Effective international brand names

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📝 Intro

How can you find a name that remains comprehensible and impactful to potential customers from New York to Nairobi to Nanjing?

Scientific research from multilingual Switzerland highlights what are the key components of a name that you should keep in mind when going international.

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Brand names that are 4 syllables or less and convey meaning are most effective internationally

Topics: Brand & Strategy
For: Both B2C and B2B 
Research date: December 2002
Universities: University of Lausanne, IMD Business School for Management and Leadership Courses

📈 Recommendation

When deciding on a brand or product name for international use, choose a name that:

• Is easy to pronounce and spell across languages

  • Do not exceed 4 syllables

  • Avoid syllables with long sequences of consonants or vowels (e.g. ‘rtz’ in Hertz)

• Does not need translation (e.g. Nokia, Kodak, Sony), or is related to a common cultural heritage (e.g. Mars’s association with Greek mythology or the planet)

• Can incorporate memorable visual elements in the logo

🎓 Findings

• Researchers analyzed previous research and found that brand names do better internationally when:

  • The name is easy to spell and pronounce (particularly important for Western cultures). Making the pronunciation easier for international audiences includes avoiding pronunciations and sounds that aren’t common across languages (e.g. “th” in thick, “nsk” in unskill, “eau” in eau de cologne) and keeping the emphasis or accent common across languages (e.g. Danone yogurt spelling their name Dannon in the US to keep the same sound)

  • The name isn’t specific to any culture or language like “Sony” (vs a name with only local meaning)

  • The brand’s logo and visual imagery convey meaning or information to customers (e.g. Hubspot’s logo provides a visual representation of connecting disparate points). For Western cultures, meaning and information conveyed through text is especially important, while Eastern cultures place greater emphasis on visual elements.

• They also found that we should be careful about:

  • Meaning and Value: Does the word have any unintended meanings in other languages? Does the name have positive connotations for its product category?

  • Name value: Especially for companies using a name linked to their legacy or founder, is that name relatively easy to pronounce across cultures (e.g. Adidas) or more difficult (e.g. Peugeot)?

🧠 Why it works

• Brand names that stick to 2-3 syllables are easier to comprehend (researchers tested this for both English-speaking and Chinese audiences).

• A “transparent” name, where the word itself has no meaning, is easiest to use across cultures and build an association with the brand. For example, “Sony” has no meaning in either Japanese or English, so the word is linked in most people’s minds to the brand itself.

• Especially in Eastern cultures, visual cues and imagery are very important. This is important for international brands, as names don’t necessarily convey the same meaning or allusions in different cultures or languages.

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✋ Limitations

• This study is a conceptual article, which summarizes existing research on this subject but doesn’t directly test any of the claims itself.

• The paper was published before social media and widespread internet penetration significantly sped up globalization. With increased exposure and access to foreign content - and brands - cultural differences in understanding names might be less pronounced. For example, Eastern countries may now be better at understanding and remembering Western brand names.

🏢 Companies using this

• Short names of less than 4 syllables, especially with a subliminal meaning linked to the product name is popular across sectors, including:

  • Soft drink giant Pepsi whose name stems from its original marketing focused on the product as a solution to Dyspepsia (indigestion)

  • Athletic brand Nike’s name comes from the ancient Greek goddess of victory, also named Nike. Similarly, the skincare brand Nivea’s name is based on the Latin word for purity, Niveus

  • Reddit's name highlights its role as a site where visitors can literally “read it”

• Transparent brand names, which are neither names nor actual words, include the brand names of companies like Nokia, Etsy, and Kodak.

• As brands become more international, the meaning of their name in their local language often becomes irrelevant to most of their audience - Hyundai is based on the Korean word for “modernity”, a meaning lost on the majority of its international audience.

• Incorporating visual elements in a brand’s logo, linked to the purpose of benefit of their products is also popular across companies including:

  • Raisin and dried fruit processor Sunmaid, whose imagery of a farmer links to its position as a farmer-owned cooperative

  • Pet food brand Whiskas includes imagery of a cat’s head to allude to its benefits, as cats wipe their whiskers after meals

  • Amazon’s logo highlights customer satisfaction with its smile, and the breadth of products offered, as the smile links from A to Z

Sony Vaio’s name and logo are full of meaning - a short, easy to pronounce the word, Vaio stands for “Video Audio Integrated Operation”, while its logo alludes to the waveform of analog transmission as well as the 10 of binary code.

⚡ Steps to implement

• Stick to using the Roman alphabet when choosing your brand or product name, as it’s the most global medium.

• Keep your brand name short - try not to exceed three to four syllables and follow a basic consonant with a vowel structure (e.g. lu or la), as compared to multiple vowels or consonants in a row (e.g. Hertz).

• Avoid sounds that are specific to English and may not be easy to pronounce for international audiences. Some of these include:

  • Th as in thick

  • Ct as in act

  • Ngth as in length

• For international brands, visuals in your logo accompanying your name are important. Visuals that have positive connotations or link to your product category are the most useful for making your brand memorable.

🔍 Study type

Review of existing research.

📖 Research

Using linguistics for creating better international brand names. Journal of Marketing Communications (December 2002) 

🏫 Researchers

• Jean-Claude Usunier, HEC Lausanne

• Janet Shaner, IMD Business School for Management and Leadership Courses

Remember: This is a scientific discovery. In the future it will probably be better understood and could even be proven wrong (that’s how science works). It may also not be generalizable to your situation. If it’s a risky change, always test it on a small scale before rolling it out widely.

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