BRANDING
BRANDING
There are four major branding decisions that MNEs make: brand versus brand, manufacturer's brand versus private brand, one brand versus mult brands, and worldwide brand versus local brands.49 Only the last decision" substantially affected by the international environment.
Some firms, such as Coca-Cola, have opted to use the same brand logo globally. This gives instant recognition and may save some expense promotion. Some others, such as Nestle's Nestea and Nescafe, have assc many of their products under the same family of brands in order to share" the goodwill that the company has developed. Yet, there are a number problems in trying to use uniform brands internationally.
Language Factors
One problem is that names may carry a different association in another1 guage. GM thought that its model Nova could easily be called the same' Latin America, since it means "star" in Spanish. However, people started; nouncing it "no va," which is the Spanish translation for "it does not go. Coca-Cola tries to use global branding wherever possible, but discovered i the term "diet" in Diet Coke had a connotation of illness in Germany Italy; consequently, the brand has become Coca-Cola Light outside the' United States. Mars hesitated for years to change the name of its Marathai candy bar in Britain to Snickers in order to create an internationally known brand because of the close pronunciation to knickers, a British term 5:r women's underwear.50
Pronunciation presents another problem in that languages and aiprj; bets may lack some of the sounds of a brand from another country, or sc pronunciation may have a different meaning. McDonald's uses Doraii
McDonald in Japan because of the difficulty Japanese have in pronouncing the letter R. Marcel Bich dropped the H from his name when branding pens because of the fear of mispronunciation in English. Perrier's popular French soft drink, Pschitt, has an unappetizing meaning when pronounced in English.
Unilever has successfully translated a brand name for .its fabric softener, while leaving its brand symbol, a baby bear, intact on the packaging. "Snuggle" in the United States is "Kuschelweich" in Germany, "Cajoline" in France, "Coccolino" in Italy, and "Mimosin" in Spain. But "Snuggle" did not quite convey the same meaning in English-language speaking Australia, where Unilever uses "Huggy."51
Acquisitions
Much of international expansion is through acquisition of companies in foreign countries that already have branded products. When Nestle" acquired Carnation, the Carnation name was so well known in the United States that it was kept as an addition to the canned-milk brands that Nestle" promotes elsewhere. Yet Bic Pens acquired Waterman Pens as its entry into the U.S. market in order to gain the benefit of the Waterman name; however, when the name turned out to have less value than anticipated the Bic name was adopted in the United States as well. Brand-name acquisitions may bring global bad will to the acquirer, even though there is local goodwill where the brand is used. Colgate-Palmolive acquired half ownership in Hawley fr Hazel, a Hong Kong firm with a leading market share for toothpaste in several Asian countries. The brand was Darkie, and the logo showed a black minstrellike figure in a silk top hat, which was offensive to many Colgate-Palmolive customers. Subsequently, the company changed the brand to Darlie and put a man of ambiguous race under the top hat.52 Sunbeam has continued use of acquired brand names in Italy (Rowenta, Oster, Cadillac, Aircap, and Stewart) because they are well known and enjoy goodwill; however, Sunbeam has found that by stretching the promotional budget over so many brands, promotions are not as effective as they might be.53
Nationality Images
Firms should consider whether to create a local or a foreign image for their products. Certain countries, particularly developed ones, tend to have a higher-quality image for their products than do other countries. But images can change. Consider that various Korean firms sold abroad under private labels or under contract with well-known companies for many years. Some of these companies are now emphasizing their own trade names and the quality of Korean products, such as Samsung.54
There also are image differences concerning specific products from specific countries. The French firm BSN-Gervais Dannone brews the largestselling bottled beer in Europe, and the firm's director general frankly admits that the Kroenenbourg trademark "sounds German."55
Generic and Near-Generic Names
Companies want their product names to become household words but not so
much so that trademarked names can be used by competitors to describe
mark similar products. In the United States, the names Xerox and Kleenex are
nearly synonymous with copiers and paper tissues, respectively, but have remained proprietary brands. Some other names, such as cellophane, linoleum, and cornish hens have become generic, or available for anyone to use.
Internationally, producers sometimes face substantial differences among countries that may either help or frustrate their sales. Roquefort cheese and champagne are proprietary names in France but generic in the United States, a situation that impairs French export sales of those products. A factor impeding international sales of U.S., Canadian, Irish, and Japanese whiskies is the fact that in much of the world whisky is a synonym for Scotch whisky.
There are four major branding decisions that MNEs make: brand versus brand, manufacturer's brand versus private brand, one brand versus mult brands, and worldwide brand versus local brands.49 Only the last decision" substantially affected by the international environment.
Some firms, such as Coca-Cola, have opted to use the same brand logo globally. This gives instant recognition and may save some expense promotion. Some others, such as Nestle's Nestea and Nescafe, have assc many of their products under the same family of brands in order to share" the goodwill that the company has developed. Yet, there are a number problems in trying to use uniform brands internationally.
Language Factors
One problem is that names may carry a different association in another1 guage. GM thought that its model Nova could easily be called the same' Latin America, since it means "star" in Spanish. However, people started; nouncing it "no va," which is the Spanish translation for "it does not go. Coca-Cola tries to use global branding wherever possible, but discovered i the term "diet" in Diet Coke had a connotation of illness in Germany Italy; consequently, the brand has become Coca-Cola Light outside the' United States. Mars hesitated for years to change the name of its Marathai candy bar in Britain to Snickers in order to create an internationally known brand because of the close pronunciation to knickers, a British term 5:r women's underwear.50
Pronunciation presents another problem in that languages and aiprj; bets may lack some of the sounds of a brand from another country, or sc pronunciation may have a different meaning. McDonald's uses Doraii
McDonald in Japan because of the difficulty Japanese have in pronouncing the letter R. Marcel Bich dropped the H from his name when branding pens because of the fear of mispronunciation in English. Perrier's popular French soft drink, Pschitt, has an unappetizing meaning when pronounced in English.
Unilever has successfully translated a brand name for .its fabric softener, while leaving its brand symbol, a baby bear, intact on the packaging. "Snuggle" in the United States is "Kuschelweich" in Germany, "Cajoline" in France, "Coccolino" in Italy, and "Mimosin" in Spain. But "Snuggle" did not quite convey the same meaning in English-language speaking Australia, where Unilever uses "Huggy."51
Acquisitions
Much of international expansion is through acquisition of companies in foreign countries that already have branded products. When Nestle" acquired Carnation, the Carnation name was so well known in the United States that it was kept as an addition to the canned-milk brands that Nestle" promotes elsewhere. Yet Bic Pens acquired Waterman Pens as its entry into the U.S. market in order to gain the benefit of the Waterman name; however, when the name turned out to have less value than anticipated the Bic name was adopted in the United States as well. Brand-name acquisitions may bring global bad will to the acquirer, even though there is local goodwill where the brand is used. Colgate-Palmolive acquired half ownership in Hawley fr Hazel, a Hong Kong firm with a leading market share for toothpaste in several Asian countries. The brand was Darkie, and the logo showed a black minstrellike figure in a silk top hat, which was offensive to many Colgate-Palmolive customers. Subsequently, the company changed the brand to Darlie and put a man of ambiguous race under the top hat.52 Sunbeam has continued use of acquired brand names in Italy (Rowenta, Oster, Cadillac, Aircap, and Stewart) because they are well known and enjoy goodwill; however, Sunbeam has found that by stretching the promotional budget over so many brands, promotions are not as effective as they might be.53
Nationality Images
Firms should consider whether to create a local or a foreign image for their products. Certain countries, particularly developed ones, tend to have a higher-quality image for their products than do other countries. But images can change. Consider that various Korean firms sold abroad under private labels or under contract with well-known companies for many years. Some of these companies are now emphasizing their own trade names and the quality of Korean products, such as Samsung.54
There also are image differences concerning specific products from specific countries. The French firm BSN-Gervais Dannone brews the largestselling bottled beer in Europe, and the firm's director general frankly admits that the Kroenenbourg trademark "sounds German."55
Generic and Near-Generic Names
Companies want their product names to become household words but not so
much so that trademarked names can be used by competitors to describe
mark similar products. In the United States, the names Xerox and Kleenex are
nearly synonymous with copiers and paper tissues, respectively, but have remained proprietary brands. Some other names, such as cellophane, linoleum, and cornish hens have become generic, or available for anyone to use.
Internationally, producers sometimes face substantial differences among countries that may either help or frustrate their sales. Roquefort cheese and champagne are proprietary names in France but generic in the United States, a situation that impairs French export sales of those products. A factor impeding international sales of U.S., Canadian, Irish, and Japanese whiskies is the fact that in much of the world whisky is a synonym for Scotch whisky.
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