3-Letter Words: Saturn's Foray Into An Interesting New Nomenclature System.
By Jim Singer, President and Creative Director of Namebase, a New York based brand naming consultancy.
 
 
In a departure from its lifelong alphanumeric branding scheme, Saturn now brings us the VUE and the ION.  The former is a compact SUV, the latter an entry-level sedan. Sensing deep alphabet soup in the automotive world Saturn is making the smart move away from alpha-numeric designations.
 
Only two premium brands have strong enough equity in their letters and numbers to avoid the jumble. BMW has established a sensible system with its 3, 5, 6, 7, X and M series. Mercedes, although they did confuse us a bit with the recent switching of letters before numbers, has recognition for its 500 E, and S series cars. Before the switcheroo, the 500 SL was the SL 500.  But it does, in a very Germanic (manic?) way, make for a more orderly architecture to put the class designation before the style number.
 
So is it a tragedy if the customer remembers the vehicle manufacturer but not the model?
Not so much for those premium brands but for every other carmaker it is.  
 
The emotional connection between car and driver is huge.  Most of us identify with our cars to a great degree and no one wants to be just a number.
 
These days, the more savvy automobile marketing people are looking for a good plan to take their brand architecture into the future. A coherent nomenclature system that brings a familial unity to the parent brand results in better recognition for each of the products. 
 
Saturn has set out to strengthen its product awareness with the purposeful 3-letter nomenclature system created to provide simple, yet progressive connotations that appeal to young buyers. The 3-letter system also signals that Saturn will be offering something dramatically new, rather than just an updated version of their current small cars.
 
"The ION name supports the idea of innovative thinking, consistent with the Saturn brand, and we believe it will play an important part in the growth of Saturn," said Jill Lajdziak, Vice President of Saturn sales, service and marketing.
 
Short, sharp names have great recall (meaning people remember it, not "it has to go back to the shop" recall) and retention. One syllable is easier to pronounce and remember than two or more. Recently, on one of our car naming assignments, we were asked to keep the name down to 8 letters. I think this particular company was more concerned with the size of the badge, but there are plenty of other reasons to want a short name for your product.
 
So, how many three letters names are now available to Saturn for future models? We can think of many excellent possiblities-both existing and coined.
 
We hope Saturn sticks with 3-letter names. It's the first really new trend we've seen in automotive naming in quite some time.

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