The Hidden Power of the Words- The Italian Brand Names for Wines

Italy is in some sectors still reluctant to make use of the services offered by communication and marketing agencies, which, however, have conquered clothing and leather goods as well as the food sector. These sectors have always been the leading fields for export and the pride of the label ‘Made in Italy’. In the case of the names for wines, we must distinguish the individual name from the brand name as a corporate (brand) name. This can become quite difficult because the brand in the wine sector may be the signature of the producer, the name of the winemaker, his winery or that of one of his ancestors, the name of the company or of the locality, or that of the farmhouse. In the history of the Italian brand names, we have analysed different naming strategies. Some typical wine names from our corpus (stretching from 1904 to 2016) mark the historical value of the production or highlight the relation to the region, to the wine cellar, or to the family tradition. If the consumers have no knowledge of the underlying cultural dimension, they do not understand the value of the wine until the corporate name of the company has become a brand name. Indeed, variable success is often dependent on the associations the names stimulate as well as the interaction with their target.