Mastering the 'Name Your Product Category' Game by Suarez Fernando F

Author:Suarez, Fernando F....
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-04-14T00:02:26.209000+00:00

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How to Create Successful Category Labels

Successful category labels can be created using basic knowledge from linguistics. These two types of labels seem to be the most successful.

Compounding words is one key way that labels are created, in part because labels for new product categories usually join familiar words into a new category label, thus achieving familiarity and novelty at the same time. In particular, compounds that consist of two words joined together tend to be the most successful. Consider the label “voicemail.” While “voice” is associated with a person speaking, “mail” conjures up a written message, delivered from one person to another. When technological design allowed recorded voice messages to be easily delivered, stored and retrieved, the “voicemail” category was created.

The joining of two familiar words seems to help define a novel concept in customers’ minds. A “typewriter” combined the notions of movable type and a person who writes. A “laptop,” referencing a computer portable enough to lie on top of one’s lap, was a label first introduced in 1983 (by Gavilan Computer Corp.) to communicate a novel way to work on their personal computers. There are many other examples.

Deriving a new word from an existing word is the second key way that category labels are created, and it also allows for labels that are both familiar and novel. Often this involves grammar tweaks — for example, transforming a verb into a noun. The category label “browser,” a noun, is derived from the verb “to browse.” Customers often readily accept category labels derived from verbs because, despite coming from a novel part of speech, the labels clearly communicate what the new product will be used for.

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