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Forget Due Diligence, Just See If You Can Pronounce It
from the what-passes-for-investing-these-days dept
It does often seem like people buy and sell stocks for reasons that have little to do with the fundamentals of what they're investing in -- but even with that in mind it's a bit surprising to hear that the ease of pronouncing the company's name or stock symbol can often lead to more investment in their stock. Basically, the report suggests, there's a psychological impact where people feel more comfortable buying stock when they can easily state the name. The impact is most noticeable right after an IPO -- which often seems to be the time when the least amount of rationality is used in making investment decisions. Perhaps the reason Vonage had such a weak IPO was that some people were confused over whether it was pronounced "voh-nage" or "vah-nage." Now we just need someone to start a mutual or hedge fund based on this tidbit of info.
Reader Comments
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Damn physcological warfare.
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after all of their marketing efforts, how could anyone possibly not know how to say the name?
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Very interesting. Yeah VOnage's IPO wasn't so hot...
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Vonage, said like phone-age
I learned the pronunciation early on from a head of marketing at the company at a trade show with the o being a long o. sometime after that, the mass marketing began, and they went a different direction.
I've seen this sort of thing happen with companies in the past, Nokia being the most noticable. (When I first did dealings with the company, I was working with nokia employees in switzerland, who were coming down to visit from finland, so I believe that they knew how to pronounce it)
Nokia was pronounced nok-ia with a long o. After I came back to the US in the mid 90s, the US presence was being referred to as no-kia.
the spelling all looks the same, but the emphasis going from the front to the back, and where the k was connected has always made the second way I learned seem to jump out as me as wrong.
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ownage
I thought the 'v' was silent.
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Sure, companies have control over their name but who decides what the stock symbol will be? Do they control that as well?
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same thing with ordering wine in restaurants. Most people afraid to look stupid in front of friends or waiters.
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Pronounce that.
Its funny how sub-standard pre-college education is in the US...
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Re: Pronounce that.
It's funny how sub-standard post-college education is in the US.
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Re: Re: Pronounce that.
I find it confusing how you could say American college, and post college, education is substandard. The fact is, more people come to the U.S. for education than any other country in the world.
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Re: Pronounce that.
> Its funny how sub-standard pre-college education is in the US...
It's funny how substandard college education is in the U.S.
Speaking of which... It's "it's" not "its" and the word "substandard" is not spelled with a hyphen.
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Re: Re: Pronounce that.
You really know how to end discussion on a subject, don't you?
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UK Vonage TV Ads
On the UK TV adds i have seen Vonage is pronounced "vonnij", which is not how i have always probounced it.
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Pownage
Too bad Vonage didn't Pownage.
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Fromage?
I always pronounced it with the emphasis on the second syllable and a slight french flair voh- nazh... but then I called tech support and the automated voice corrected me...
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Pronounce it?
Does that mean investors would have a problem with a hedge fund called "Disfunctional" or "Dysfunctional"?
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RE: Pronounce it?
> Does that mean investors would have a problem with a hedge fund called "Disfunctional" or "Dysfunctional"?
Yes, it does. However, they would readily buy stock from a company named "Worthless".
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