McGill Institute of Marketing (MIM) Seminar: Stefano Puntoni
Stefano Puntoni
The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
The Nicknaming Effect: How to Regain Control Over Autonomous Products
Date: Friday, November 21, 2025
Time: 10:30 am-12:00 pm EST
Location: Bronfman building, room 046
All are cordially invited to attend.
Abstract:
Advances in artificial intelligence and robotics boost the development of various physical and digital autonomous products. A key adoption barrier is consumers’ perceived loss of control as autonomous products increasingly take over tasks and decisions. Integrating research in psychology and sociology with consumer research on new technologies, this research proposes nicknaming (e.g., calling a robot vacuum “Robbie”) as a remedy to regain control, which translates into enhanced attitudes toward the product. A field study and web-scraped reviews demonstrate that such “consumer-created nicknaming” is positively associated with attitudes. Six preregistered experiments support the hypothesized causality and show that nicknaming can indeed counter a loss of control, while also triggering other mechanisms. Crucially, from a managerial standpoint, “consumer-selected nicknaming” (consumers select from a predefined list of nicknames) yields similar benefits, while “company-created nicknaming” (companies assign a nickname) does not. In line with a control account, the nicknaming effect is mitigated for nicknames signaling high (e.g., “Boss”) versus low power (e.g., “Assistant”). These findings contribute to consumer research on new technologies and nicknaming, with practical implications for the marketing of autonomous products.
