On Brand Names

Naming a product is important. It’s the product’s ticket to success. Two things I observed though; a name should be “hip and catchy” and consumer should be able to relate and remember it.

Old brands are so famous that it’s automatically attached to a particular product. In the Philippines, people buy Colgate instead of toothpaste and document are Xerox(ed) instead of photocopied. Some brands comes from family names like Honda; easy to remember and identifiable with cars and motorbikes. Daewoo on the other hand confuses consumers. They can’t tell if it’s a car, a washing machine or a wall clock. But not all diversified companies did poorly. A good example is India’s Tata Motors; a subsidiary of Tata Group. It does well because Tata, like Toyota, is catchy; people retain the name easily. Try advertising cars from "Venkatraman-Kanakamedala Motors" and see if anyone catches-up outside India. It’s not only hard to remember, it’s a tongue-twister.

That’s where the Chinese have a dilemma; Chinese can’t use their surname as brands even if it’s easy to remember a one syllable name. Non-Chinese consumer tends to associate it with something else. Imagine when somebody says “I’ve got a Warhol in my den”. Right away a “colored negative” poster of celebrities comes to mind. But try “I’ve got a Po on my wall”. It’s tempting to say “So do I, but I don’t go around bragging about it or make a habit of flicking it on walls”.

Combining two or three Chinese names won’t do the trick either - it sounds like a hardware store, a restaurant or worst, something sexually "suggestive". Others tried to “anglicized” but “Soft-Touch” sports apparel are sometimes mistaken for a feminine napkin. Not only that, they're fond of words like “Golden” and “Dragon” that they might end up suing each other of copy-right infringement. A Chinese car manufacturer took the name of their famous landmark:

In fairness, the logo looks good, but the name doesn’t fit. Look, if a guy boasts, “I’ve got a Ford truck”, one imagines a gas-guzzling behemoth work-horse. But something seems missing or doesn’t sound right if you say “I’ve got a Great Wall truck”. One might ask “What’s a wall truck?” It’s more apt and make more sense when a company is named “Great Wall Construction Co. Ltd.”, don’t you think?

I’m sure this is one of the reasons why the Chinese resort to imitating famous brands; less mental stress and cheaper for them. But don’t take my word for it. A product is a product how ever odd its name or where it’s made. As long as it serves it purpose and the quality is good… go buy it!