Best way to make Chinese brand names

China's Subway shop (Photo: www.onbao.com)

Effective Chinese character naming is important to make successful inroads into China market.

In a report on how to make Chinese brand names, Kotra Beijing Office said Sunday (July 29) that the brand names in Chinese should contain the meanings that can reflect Chinese culture and future trend as is seen in the examples of Subway, Uniclo and Tmall to name just a few. 

In case of sandwich-specialized Subway, its Chinese name contains a meaning that people can enjoy tastes over a total of 100 kinds. It reflects the characteristics of Subway sandwich through which consumers can enjoy a variety of tastes by combining several materials according to consumer’s taste.

Uniclo’s Chinese name, Japan’s largest fashion brand, contains a meaning that the shop sells clothes of excellent quality. The name also gives the image that the prices are rational, but qualities are good, according to Kotra.

In case of Tmall, B2C brand shopping mall which contains a meaning of “Heaven’s cat,” it gives consumers a feeling of fashion, excellent quality, trend and sexyness. Tmall contributed greatly to improving image of the company by providing consumers with a fresh and simple image because consumers can remember it easily.

This Kotra report emphasized that companies must remember three principles, namely ‘simpleness’ which can imprint at a glance on their consumer memory, ‘Congeniality’ which can give friendliness to men & women of all ages, and ‘Suitability’ which expresses company or product characteristics effectively.

It is not good to apply difficult Chinese character which is difficult to hear usually or to use characters just because they have good meanings. It also advised that when using Chineses characters, it should not exceed two or three characters so that consumers can remember it easily.

Another thing companies must keep in mind, Kotra said, is that the names they make should not fall behind the times. The names should be made in such a way as to reflect market trend of the past, the present and future, it said.

news@theasian.asia