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The three-syllable rule

Wednesday, January 11 2006 - blog

One thing I remember from my Psych 101 course back in college is that the human short term memory capacity is 7 +/- 2 "chunks" of information. On average, we can only remember between 5-9 discrete units of information before our brains fizzle out and we start dropping things.

I think there's a corollary in the marketing world when it comes to creating "sticky" product names -- you get three syllables, max. I don't know what it is, but three seems to be the magic number. Use more syllables than that and people will either (a) acronymicize your product name down to a three-letter abbreviation or (b) forget about your product entirely in favor of something with a shorter name.

This theory of mine is hardly scientific (actually, I think I first noticed it at the grocery store), but I think there's tons of anecdotal evidence out there. Think of the first three names for companies or products that pop into your head and count the syllables -- anybody end up with more than 3 syllables? Consider these:

  • Starbucks (2)
  • McDonald's (3)
  • Arby's (2)
  • Crest  (1)
  • Listerine (3)
  • Scope (1)
     
  • Honda (2)
  • Toyota (3)
  • Acura (3)
     
  • Google (2)
  • Amazon (3)
  • Yahoo! (2)
     
  • Microsoft (3)
  • Windows (2)
  • XBox (2)

In terms of evidence for the negative case, the three-syllable rule does offer something of an explanation for why Krispy Kreme (3) has a stronger brand identity than Dunkin Donuts (4) and why the McDLT never really took off. Four syllables isn't the kiss of death by any means, as I'm sure there are any number of successful companies out there with longish names. I just can't think of them off the top of my head right now, which is exactly my point. If you want to "stick", you get 3 syllables, period.

One issue that I have with the company I work for is that we don't seem to "get" the three-syllable rule. I think we found some brand name success in the "Windows" moniker and now feel compelled to tack it on everything. Problem is, that's a two syllable overhead right there. So unless you've got a product called "Windows Blah", you're pretty much doomed to be pushed over the three-syllable cap.

One product close to my heart (which I guess would be of the form 'Windows Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah') could have really used those two syllables back and then some :)

The other issue with the Windows moniker is that it W is not a particularly friendly letter to say. In fact, W is itself 3 syllables long...the acronym actually has a negative compression ratio in this case...meaning every TLA for a Windows product is going to exceed the three-syllable attention span of most people. And that's really unfortunate, I think.

At least we got 'XP' and 'Vista' right.

Tagged as:

#1 Ferrario on 1.11.2006 at 6:37 AM

I'm not sure I agree with you on the Windows comment, Steve, if only because it doesn't apply in common usage.For instance, at work I don't use Windows Excel (4) I use Excel (2).Similarly, I use Word (1), Power Point (3), and Outlook (2).Because of the excellent brand recognition that Windows has and because of its dominance in the PC consumer market, the programs imply the platform.Furthermore, the same logic applies to the cars you mentioned: you don't drive a Honda Accord (4) you drive an Accord (2), because the specific name of the car implies the brand.No one says they drive a sedan or a coupe -- they state the specific name.Other places where you succeed in arguing that more than three syllables results in acronymicizing are the sport-utility vehicale (shortened to SUV) and Play Station Two (shortened to PS2).Think about it: back in the late 1990s when all we had was a Play Station, you could say the whole name because it was only three syllables.When the PS2 came out, the acronyms did too.I think this also applies to Vegas terms as well: yo, double down, hard eight, craps, blackjack, bust, etc.

#2 Ferrario on 1.11.2006 at 6:39 AM

By the way, whenever I post a comment, I always have to type the cryptic 5 characters scribbled below the comment box.The code, apparently, prevents robots -- are these the same robots that steal old peoples' medicine for fuel?

#3 Mike Vire on 1.11.2006 at 12:14 PM

I might be a complete loon here, but I've thought about calling it "dub-see-eff" kind of knocked off of the "tripple-dub" that can substitute the nine sylable "www".What do you guys call WCF at work? Do you use all 5 syllables? Do you drop the W and just say "see-eff"?