International brand checks can help to prevent disastrous international blunders. The following example from the article “Prevent International Blunders” shows an example of one company that does this correctly.

…Rolls-Royce is a company that proactively works to prevent these types of blunders. Just before Rolls-Royce launched the Silver Seraph in 1998, the company’s brand manager, Julian Hadrill, told Forbes magazine, “I have had sleepless nights about someone suddenly finding some ghastly translation (of the car name).” No bad translations were found for the Seraph, but international brand checks have paid off for the luxury automaker. In 1965, just days before the release of a car to be named the Silver Mist, Rolls discovered that “mist” was German slang for manure. Fortunately, the automaker was able to quickly change the name to Silver Shadow and produce new nameplates and marketing materials before the official release.

Changing your company’s international brand strategy from reactive to proactive prevents marketing disasters, saving you valuable resources and credibility in the future. As demonstrated by Rolls-Royce, it takes only a small amount of effort to prevent international blunders and improve international success.

Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow (Source: Wikipedia.org)