A fatuous exercise! My view is jaundiced by my experiences of being one of the poor saps who unasked are most involved in this process.
When I worked for a small regional airline the suits decided to name the aircraft with predictably dull names eg Spirit of Newcastle etc. Expensive decals were produced. Engineers said ‘these will not last in this position’ but naturally we were ignored and tasked with applying them. Within days they partially peeled off and looked a mess. It is strange how parts of a decal will disappear readily but the remainder apparently welds itself to the paintwork and defies all attempts at removal.
Replace the decals, this time seal the edges with some specified varnish stuff. Result? Similar except twice as difficult to remove the obstinate mess. Meanwhile the tatty look must have been entirely negative to the intention.
Naming aircraft just adds to the workload of someone else. The cost is not nil!
The decals must have been a small part of the advertising budget and it must have been fun dreaming it up. The real cost was a time wasting exercise for engineers scraping away up a stand shivering to death at 0300 juggling torch, solvent and scraper. Bet that didn’t appear in the ad budget. Didn’t see the suits lend a helping hand either