Abstract:

Strong brand personalities seem to need deep roots into local culture, whereas multi-cultural ambitions rule out names with only specific geographically limited meanings. As names are expected today to concentrate much of the projected positioning, we wish to show how close brand research comes to concept research, and how advanced qualitative methodologies give invaluable information. Indeed our definition of the term "qualitative" is a broad one, as it encompasses creativity and even, to a certain extent, some aspects of design. In this sense, qualitative research not only analyses names and consumer discourse through semantics, psychology and sociology. It also proposes solutions through creativity techniques and helps strategic branding decision-making by bringing brands visually to life. Cultural qualitative and creative expertise carried out by a multi- lingual multi-cultural team, atune to universal themes such as archetypes, leads to brands that convey meanings relevant to diverse cultures.