1. Branding: Managing Meaning
Case: Soshi Sumsin Ltd
International Marketing
Ece Camlibel
Ritika Sethi
Krishna Talesara

2. LOGO QUIZ
Can You Identify These Brands When
Their Names Are Stripped Out?

25. Symbol
Word
Sentence
Trademark
Logo
Term
Name
Design
Product/Services
Sign

26. Introduction to Branding
 Brand: Logo, symbol, name, mark, word, sentence
 Branding: Marketing tool used to identify and
differentiate your product.
 Brand Image: Impression in a consumer’s mind of the
brand’s personality
 Brand Equity: Measure of the overall value of a brand.

27. FUNCTIONS OF BRAND NAMES
FUNCTIONS OF
BRAND NAMES
FOR CONSUMERS
PERSONALISATION
(express
individuality
through purchase)
ENTERTAINMENT
(exercise of free
choice, satisfy
needs)
IDENTITY
(guides
consumers)
FOR PRODUCERS
GUARENTEE
(signature of the
manufacturer)
PRACTICALITY
(summary of
information about
the product)
POSITIONING
(competitive
scene)
CAPITALIZATION
(assets holding
great potential)

28. Stories behind brand names
Lego – A combination of the Danish phrase
leg godt, which means play well. Lego also
happens to mean “I put together” in Latin, but
the company claims that it’s merely
coincidence
Skype – Originally Sky-Peer-to Peer, then
Skyper, and finally Skype
Google – A googol is equivalent to a 1
followed by 100 zeros. Misspelled it as Google
when seeing if the domain was available.
Another report claims that Andy
Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun Microsystems
and Google’s first investor, misspelled the
name on his $100,000 investment check.

29. Stories behind brand names
 Cisco – Short for San Francisco where the
company was founded
 Verizon – A combination of the words veritas,
the Latin word for truth, and horizon,
signifying forward-looking and visionary
 Apple – It’s speculative but at the time, Steve
Jobs worked on an apple farm. Also, some
say Jobs wanted it to be in front of Atari in
the phone book. While others claim that Jobs
wanted it to be a tribute to Apple Records,
the music label for the Beatles.

30. Soshi Sumsin: Company Background
 South Korean company
 Electronic products (VCRs, stereos and television)
 Started manufacturing television components for an
American manufacturer in 1990
 Manufactured full line of TVs, hi-fi and stereo equipment
for three other American firms
 Marketing their own products since 1992 under the name
of Sumsin.

31. International Expansion
 They want to enter to American market
 Main reason: Size and buying power of American market
 Introduction date was set as April 2009
 Mr. Soshi relied on his son to carry out international marketing and
as his first decision he had to select a brand name for the
American market

32. Transferring Brands Across Borders
Simple Translation:
•
•
•
•
The American Dairy Association’s “Got Milk?” translated into
Spanish as “Are you lactating?”
KFC’s “Finger-Licking Good” translated into Chinese as “We’ll Eat
Your Fingers Off”
Braniff Airlines’ “Fly in leather” translated into Spanish as “Fly
naked”
Schweppes Tonic Water was translated into Italian as Schweppes
Toilet Water.
Transliteration:
•
•
•
Axe is called Lynx in UK
Lays is called Walkers in UK
Burger King is called Hungry Jack’s in Australia
Transparent brand name:
•
Sony, Nokia, Apple, Coca Cola

33. Examples from the case
 Taiwanese Brand  American Market - keeping the same
name
 Tatung  Tatung
 Taiwanese Brand  American Market - changing the name
 Kunno Lo  Kennedy
 Kennex
 Pro-Kennex

34. Option #1
 Father’s preference- stick with the company
family name
 Sumsin: difficult for English speaking people to
pronounce and seemed meaningless and
foreign.
 Soshi: equally unfamiliar and meaningless and
people may confuse it with “sushi”.

35. Option #2
 Acquire ownership of an existing American brand name, one
with market recognition
 Monarch:
 They manufactured radios in Chicago in 1932, and were
nationally known in the 1940.
 Badly hurt by TV in 1950s (reduced size of the radio market)
 The company was wiped out in 1960’s
 Monarch - $50,000
 Tied in with electronic products in public’s mind
 Wondered if people still remembered the Monarch name.
 Difficult to decide if recognition was positive or negative
because of the company’s failure in the market.

36. Option #3
 Select a new name, build market recognition through promotion.
 Need to be politically and socially neutral in American and other
foreign markets.
 Easy to pronounce and remember
 Proteus: ancient Greek sea God, easy to pronounce in most European
languages, too neutral to help sell the product
 Blue streak: easy name in English, but not in other
languages, connotation of speed and progress might provide a boost
for the product.

37. Comparison of alternatives
PROS
CONS
OPTION 1
• Sticking to the origin
of the company
• Difficult to
pronounce
• Meaningless
OPTION 2
• Well reputed
• Awareness of the
product is present
• Preconceived
notions
OPTION 3
• Innovative
• Neutral
• Easy to pronounce
and remember
• Not in connection
with the product

38. Criterias for a good brand name
 Reflects the positioning of the brand
 Relates to the target audience
 Informs about the benefit the product offers
Therefore we think they
should go with option 3
 Easy to remember, to spell and to pronounce
 Internationally compatible
 Short and unique
 Copyright protected
 Easy to visualize
 Timeless
 Domain name is available

39. Reasons for brand failures
1. Cultural Differences
KOREA
USA
• Lack of diversity
• Diverse
• Lack of experience in
multicultural issues
• A lot of experience in
multicultural issues since most
multinational companies
originate from USA
• Market Korean products
globally as they would
domestically
• “Korea is better than your
country”- insulting and offputting to other countries
• Marketing mix decisions are
adapted to meet the local
culture of the host country
Ex: Mc Donald’s

40. KOREA
USA
• High context nation
• Advertising employs metaphor
(high context)
• Low context culture nation
• US Advertising uses product
features and the utilitarian
needs for products (low context)
• The Korean style of
communication:
“accommodation oriented”
• Direct and confrontational
approach.
• Fewer direct references to the
brand
• Represent brand, product, and
company name early on and
frequently in advertising.
• Brand taglines appeal to more
culturally diffusive value.
• US subjects shows more
favorable attitudes towards
advertising and brands.

41. KOREA
USA
• Advertisements show company
names.
• Only 56 per cent of US
companies represented their
company names in advertising.
• Advertisers feel consumers
usually base purchases of most
products and services at least in
part on the reputation of the
company.
• Reputation of the company is
considered important to
consumers in only about half of
television commercials
• Brand-logos/taglines are
abstract and symbol.
• Brand-logos/taglines contain
more direct speech.

42. Reasons for brand failures
2. Lack of Adaptation
 Brand name given to a product is often the name of the
company that manufactures it
 Historically related, founders name, difficult to change it
 Example: P&G twofold brand strategy
 Difficult to memorize in many countries
 Serious obstacle to clear communication
 Creating confusion
 Essential to be prepared to carry out the necessary brand-name
modifications

43. Reasons for brand failures
 3. Lack of Linguistic content: When a company name
lacks elements such as verbal, auditory and intellectual
meaning.
 Symbolic connotation to communicate product attributes.
 Make It possible to understand the pure linguistic capacity
of a brand independent of the established goodwill.
 The is issue is whether a brand is transposable into other
linguistic contexts.
 Ex: Coca cola

44. Examples of few companies who have
changed their brand name to adapt
globally

47. Marketing Implications
 Firms should be prepared to adapt and change their
brand name to fit into global markets
 When going global, firms should take a neutral brand
name which is well adapted to the culture of the host
country
 Make sure brand name is in sync with the product
features and company culture
 Make sure your brand name doesn’t have an
unintended negative meaning

48. Questions
 Evaluate the alternative names being considered
by Sammy Soshi. Which name would you
recommend?
 Whatever new name is chosen, should Soshi Sumsin
adopt the same name in the Korean market?
 What are the advantages of selecting different
brand names, as appropriate, in each foreign
market?
 Enumerate the characteristics that should be
possessed by a good international brand name?