{"id":38264,"date":"2017-05-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-05-30T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/creative-words.com\/cina-come-scegliere-il-nome-giusto\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T08:02:31","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T08:02:31","slug":"brand-localization-in-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.creative-words.com\/en\/brand-localization-in-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Brand Localization in China: The Importance of choosing the Right Name"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #808080;\">The name of a brand encloses its essence and makes it immediately recognizable. Brand Localization is a process that adapts a name to a specific culture. Let&#8217;s dive into brand localization in China.<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 800px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-38264-1\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"https:\/\/creative-words.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Cine-Loc-169.mp4?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/creative-words.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Cine-Loc-169.mp4\">https:\/\/creative-words.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Cine-Loc-169.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>But what&#8217;s <strong>the best brand <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"http:\/\/creative-words.com\/en\/translation-and-localisation\/\">localization<\/a><\/span> approach<\/strong> when confronted with<strong> <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theseus.fi\/handle\/10024\/97708\">the Chinese market<\/a><\/span><\/strong>? Should we leave the name as is? Look for one that is similar from a phonetic point of view? Create a new one from scratch? There is no right or wrong answer and evaluation should be done on a case-by-case basis. In today&#8217;s post we talk about companies that have made very different choices but equally succeeded, specifically brand localization in China.<\/p>\n<p>Enjoy the reading!<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Coca-Cola\u00a0\u53ef\u53e3\u53ef\u4e50 \/ K\u011b K\u01d2u K\u011b L\u00e8<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>When <strong>Coca-Cola landed in China in 1928<\/strong>, they found themselves in a spot of bother: creating a name that was similar from a phonetic point of view and still worked in such a different market. Of the 200 characters with a suitable sound, many were discarded because of their meaning. They ended up choosing <strong>\u53ef\u53e3\u53ef\u4e50 (K\u011b K\u01d2u K\u011b L\u00e8)<\/strong>, merging \u53ef\u53e3, tasty, and \u4e50, happy.<\/p>\n<p>Not only was the name similar to the original one from a phonetic point of view, it was also telling something about the product, i.e. a tasty drink bound to be immediately associated with happy moments. Was it a winning choice? We&#8217;d say so, considering China is among the biggest markets for \u53ef\u53e3\u53ef\u4e50.<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #808080;\">BMW\u00a0\u5b9d\u9a6c \/ B\u01ceo M\u01ce<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s immediately clear that the two initials, BM, are the same. But more than the phonetic aspect, it is the meaning that makes this name interesting: <strong>\u5b9d means precious while \u9a6c is the logogram used for horse<\/strong>. Precious horse. What should we add?<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Volkswagen\u00a0\u5927\u4f17\u6c7d\u8f66 \/ D\u00e0zh\u00f2ng Q\u00ecch\u0113<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Did you know that, in German, Volkswagen means &#8220;the people&#8217;s car&#8221;? With the name <strong>\u5927\u4f17\u6c7d\u8f66 (D\u00e0zh\u00f2ng Q\u00ecch\u0113),<\/strong> the company decided to completely ignore the phonetic aspect and focus on the meaning instead. \u5927\u4f17 means public while \u6c7d\u8f66 means car. This is how Volkswagen managed to keep the idea of a car made for everyone.<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Colgate\u00a0\u9ad8\u9732\u6d01 \/ G\u0101o L\u00f9 Ji\u00e9<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In order to conquer the Chinese market, Colgate opted for a &#8220;nomen omen&#8221; approach. The logograms that make up the name mean high (\u9ad8), reveal (\u9732) and clean (\u6d01). The company clearly wants to suggest that its toothpaste make it possible to show off whiter teeth.<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Marvel\u00a0\u6f2b\u5a01 \/ M\u00e0n W\u0113i<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Marvel deserves special attention since they landed in the Chinese market with a name that is perfect from every point of view. First thing we notice is the strong phonetic similarity between Marvel and M\u00e0n W\u0113i, but there&#8217;s a lot more. The \u6f2b character is used to compose the word <strong>\u6f2b\u753b (m\u00e0n hu\u00e0) meaning cartoon and caricature<\/strong>, while the \u5a01 logogram means power. The name, therefore, suggests the strength and power of comics. We cannot imagine a better message for this giant that conquered the world with comics and superheroes. Only thing we can say is chapeau.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The name of a brand encloses its essence and makes it immediately recognizable. Brand Localization is a process that adapts a name to a specific culture. Let&#8217;s dive into brand localization in China. &nbsp; &nbsp; But what&#8217;s the best brand localization approach when confronted with the Chinese market? Should we leave the name as is? [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":29005,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,523],"tags":[20],"class_list":["post-38264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-news-en","tag-localization"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Brand Localization in China: Choosing the Right Name<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Brand localization in China: what&#039;s the best brand localization approach when confronted with the Chinese market?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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