Top tips for a Chinese brand name

2016

You might think your product sales in China rely mainly on distributors. Or perhaps you haven’t launched any marketing activities in China yet. Why would you need to think about a Chinese name? A Chinese name is a must if you want to do better business in the China market. Here are four top tips about the why and how of using a Chinese brand name.

You might agree that it’s better to have a Chinese

name than not to. But you may not realise

that you need to name your brands as early

as possible and before others—consumers,

importers, or distributors—name it for you. If

you’re lucky, the name might not be so bad, even

easy to pronounce. But it’s likely to be flawed in

how it transfers the core values of your brand.

And later you could find that a widespread name

can’t be registered.

Before Burberry announced it had an official

Chinese name, a name pronounced

‘Ba Bao Li’ was created and used widely by

Chinese consumers. Generally speaking, the

association of this name is positive. But it’s very

feminine and a little clichéd, which doesn’t reflect

Burberry’s men’s and women’s product lines,

nor its brand essence as a British luxury brand.

What’s worse is this name is already registered

by others. Burberry finally chose a name that

represents its brand values and successfully

registered it. But they never managed to change

the deep impression in people’s mind and the

habit of using the old name.

1. Give your brand a Chinese name to keep your commercial advantage and avoid problems with naming rights

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You can have it only on the import tag at the back

of your product package, or make it stand out by

designing a logo with the Chinese name.

Where and when you use the name depends on

your product category, brand positioning, and

the media. For an FMCG brand, like Coca-Cola,

targeting a mass market, it’s necessary to have

the Chinese version of logo and to use it in all

brand communication. But a luxury brand, such

as Louis Vuitton, is usually more moderate in

using its Chinese name. We only see its Chinese

name in press conferences and websites.

Online media, especially the social network, is

where a Chinese name is used widely even for

the luxury category. E-commerce is an important

distributing channel in China. A good Chinese

name is a must for consumers to be able to talk

about your brand and products online.

2. There is nothing to lose by having a Chinese name, because you don’t have to use it everywhere

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China is a very complex geographic market.

Every province, even every city, may have its own

dialect. And dialects are widely used in people’s

oral communication. A Chinese name may be

pronounced differently in different dialects. To

guarantee your Chinese brand name is easy to

pronounce and has no negative associations

across China, test it in some main dialects before

you launch it.

For their used car business brand ‘Das WeltAuto’

I helped Volkswagen group to a Chinese name.

Before deciding on the final name, we took three

potential names through a test across 14 main

dialects. The test covers important cities with a

population of over ten million.

My suggestion would be to test at least

Cantonese. It is a dominant dialect in Hong Kong

and the affluent province Guangdong, while also

widely used among Chinese around the world.

3. Test the name across the many different dialects in China

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If your brand name appears in the China market

without prior registration, someone else will

register it and make you pay to buy it back.

Knowing more about the regulation of trademark

registration will help you to avoid this risk. The

official timeframe for processing the registration

is nine months. This means that if you want to

use your Chinese name, you need to plan ahead

and begin the registration process at least nine

months beforehand.

Before registering your name, check it with a

professional registration agency. In the auditing

process, the trademark bureau might consider

your name is similar to a registered trademark

and reject your application. Professional

registration agents can use their experience to

let you know if the name is too difficult to register.

But no one can guarantee your favourite name

will be accepted for registration after a long

period of waiting. Consider putting three or more

names into the registration. You can then choose

the final name from the successfully

registered ones.

4. Know the process and time for registering the name

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Obviously there are a lot of things to do before you launch your brand into the China market. The name and trademark issues are some things you shouldn’t ignore. If you haven’t already started thinking about them, start now.

Ocean Design Group New Zealand

Ocean is an independent, New Zealand-owned creative company based in Wellington. We partner with established and emerging businesses to design and transform their brands and brand experiences.

For over 25 years, we’ve helped businesses thrive in a changing world by achieving more meaningful connections with their customers.

Fay Nie Brand Strategist

Fay’s experience in Asia, especially China, gives her a unique perspective to help clients grow in the international market. She has a rare ability to align brand strategy to business strategy.

Previous clients Fay has worked with include Volkswagen, Audi, Financial Times, Fisher & Paykel, Bottega Veneta, Sinopec, Air China, and OPPO.

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Would you like to know more?Please contact:

fay@oceandesign.co.nz

Level 1, 143 Vivian Street, Wellington

+64 4 801 5700

Ocean China Focus is an initiative of Ocean Design Group.

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