Romancing The Product: The Power Of European Brand Names
March 6th, 2010 | Author: admin
Romancing The Product: The Power Of European Brand Names
Using European languages to create product names and company names for American brands can be a powerful strategy or a serious misstep. Heres when it works and why.
What do HagenDazs Saint Benot and Clinique have in common? Answer: theyre all successful European brand names for stuff manufactured right here in the good old U.S. of A. Theyre also living proof that one of the most effective ways to telegraph luxury or premium quality is to use a product name or company name thats derived from a European language. And even though many American consumers are hip to this trick by now most dont mind being seduced with a European comeon if the product lives up to its promise.
The vaguely Scandinavian brand name HagenDazs was coined in 1959by two Polish immigrants living in the Bronxto lend Old World flair to their line of ice creams. The strategic naming worked and the superpremium ice cream soared to success with its incorrectly placed umlaut. Similarly the product name Clinique adds French cachet to a skincare and makeup line from Este Lauder itself a Frenchified version of Josephine Esther Lauder one of the companys founders. And on a smaller local scale Saint Benot has created a nice little stirand is commanding premium priceswith its smallbatch Frenchstyle yogurt even though its crafted in Sonoma County California.
Bottom line: when branding products for American audiences foreignsounding names can play off stereotypes of other nations and trigger associations we retain on a preconscious level. For instance French product names can suggest luxury and premium quality; Italian product names sexiness and high fashion or at least great espresso; Scandinavian names superior milk products and icy pure water and vodka; and German names impeccable automotive engineering.
Theres only one catch with foreign branding: you have to make sure your products are in synch with and can live up to their European mystique. An ultrarich ice cream like HagenDazs can easily make good on the promise its name makes. As can Saint Benots creamy yogurt developed by brothers who grew up in France where simple local foods like handcrafted yogurt are more of a tradition. On the other hand a mediocre ice cream with a fancy European product name will only come across as pretentious and silly.
Of course if youre really really clever theres even a place for ironic foreign branding that plays off the implicit pretension of certain foreignsounding names. Witness the success of LeSportsac the iconic American bag company whose bags are proudly manufactured in the US. Its tongueincheek coined name blends Old World panache with New World street smarts to suggest a brand thats both chic and practicaland sophisticated in a hip kind of way. Which is perhaps the best of all worlds.
So could a Europeansounding name be right for your brand? Before you proceed down this road ask yourself:
Do the associations invoked by a European name fit your brand and its personality?
Are the associations central to your brands positioning?
Which language/s are most appropriate? Italian for example tends to be livelier and more masculine in tone than French which has a softer feel.
Are you overlooking another more direct route to the same message? If your maple syrup is made in picturesque Vermont for example do you really need to go trekking to France for an evocative name?
And finally: can your brand deliver on the inherent promise of superior quality or luxury certain European languages evoke?
About the writer: Burt Alper Principal Catchword a fullservice naming firm that specializes in creating company names and product names that stand out in the marketplace and engage customers in fresh ways. For more information call 510.628.0080 ext.101. And check out the Catch This naming blog.
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