Uppercase Premium Effect: The Role of Brand Letter Case in Brand Premiumness

Yining Yu, Xinyue Zhou, Lei Wang*, Qiuzhen Wang

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Researchers have recently begun investigating how visual elements affect brand positioning. However, little is known about the effect of brand typeface features on brand premiumness. This paper proposes and verifies that letter case affects consumers’ perceived brand premiumness. Eight experiments, including one eye-tracking experiment, reveal that consumers perceive brands that use all uppercase letters (“uppercase brands”) as more premium than those that use all lowercase letters (“lowercase brands”). We refer to this effect as the “uppercase premium effect.” This effect is induced by the perceived conspicuousness of uppercase brands, a process which in turn is moderated by the product's social visibility. The effect is reversed for consumers who prefer subtle signals (“inconspicuous consumers”) because these consumers are likely to perceive a conspicuous uppercase brand as gaudy. Whereas status-motivated consumers are more likely to choose uppercase brands due to the increased premiumness perceptions, the increment in such perceptions does not further influence the purchase decisions of consumers indifferent to expressing status. We conclude with a discussion of theoretical and practical implications and offer suggestions for further research.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)335-355
Number of pages21
JournalJournal of Retailing
Volume98
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2022
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Brand positioning
  • Brand premiumness
  • Eye-tracking
  • Letter case

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