a7725417_admin

The Oops Reel: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

When you're working on crafting the perfect brand name, many of you are also developing logos and/or imagery to accompany the name. This edition of The Oops Reel should serve as a reminder that just as much due diligence needs to go into evaluating the visual element of the brand. Let's not forget the adage: a picture is worth a thousand words.

Are There Babies in There?
Gerber used the same packaging as they did in the U.S. (a Caucasian baby on the label) when it started selling baby food in Africa. The problem: with widespread illiteracy, African companies oftentimes put pictures of the ingredients on the label -- definitely not the recipe for success for Gerber. Source: Gulf Business

A Sandwich with a Side of Communism
When Yum Brands opened a "Bánh mì" (a type of Vietnamese sandwich) concept named Bánh Shop in Dallas in September 2014, it developed a five-pointed red star logo. Unfortunately, red and yellow stars, especially with regards to Vietnam, are reminders to many of the Vietnamese Communist regime. Due to Dallas' huge Vietnamese population, it's no surprise that many of Bánh Shop's potential customers requested a logo change. Yum Brands apologized and created a new logo. Source: Entrepreneur

Gandhi and Beer?!
New England Brewing Co.'s brew, Gandhi-Bot, carries imagery reminiscent of Mahatma Gandhi. Ironically, this peace advocate abstained from alcohol and fought its influence on the country. A lawsuit filed in India against the brewery and its controversial beer label has created a divide among many. As of January 2015, beyond its apology, New England Brewing had not said whether it would withdraw the beer or change its name, and its owners had not returned phone messages or answered emails requesting comment. Source: Hartford Courant

Native American No-No
Ralph Lauren's 2014 holiday ad campaign for its RRL line was criticized in December 2014 for its "assimilation aesthetic," featuring old photos of Native Americans dressed in Western attire. The company apologized for the imagery and removed the images from its website. A contributor to the site Last Real Indians, was displeased with the campaign's use of Native Americans, claiming that "The imagery is not only ignorant, it's a harsh reminder of a time of extreme oppression, and even genocide, for the nation's indigenous people." Source: WGNO

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's a What?
When Proctor & Gamble started selling its Pampers diapers in Japan, it used an image of a stork delivering a baby on the packaging. But, the imagery didn't seem to resonate. The company later learned that the issue was cultural "Japanese folklore states that giant peaches floating down a river bring babies to their parents, not storks." Source: Business News Daily

Worried you wouldn't have the resources to have insight into this type of information? We've got you covered with our Global Brand Evaluation and Identity Filter services, which can evaluate imagery in addition to names. We look forward to hearing from you.

by a7725417_admin

The Oops Reel: Prepare the Crisis Communication Team

If last month's "Blushing Blunders" Oops Reel still has you red in the face, prepare yourself. The following examples veer from inappropriate to extremely offensive. For these naming disasters, the crisis communication team better be in place because recovering from blunders like this would be difficult.

Game Gaffe
Vitamin Water created a promotion where its caps featured one word in English and one in French. The idea was to have customers combine these caps to form funny phrases and win prizes. It seems like a fairly harmless, quirky buzz-builder, right? It was, until a customer opened her water to read "You retard." "Retard" means "late" or "delay," as "to be late" or "to be behind schedule" in French. To add insult to injury, this customer has a sister with a mental handicap. Obviously offended, she publicly expressed her outrage, leading to quite a crisis for the company. Parent company Coca-Cola apologized profusely to the family and its customers, expressing the offensive combination was unintentional. According to Coke, the word combinations were simply happenstance, overlooked during internal review. While this example is not about naming a product, it illustrates the point that name validation experts should be consulted whether you're working on an advertising campaign, tagline or naming project.
Source: ABC News

Painful Connotation
Zyklon was the name of the gas used to murder millions of Jews in Nazi concentration camps. That sentence alone makes me cringe. What's worse is sports manufacturer Umbro once produced and promoted a line of running shoes with that very name "Zyklon." Not surprisingly, the shoes were quickly withdrawn from the marketplace after the company received numerous complaints from Jewish organizations who alerted Umbro of the naming disaster.
Source: PR Week

This Name Generated Too Many Giggles
Things went sideways for Fukushima Industries, an Osaka-based refrigerator maker, when it created an egg-like mascot with blue wings and red feet named Fukuppy. (The company name has nothing to do with the nuclear plant, rather a derivative of the founder's name.) "Nice to meet you," the character with a human face announces to visitors to the company's website. The name is a combination of the first part of the company name "Fuku" and the end of the English word "happy." The company's intent was for the mascot to embody the corporate philosophy of being a happiness-creating company. Instead, the mascot's name was widely snickered on the internet and viewed, according to a company statement, as "an inappropriate word among people in English-speaking places."
Source: Japan Today

I implore you - avoid naming disasters such as these! Would you rather spend time and money on name validation behind the scenes or on crisis communications in the public eye?

by a7725417_admin

The Oops Reel: Blushing Blunders - Don't Let It Be You

This is the "Blushing Blunders" edition of our Oops Reel. It's one thing to end up with an unintended connotation but another for it to be wildly inappropriate. This reel should surely get you thinking about your global name validation process.

A New Meaning to the 'Messy Hair Look'
It wasn't until Clairol translated "mist" into German that executives figured out why the initial launch of Clairol's Mist Stick curling iron in Germany was unsuccessful. "Mist" means "manure," which was pretty much the last thing that women might be seeking for their hair. Source: Business News Daily

X-Rated Cartoon
As a way to enter the highly-competitive consumer personal computer market, Panasonic chose Woody Woodpecker as the brand mascot of its new machine. As they integrated the theme throughout the device, the company named the device itself "The Woody," its touch screen feature "Touch Woody" and its automatic web browsing feature "The Internet Pecker." Needless to say, many Americans were left blushing. Source: Gulf Business

Birthday (not Business) Suit Flying
Braniff Airlines got in trouble in 1987 with its "Fly in Leather" campaign, which was promoting its luxurious leather seats. While the campaign was popular in the U.S., the airline ran into a snag when it introduced it in Latin America. The Spanish translation, "Vuela en Cuero," was appropriate throughout much of Latin America but it had different connotations in Mexico where the expression also means "Fly Naked." Not everyone wanted to fly in their birthday suit. Source: Business News Daily

'Butt' What?
Sharwoods, the Asian food company, launched its "Bundh" sauces with a reported £6m advertising campaign. The company received a number of calls from Punjabi speakers who told them that the word "bundh" was very similar to the Punjabi word for "arse." Source: PR Week

Racy Stuffed Animal
Ikea accidentally took a scandalous route with a children's toy when it selected a Chinese name (Lufsig) for a stuffed Big Bad Wolf grasping a grandma adorned with glasses. In Cantonese, the name sounded similar to a word for a mother's private parts. As you can guess, the name was changed. Source: Ad Age

All of these embarrassing mistakes could have been avoided with the appropriate global name validation services. Don't be caught blushing!

by a7725417_admin

Brand Blunders Revealed: Oops Reel

We're thrilled to introduce you to our new blog, which is designed to share news, tips and trends related to the global naming industry. Every month we'll write an 'Oops Reel' post, highlighting global naming disasters. These examples might just make you cringe, laugh, or hide under your desk as you feel empathy for the marketing folks involved in the blunders. For us, these examples are a constant reminder that local dialects, slang, events, culture, politics and market realities truly do matter. For our first edition, we'll start with some of the oldies but goodies.

Chicken Fingers (but not the kind you're thinking)
KFC reportedly goofed years ago when translating its slogan "Finger-Lickin' Good" for the local market. According to various accounts, it came out more like "Eat Your Fingers Off." Source: Ad Age

Mopey Milk
Chinese dairy giant Mengniu translated its Chinese slogan (roughly, "For Every Drop of Happiness") into English and came up with "Little Happiness Matters."
Source: Ad Age

Pregnancy Scare
When Parker Pen marketed a ballpoint pen in Mexico, the advertisements were supposed to say: "It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you." However, the company mistakenly thought the Spanish word 'embarazar' meant embarrass. The advertisements actually read: "It won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant." Source: Gulf Business

The Walking Dead
When Pepsi expanded their market to China, they launched with the slogan, "Pepsi brings you back to life." What they didn't realize was that the phrase translated to, "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave." Source: Gulf Business

Flushed, Not Stirred
In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the name into Schweppes Toilet Water! Source: Learn English

Red Flag!
Infiniti spent 2014 wowing crowds with its racy concept car, the Q50 Eau Rouge, and gave every impression that it intended to build it. Luxury consumers drooled over the Formula 1-inspired styling and hardware. "Eau Rouge" is the name of a particularly challenging turn at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps racetrack in Belgium, well-known in world racing. But one problem: Spa-Francorchamps isn't in the business of giving away its nomenclature. Last year, the racetrack went to court in Europe to make clear that "Eau Rouge" is not available. Source: Automotive News Campaigns.

You don't want to be part of a naming blunder tale. We've created a process so that you won't. After testing more than 55,000 names, none of our clients have experienced naming disasters. If your brand is traveling, invite us on the trip!

by a7725417_admin