An international brand check can save your brand investment.  Without one, your company brand could suffer embarrassing and costly damage, and repairs may require more time and money than you can afford.

This global brand checking service is something that should be done even earlier than most marketing executives realize.  Most marketing and brand executives know that the meaning of a translated brand name should be checked once the company decides to enter an international  market.  For example, the German tuning shop AVUS Performance should have known to check the meaning of its “Audi RS6 White Power” car before announcing it to English speaking customers.  However, only a select few marketing executives know that brands should be checked even years before translation or before international launch?  The following international brand failures illustrate this point:

• The Swedish car magazine Fart (which means “speed” in Swedish) may have always planned to remain in Sweden, but it did not plan to experience such grief as it grew and covered international racing events.  If they had known the international meaning before deciding on the magazine’s name, what uncomfortable situations would have been avoided?
• A Japanese software company had already spent years promoting its PPPhone (pronounced “pee pee phone”) and PPPush (pronounced “pee pee push”) technology before making the PPPhone available worldwide.  The product name did not pose any problems where it was originally launched in Japan.  How much more investment would have been required to rename the product after several years on the market in Japan?  How much time, cost, and embarrassment would have been saved if the company had known to rename the product from the start?
• Even though the product name remained untranslated in Swedish, IKEA should have checked the name of the Fartfull desk before it tried to sell the product in U.S. markets via its website and retail stores.  If IKEA had checked with native English speakers beforehand, it could have chosen a different name that would not have resulted in early removal from the website and the sales floor.
• Bimbo is a very successful brand of bread products in Latin America and among U.S. Hispanics. How much more successful would it be among U.S. non-Hispanics if it had chosen a different brand name from the start? What was the opportunity cost of that branding decision?

Problems Avoided with International Brand Checks

Marketing executives need to feel confident about their global brands. Nothing will destroy that confidence like remaining in ignorance about potential international brand disasters.

Here are only some of the potential problems a company’s brand name could face in other countries and languages:

• The brand name has a negative, unpleasant, offensive, suggestive, or embarrassing meaning in the target country
• The brand name may not explicitly mean anything negative in the other language, but the spelling or pronunciation have negative connotations in the target country
• The brand name is already in use in the target country
• The brand name is difficult or impossible to pronounce in the target language
• The images or colors associated with the brand have inappropriate meanings in the target country

Varying Degrees of International Brand Checks

Marketing executives need to do an international brand check when they are considering various brand names for a product that may go international.  If they have already passed that step, and are considering an international launch for an existing brand name, an international brand check is still better late than never.  The international brand check can be fast-pass or in-depth.

Fast-Pass International Brand Check

GGI’s Fast-Pass International Brand Check can be carried out in 1 to 200+ languages and markets.  In this cost-effective process, the in-country linguists and brand checkers for each language quickly determine if a brand name has negative meanings or connotations in the target country.

In-Depth International Brand Check

The in-depth international brand check can be carried out in 1 to 200+ languages and markets.  In this more thorough process, multiple in-country linguists and brand checkers for each language determine if a brand name has negative meanings or connotations in the target country.  They also answer additional questions, which are customized to the needs of the company brand. These additional in-depth questions help to determine additional possible hazards, identify possible advantages, and to even suggest alternatives whenever there is a potential problem with the brand name. In-depth international brand checks may also include international focus groups for each language.

Contact GGI about its global marketing services to receive your international brand check, and feel confident and secure about your international brand.