9.1 Global brands are never truly global • Brands as sounds • Global brands are based on the alphabet • Brands are based on linguistics devices some of which are global (alliteration) and others (compounding and clipping) are local • Visual elements of brands • Global brands are a federation of ‘lexically equivalent’ local marketing assets • Local consumer responses and images invested in similar brands • Local advertising strategy & execution has created over years different images 9.2 What is a truly global brand name? * A translinguistic device, both in terms of sounds and writing * A brand with consistent underlying core themes * Advertising strategy has been executed for at least fifteen years in a quite similar manner across a very large number of countries * Consumer needs are consistent for this product category worldwide (airlines vs. coffee) * Ad spending must be at least $ 200 million per year world-wide and more probably $ .5 billion 9.3 Linguistic elements of brands as marketing assets - Brand Name: * spelling (letters+numbers) => writing systems * speaking the name => pronunciation and phonology Matsushita vs. Technics / * Denotative meaning => Choco-BN * Connotative meaning => Kinder (semantics) * Rhetorical value => persuasive content (Tide) - Visual associated to the brand name (logo / design) * the Whiskas example * visual aspects in ideographic writing systems - Global companies must play on a large register of languages and meanings to develop «global » brands Some examples of linguistic characteristics of brands I Phonetic devices 1. Alliteration: Consonant repetition (Coca Cola, Cocoon) 2 . Assonance: Vowel repetition (Kal Kan, Vizir, Omo) 3. Consonance: Consonant repetition with intervening vowel changes (Weight Watchers, Tic Tac) 4. Onomatopoeia: Use of syllable phonetics to resemble the object itself (Wisk, Cif, Wizzard) 5. Clipping: Product names attenuated (Chevy for a Chevrolet, Deuche for a Citroen Deux Chevaux, Rabbit for a Volkswagen) 6. Initial plosives: /b/, /c-hard/, /d/, /g-hard/, /k/, /q/, /t/, (Bic, Dash, Pliz, Pim's) II Orthographic devices 1. Unusual or incorrect spellings: Kool-Aid, Decap'Four 2. Abbreviations: 7-Up for Seven-Up 3. Acronyms: Amoco, DB, Cofinoga, Lu, BSN, HP, P&G