The Montana iP Trademark Blog

The wonderful world of brand naming has brought us such overseas brand delights as KRAPP Swedish toilet paper, BUM potato crisps from Spain, TENDER NUTS chocolate bars from Slovakia, BONKA coffee (also from Spain), and POO tofu from Indonesia. The internet is packed with similar examples.

The issue is quite clearly a common one and entirely understandable given the wide language and cultural differences that exist around the world which are reflected in all kinds of products, in spite of the apparent globalisation of consumerism.

The lessons are clear. If you envisage that your new brand will be launched internationally, or has the potential to do so you will no doubt be carrying out trade mark screening checks to ensure the name is legally available for use in each of those markets. But in many cases it would also be strongly advisable to conduct language checks to test for any negative connotations with the use of the name in the native language(s) of your intended markets. This should include not only a translation of the name but also checking for slang terms or idiomatic usages which might not always be picked up by your standard dictionary or business document translator, but almost certainly will be by your target consumers.

Even if your target market is English speaking, you still need to be aware of the potential for a “hidden” meaning which, whilst entirely benign in the UK, would be a definite no-no  in, say, the US or Australia. And sometimes, your name might just be evocative of the alternative meaning rather than being the name itself. Either way, the result is the same. Your brand becomes a joke, or simply something to avoid.

Its not just alternative meanings you should look out for. Some names in one market just sound ridiculous in other markets simply because of the differences in accepted naming conventions prevalent in different cultures. Take the names of some Japanese cars for instance: the Toyota “Deliboy”; the Nissan “Big Thumb”; Isuzu’s “Mysterious Utility Wizard” and, my personal favourite, the “Giga 20 Light Dump”. All entirely acceptable as names in Japan, but bizarre and incongruous to UK and US car buyers.

Finally, its important to check for pronounciation issues, as some names will sound entirely different in certain languages (such as the letter “j” in Spanish and French), or may be more difficult to pronounce in some countries. Then again, if you don’t mind the sound of the brand name being different in certain markets, or if the pronounication gives the brand a greater, and desirable, affinity to its home market, then such issues can become positives rather than negatives. However, I suspect that such examples are in the minority and should be used with care.

OK, so many of the examples I’ve quoted here were probably for brands intended only for local distribution and were entirely ‘fit for purpose’. But did the brand owners know that their brands were always going to be local? What if they subsequently found that they had a great product on their hands with massive growth potential. How would they be able to leverage the value generated by the brand name into other markets; even if for only modest cross-border usage? And can the ridicule aimed at a ‘local’ brand name leak back into the home market and undermine the integrity of the brand?

Think about it next time you dunk a chocolate FILIPINO into your coffee, and ignore at your peril.