Branding: Managing Meaning

Case: Soshi Sumsin Ltd

International Marketing

Ece Camlibel

Ritika Sethi

Krishna Talesara

LOGO QUIZ

Can You Identify These Brands When Their Names Are Stripped Out?

Logo

Symbol Word Sentence

Term

Design

Sign

Name

Concept/ Promise/ Benefit

Trademark

Product/Services

Introduction to Branding

Brand: Logo, symbol, name, mark, word, sentence

Branding: Marketing tool used to identify and differentiate your product.

Brand Image: Impression in a consumer’s mind of the brand’s personality

Brand Equity: Measure of the overall value of a brand.

FUNCTIONS OF BRAND NAMES

FUNCTIONS OF BRAND NAMES

FOR CONSUMERS

PERSONALISATION

(express individuality

through purchase)

ENTERTAINMENT

(exercise of free choice,

satisfy needs)

IDENTITY(guides

consumers)

GUARENTEE(signature of

the manufacturer)

PRACTICALITY(summary of information about the product)

FOR PRODUCERS

POSITIONING(competitive

scene)

CAPITALIZATION

(assets holding great potential)

Stories behind brand names

Lego – A combination of the Danish phrase leg godt, which means play well. Lego also happens to mean “I put together” in Latin, but the company claims that it’s merely coincidence

Skype – Originally Sky-Peer-to Peer, then Skyper, and finally Skype

Google – A googol is equivalent to a 1 followed by 100 zeros. Misspelled it as Google when seeing if the domain was available. Another report claims that Andy Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun Microsystems and Google’s first investor, misspelled the name on his $100,000 investment check.

Stories behind brand names

Cisco – Short for San Francisco where the company was founded

Verizon – A combination of the words veritas, the Latin word for truth, and horizon, signifying forward-looking and visionary

Apple – It’s speculative but at the time, Steve Jobs worked on an apple farm. Also, some say Jobs wanted it to be in front of Atari in the phone book. While others claim that Jobs wanted it to be a tribute to Apple Records, the music label for the Beatles.

Soshi Sumsin: Company Background

South Korean company

Electronic products (VCRs, stereos and television)

Started manufacturing television components for an American manufacturer in 1990

Manufactured full line of TVs, hi-fi and stereo equipment for three other American firms

Marketing their own products since 1992 under the name of Sumsin.

International Expansion

They want to enter to American market

Main reason: Size and buying power of American market

Introduction date was set as April 2009

Mr. Soshi relied on his son to carry out international marketing and as his first decision he had to select a brand name for the American market

Transferring Brands Across Borders

Simple Translation:

• The American Dairy Association’s “Got Milk?” translated into Spanish as “Are you lactating?”

• KFC’s “Finger-Licking Good” translated into Chinese as “We’ll Eat Your Fingers Off”

• Braniff Airlines’ “Fly in leather” translated into Spanish as “Fly naked”

• Schweppes Tonic Water was translated into Italian as Schweppes Toilet Water.

Transliteration:

• Axe is called Lynx in UK• Lays is called Walkers in UK• Burger King is called Hungry Jack’s in Australia

Transparent brand name:

• Sony, Nokia, Apple, Coca Cola

Examples from the case

Taiwanese Brand American Market - keeping the same name

Tatung Tatung

Taiwanese Brand American Market - changing the name

Kunno Lo Kennedy Kennex Pro-Kennex

Option #1

Father’s preference- stick with the company family name

Sumsin: difficult for English speaking people to pronounce and seemed meaningless and foreign.

Soshi: equally unfamiliar and meaningless and people may confuse it with “sushi”.

Option #2

Acquire ownership of an existing American brand name, one with market recognition Monarch:

They manufactured radios in Chicago in 1932, and were nationally known in the 1940.

Badly hurt by TV in 1950s (reduced size of the radio market) The company was wiped out in 1960’s

Monarch - $50,000 Tied in with electronic products in public’s mind

Wondered if people still remembered the Monarch name.

Difficult to decide if recognition was positive or negative because of the company’s failure in the market.

Option #3

Select a new name, build market recognition through promotion.

Need to be politically and socially neutral in American and other foreign markets.

Easy to pronounce and remember

Proteus: ancient Greek sea God, easy to pronounce in most European languages, too neutral to help sell the product

Blue streak: easy name in English, but not in other languages, connotation of speed and progress might provide a boost for the product.

Comparison of alternatives

PROS CONS

OPTION 1 • Sticking to the origin of the company

• Difficult to pronounce

• Meaningless

OPTION 2 • Well reputed• Awareness of the

product is present

• Preconceived notions

OPTION 3 • Innovative• Neutral • Easy to pronounce

and remember

• Not in connection with the product

Criterias for a good brand name

Reflects the positioning of the brand

Relates to the target audience

Informs about the benefit the product offers

Easy to remember, to spell and to pronounce

Internationally compatible

Short and unique

Copyright protected

Easy to visualize

Timeless

Domain name is available

Therefore we think they should go with option 3

Reasons for brand failures

KOREA USA

• Lack of diversity • Diverse

• Lack of experience in multicultural issues

• A lot of experience in multicultural issues since most multinational companies originate from USA

• Market Korean products globally as they would domestically

• “Korea is better than your country”- insulting and off-putting to other countries

• Marketing mix decisions are adapted to meet the local culture of the host country

Ex: Mc Donald’s

1. Cultural Differences

KOREA USA

• High context nation• Advertising employs metaphor

(high context)

• Low context culture nation • US Advertising uses product

features and the utilitarian needs for products (low context)

• The Korean style of communication: “accommodation oriented”

• Direct and confrontational approach.

• Fewer direct references to the brand

• Represent brand, product, and company name early on and frequently in advertising.

• Brand taglines appeal to more culturally diffusive value.

• US subjects shows more favorable attitudes towards advertising and brands.

KOREA USA

• Advertisements show company names.

• Only 56 per cent of US companies represented their company names in advertising.

• Advertisers feel consumers usually base purchases of most products and services at least in part on the reputation of the company.

• Reputation of the company is considered important to consumers in only about half of television commercials

• Brand-logos/taglines are abstract and symbol.

• Brand-logos/taglines contain more direct speech.

2. Lack of Adaptation

Brand name given to a product is often the name of the company that manufactures it Historically related, founders name, difficult to change it Example: P&G twofold brand strategy Difficult to memorize in many countries Serious obstacle to clear communication Creating confusion

Essential to be prepared to carry out the necessary brand-name modifications

Reasons for brand failures

3. Lack of Linguistic content: When a company name lacks elements such as verbal, auditory and intellectual meaning. Symbolic connotation to communicate product attributes. Make It possible to understand the pure linguistic capacity

of a brand independent of the established goodwill. The is issue is whether a brand is transposable into other

linguistic contexts. Ex: Coca cola

Reasons for brand failures

Examples of few companies who have changed their brand name to adapt globally

Marketing Implications

Firms should be prepared to adapt and change their brand name to fit into global markets

When going global, firms should take a neutral brand name which is well adapted to the culture of the host country

Make sure brand name is in sync with the product features and company culture

Make sure your brand name doesn’t have an unintended negative meaning

Questions

Evaluate the alternative names being considered by Sammy Soshi. Which name would you recommend?

Whatever new name is chosen, should Soshi Sumsin adopt the same name in the Korean market?

What are the advantages of selecting different brand names, as appropriate, in each foreign market?

Enumerate the characteristics that should be possessed by a good international brand name?