Developing a decision model for brand naming using Delphi method and analytic hierarchy process

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to design a model for selecting brand names on the basis of the perceptions of enterprises. Design/methodology/approach – First, the proposed model adopts the modified Delphi method to identify suitable criteria for evaluating a brand name. Next, the model applies the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to determine the relative weights of evaluation criteria, then ranks the alternatives and selects the brand name. Finally, the model adopts sensitivity analysis to examine how other evaluative criteria would change with any changes in the weightings of the evaluation criteria. Findings – The analytical results indicated that enterprises rank criteria in terms of importance as follows: emotional appeal, linguistics appeal, marketing appeal and legal appeal. In addition, the example of a renowned Taiwanese beverage company is used to demonstrate the process of brand name selection based on this model. Originality/value – The proposed model helps enterprises effectively select a brand name, making it highly applicable in academia and commerce.