STUDIES IN THE MEANING AND TREND OF 'THE BRAND NAME' IN THE COMPETITIVE MARKET

-laying stress on the brand names from 1930 to 1988-

LEE Kyung-hee(Major in Advertising Design The Graduate School of Industrial Design Ewha Women's University)

Daily-changing market circumstances, the various pouring out brands and a large quantity of an advertisement exhaust every means to approach to consumers. In proportion to the development of the various brands, the brand names which are thought to be appropriate to goods are being named. We cannot help admitting that the many-sided understanding of the brand name, which is the first medium when consumer choose goods, is very significant in the competitive market. I thought that investigating how much the enterprises recognize the importance of the brand name were very interesting subjects of study. I devised 'the brand name' into two big parts ---- meaning and function.

Brand Name functions as a source of information to consumers and results in increasing the quality of goods by distinguishing between producers and sellers. On the other hands in producers' place, it is though the brand name that producers can attract and increase Royal Customers by making consumers discriminate between their product and others. And they can make a profit on securing the characteristic and specialty of goods legally.

In the past years, consumers bought goods because they absolutely need them. But nowadays they want to buy psychological and symbolical value rather than functional value as material being abundant. As the development of science and technology, markets swell both in quality and quantity. Consequently, as competition grows intense, it is necessary to develop the brand name as a mean of discriminating their own goods from others. And now 'the Naming' has appeared as a important element of decision-making in marketing.

In order to grasp a trend of the brand name, first of all I investigated the changes of the circumstances of social economy in chronological order --- in the 1930's, 1940's, 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, 1980's. And then I classified the examined data (the brand names from the 1930 to 1988)in chronological order and according to the kind of goods(medicines, food, cosmetic, fashion commodity, hygienic goods, alcoholic liquors). Then I analyzed the several types of the brand name according to kinds of goods(the type of goods' ingredient, the type of image, the type of the using pattern, the type of the goods' shape, etc.) Through the telephone interviews and individual interviews, I looked into the naming examples of several brand names developed in the 1980's, and relatively systematized examples of three domestic companies('VI-BIG Frank' of the Jeil Jedang, 'Art de Peau' of the Lucky Debon, 'Secret' of the OB Seagram). Examining the rise and fall of samples number, the number of medicines had gained an advantage over that of other products, and then decreased gradually. In cosmetics the diversity of the brands was more easily seen rather than the changing of the samples number. In the 1970's and 1980's food, cosmetic, fashion commodities, hygienic goods, alcoholic liquors comparatively increase in quantity.

In the 1930's the naming in the Japanese language was seen in every goods due to the colonial economy. In the 1950's and 1960's we could see the vestiges of Japanese imperialism in the brand names. And the Naming of the brand name in English was seen. This resulted from the economic assistance from the U.S. During this period we had not the diverse brand names due to the Korean War.

In the 1970's) the synthetic brand name of the Korean and foreign languages appeared.(Probably this resulted from the latitude of mind due to the economic growth.) And exclusively Korean language in the brand name showed up just like an indication of the social trend in the 1980's when we began to be conscious of our own things. The positive information about the characteristic of goods (for example: 'an instant dishes 3 minute curry') were expressed in the brand names. This fact indicates that producers began to be aware of the competitions which were happening in the markets.

In 1980's in order to reflect consumers' diverse needs within limited markets, a variety of brands have been developed. So the competition for a market share has been intense. And the definite information and technical terms, in accordance with the advancement of scientific technology, are being named in the brand names.

When analyzing the data, I found that medicines had comparatively little change according to periods in the trend of the brand names. Because the first target is not general consumers but the experts like medical doctors and pharmacists, the brand names of technical terms are most plentiful among other things regardless of periods.

I think that food among goods had the most various brand names. I estimate that it is so because producers can do naming after considering many points-material, nutritional value, the shape of containers taste, color, the form of products, cooking, target, etc. Therefore the trend of various-developed brand names could be seen at this period.

From the 1970's the change of naming in cosmetic has been apparent. Especially in the 1980's, in cosmetic, a functional side and a scientific term of biotechnology are appealing to consumers, and the harmony between science and beauty is being pursued in accordance with the characteristics of goods. Before the 1970's fashion commodities didn't have any special aspects. However, in the 1980's, in the brand name of 'foundation' among fashion goods, a functional side is standing out. And in hygienic goods, the type of image and using pattern have been the main currents in brand names. In alcoholic liquors they laid emphasis on orthodoxy and image in brand names.

When investigating the naming process, I found that in a certain company the naming data of the past was abandoned. And when a man in charge had left, no naming data were available. Before the 1980's the subjective and private naming (such as the Christian name of daughter, the bell collected by president) was given. In the beginning of the 1980's some companies are developing the brand names through the naming system together with investigation. In the future, the competition for the brand will be more and more fierce. To gain an advantage in the competitive market, it is through the scientific and rational Branding System that the brand name will have to be developed in addition to the development of new products according to the subdivision of the market.

Gradually the brand names, which have been examined beforehand, are being developed. The way of developing become more and more scientific and systematic. I knew the above facts from the recent cases. And I recognized the necessity that the development and management of the brand name must be carried out simultaneously.