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Consumers dont mind when companies use misspelled wordsthink Lyft for lift or Froot Loops for fruit loopsas their brand names, as long as the alterations arent too extreme and the misspelling makes sense. Those are the main findings of a new peer-reviewed paper I published with fellow marketing scholar Leah Warfield Smith. This builds on previous work that found that using misspelled brand names usually backfires. Misspelled brand names like Kool-Aid, Reddi-wip, and Crumbl seem to be everywhere. They are especially common in the names of smartphone apps and in certain industries, like fashion. Companies often do this to stand out or perhaps so they can use the misspelled word as their domain name. Despite their popularity, we know little about how consumers respond to different types of misspelled names, especially when those names deviate significantly from correct or standard spelling. Our study aims to fill this gap. In a series of six experiments, we tested consumer reactions to fictional and several real brand names with varying levels and types of misspellings. Mild misspellings from combining two real words, such as SoftSoap, were perceived just as positively as correctly spelled names. When consumers saw different levels of misspellingsconsider the brand names Eazy Clean, Eazy Klean. and Eezy Kleenthey reacted more negatively the further the name deviated from the correct spelling easy clean. However, we also found that relevance matters. A misspelled name that aligns with the product or brand identity can still be successful. For example, consumers responded just as well to Bloo Fog (a playful nod to Oolong tea) as to the correctly spelled blue fog. In contrast, Blewe Foga misspelling without a linguistic connection to the products nameperformed worse. Other experiments showed similar, more positive effects when the name related to the owners identity (Sintymental Moments by Joe Sinty) or a visual cue (Toadal Fitness with a toad logo). In each case, the misspelling was more acceptable when it made conceptual sense to consumers. Why it matters The findings suggest that two main concepts play a role in how consumers process brand names: linguistic fluency, or how easily a name is pronounced and read; and conceptual fluencyhow easily the meaning of a name is understood or how well it aligns with the product. Linguistic fluency decreases with more severe misspellings, resulting in more negative responses. But if the misspelling adds some kind of meaning related to the product, person, or logo, these adverse effects can be easily mitigated. For marketers and brand strategists, the takeaway is that misspellings can work, but only when they make sense. Naming a tea brand Bloo Fog might succeed where Blewe Fog fails, but only if consumers understand the name-product connection. Understanding when a misspelling helps or hurts a brand is crucial to crafting the right brand name; ideally, one that can be perceived positively while reaping the benefits of misspellings, such as increased memorability, uniqueness, or trademark acquisition. What still isnt known While this research uncovers how consumers react to different types of misspellings, it leaves open important questions about long-term effects. For example, do consumers still notice the misspelling in a 60-year-old brand name like Kwik Trip, a convenience store chain in the Midwest? We also do not know how the effects of misspellings play out across different languages, cultures, or product categories. Annika Abell is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Tennessee. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work.
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E-Commerce
Chinas Pop Mart says it is rolling out a mini version of its popular Labubu plush toys this month, along with a new long-fur version of the toothy little monster. The Labubu, by artist and illustrator Kasing Lung, first appeared with pointed ears and pointy teeth, in three picture books inspired by Nordic mythology in 2015. In 2019 Lung struck a deal with Pop Mart, a company that caters to toy connoisseurs and influencers, to sell Labubu figurines. But it wasnt until Pop Mart started selling Labubu plush toys on key rings in 2023 that the toothy monsters suddenly seemed to be everywhere. Pop Mart said Friday that the mini-sized Labubu vinyl plush pendant, which is part of the Monsters Pin For Love series, will be available in various colors corresponding to letters of the alphabet. They will cost $22.99 each. The series also includes 30 letter pendant blind boxes, each with a unique pattern and Monsters charm. They will be priced at $18.99 a piece. In addition, Pop Mart is launching the Rock the Universe vinyl plush doll, which is part of the Monsters Big Into Energy Series. The plush, which will have a pearl-and-alloy heart necklace, will be the first of the Monsters to have long fur and uses a specialized dyeing technique that ensures no two figures are exactly alike. The dolls will cost $114.99 each. All of the new products will bbe available starting August 29 on Pop Mart’s website either for in-store pickup or shipping. They will also be available on the company’s app and its official TikTok accounts. Labubu has been a bonanza for Pop Mart. Its revenue more than doubled in 2024 to 13.04 billion yuan ($1.81 billion), thanks in part to its elvish monster. Revenue from Pop Marts plush toys soared more than 1,200% in 2024, nearly 22% of its overall revenue, according to the companys annual report. Earlier this week Pop Mart reported that its profit attributable to shareholders skyrocketed almost 400% for the first six months of the year. Revenue jumped more than 200% to 13.88 billion yuan ($1.93 billion). Revenue for the Asia Pacific region surged more than 250%, while revenue for the Americas soared more than 1,000%. Michelle Chapman, AP business writer
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Pricey prescriptions and nagging medical costs are swamping some insurers and employers now. Patients may start paying for it next year.Health insurance will grow more expensive in many corners of the market in 2026, and coverage may shrink. That could leave patients paying more for doctor visits and dealing with prescription coverage changes.Price increases could be especially stark in individual coverage marketplaces, where insurers also are predicting the federal government will end some support that helps people buy coverage.“We’re in a period of uncertainty in every health insurance market right now, which is something we haven’t seen in a very long time,” said Larry Levitt, an executive vice president at the nonprofit KFF, which studies health care. What’s hitting insurers In conference calls to discuss recent earnings reports, insurers ticked off a list of rising costs: More people are receiving care. Visits to expensive emergency rooms are rising, as are claims for mental health treatments.Insurers also say more healthy customers are dropping coverage in the individual market. That leaves a higher concentration of sicker patients who generate claims.Enrollment in the Affordable Care Act’s insurance marketplaces swelled the past few years. But a crackdown on fraud and a tightening of eligibility verifications that were loosened during the COVID-19 pandemic makes it harder for some to stay covered, Jefferies analyst David Windley noted.People who use little care “are disappearing,” he said.Prescription drugs pose another challenge, especially popular and expensive diabetes and obesity treatments sometimes called GLP-1 drugs. Those include Ozempic, Mounjaro, Wegovy, and Zepbound.“Pharmacy just gives me a headache, no pun intended,” said Vinnie Daboul, Boston-based managing director of the employee benefits consultant RT Consulting. There are more super expensive drugs New gene therapies that can come with a one-time cost of more than $2 million also are having an impact, insurance brokers say. Those drugs, which target rare diseases, and some newer cancer treatments are part of the reason Sun Life Financial covered 47 claims last year that cost over $3 million.The financial services company covers high-cost claims for employers that pay their own medical bills. Sun Life probably had no claims that expensive a decade ago and maybe “a handful at best” five years ago, said Jen Collier, president of health and risk solutions.Some of these drugs are rarely used, but they cause overall costs to rise. That raises insurance premiums.“It’s adding to medical (cost growth) in a way that we haven’t seen in the past,” Collier said. Marketplace pain is in the forecast Price hikes will be most apparent on the Affordable Care Act’s individual coverage marketplaces. Insurers there are raising premiums around 20% in 2026, according to KFF, which has been analyzing state regulatory filings.But the actual hike consumers see may be much bigger. Enhanced tax credits that help people buy coverage could expire at the end of the year, unless Congress renews them.If those go away, customer coverage costs could soar 75% or more, according to KFF.Business owner Shirley Modlin worries about marketplace price hikes. She can’t afford to provide coverage for the roughly 20 employees at 3D Design and Manufacturing in Powhatan, Virginia, so she reimburses them $350 a month for coverage they buy.Modlin knows her reimbursement only covers a slice of what her workers pay. She worries another price hike might push some to look for work at a bigger company that offers benefits.“My employee may not want to go to work for a large corporation, but when they consider how they have to pay their bills, sometimes they have to make sacrifices,” she said. Employers may shift costs Costs also have been growing in the bigger market for employer-sponsored coverage, the benefits consultant Mercer says. Employees may not feel that as much because companies generally pay most of the premium.But they may notice coverage changes. About half the large employers Mercer surveyed earlier this year said they are likely or very likely to shift more costs to their employees. That may mean higher deductibles or that people have to pay more before they reach the out-of-pocket maximum on their coverage. Drug coverage changes are possible For prescriptions, patients may see caps on those expensive obesity treatments or limits on who can take them.Some plans also may start using separate deductibles for their pharmaceutical and medical benefits or having patients pay more for their prescriptions, Daboul said.Coverage changes could vary around the country, noted Emily Bremer, president of a St. Louis-based independent insurance agency, the Bremer Group.Employers aren’t eager to cut benefits, she said, so people may not see dramatic prescription coverage changes next year. But that may not last.“If something doesn’t give with pharmacy costs, it’s going to be coming sooner than we’d like to think,” Bremer said. The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Tom Murphy, AP Health Writer
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