ESCALADE

Brandsymbol draws on over 250 years of industry experience
to create world-class brands. One of these solutions includes a naming project
for Cadillac where they commissioned Brandsymbol’s managing director Doug Rand
to generate the brand name for their new sport-utility vehicle. A market
characterized by a proliferation of rugged sport-utility vehicles and the
recent introduction of “luxury trucks” by Lincoln and Mercedes pushed Cadillac
to take a different approach. Instead of standing out in a crowded market,
Cadillac decided to redefine the market with the first sport-luxury vehicle.
Furthermore, Cadillac was in the process of
transforming its brand for a younger audience, and this new SUV was the perfect
opportunity to accomplish this. Most of the SUV names at the time included the
Navigator, Pathfinder, Tahoe, and Land Cruiser, names directly reflecting
travel or navigation. This consideration provided another golden opportunity
for Cadillac to break through the branding tedium with a differentiated
offering.
The optimal name developed for this sport-luxury vehicle was
Escalade. Escalade is a powerful name candidate, utilizing a common-usage word,
defined in Webster’s
Dictionary as “an act of scaling especially the walls of a
fortification.” Consumer research indicated that individuals buy SUVs/SLVs to
“feel they could get away,” because “they wanted to know they could take on
rough terrain,” and because “they wanted to stand out on the road.”
Therefore, Esca, referencing escape, scal, speaking to scaling
rough terrain, and the alade from accolades respectively address
these research findings. Additionally, Escalade utilizes many of the same
letters of Cadillac, thereby it naturally fit within the Cadillac family and
provided a soft, smooth sound, reflecting that the sport attributes are
integrated with Cadillac’s promise of high-end luxury.