin root greg- ‘to flock, to herd’.
Portmanteau Word (naming, verbal branding)
Any word or brand name created by the whimsical blending of two
or more other words, as found in the works of Lewis Carroll. Snapple,
a portmanteau of the English words ‘snap’ and ‘apple’,
is a great example of this naming technique. Compare blend.
Product Brand (branding, marketing)
Any brand associated with a product or family of products.
Positioning Statement (branding, marketing)
A concise statement of a brand's proposed niche, typically defining
its unique emotional and/or functional appeal to its intended target
market.
Proprietary Name (trademark law, brand naming)
Any name capable of being owned and trademarked, as opposed to a
descriptive name. Compare Descriptive Name.
Pseudonym (brand naming)
A false name adopted to protect a trade secret, and, not coincidentally,
to arouse the interest of the target market. Ginger was the
pseudonym of the Segway human transporter. Compare Code Name.
Pseudo-Semantic Development (linguistics, verbal branding)
The acquisition by a word of a new meaning under the influence of
another word in the same associative field. Compare Associative
Field.
Psycholinguistics (linguistics, brand name research)
The study of the psychological factors involved in the perception
of, and response to, language. One example of psycholinguistic study
is the memorability of brand names. Compare Linguistics.
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