The following section is about those mistakes that businesses made due to insufficient research before launching their brand/product in a foreign market.
- When automobile manufacturer Mitsubishi launched its “Pajero 4WD” in Spain they forgot to bear in mind the word Pajero means jerk in Spanish.
- The KFC’s slogan “finger-lickin good” when marketed in China was translated “eat your fingers off.”
- When Puffs tissue launched their tissues in Germany they did not know that Puff means brothel in Germany.
- An Italian mineral water company promoted their mineral water “Traficante” rather unsuccessfully in Spain as Traficante means drug dealer in Spanish.
- The Bacardi fruit drink “Paviane” was supposed to suggest French chic, they were not aware of the fact that in Germany the same word meant Baboon.
- What was Electrolux thinking when translating their slogan into English that read “Nothing sucks like Electrolux.”
- Car Manufacturer Ford failed to successfully launch its car “Pinto” in Brazil – the word Pinto is slang for small penis in Brazil.
- Parker pens slogan “Avoid Embarassment – use Quink,” was incorrectly translated into Spanish and came out as “Avoid pregnancy – use Quink.”
- In Taiwan, the translation of the Pepsi slogan “Come alive with the Pepsi Generation” came out as “Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead.”
- Clairol was probably not aware that mist in Germany is slang for manure when introducing their curling iron “Mist Stick” into Germany.
- When American Motors tried to market its new car, the Matador, it did not prove very popular in Puerto Rico as in this Hispanic subculture Matador means killer.
- We know it as knapsack or backpack, in Germany, they call it a Body Bag
- The successful campaign in this country“Got Milk?” was also taken to Mexico, however, after a translation error the message read “Are you lactating?”
Hence, it is absolutely imperative to verify that your brand or company name and the names of your products are apposite for the language and culture of your target market, before you launch your product or service. Brand/Product name checking assignments involve the examination of prospective brand names, which a company is seeking to introduce in a particular market. The names must not only be appropriate linguistically but also culturally, this requires exhaustive analysis for the intended market as different regions and different dialects mean that a product name that works for one part of the market might be totally inappropriate for the neighbouring province. Tongue Tied uses native-speaking translators, currently living in the target market with experience in the business and marketing sector to convey comprehensive linguistic assessments of your product, brand and company names.
Marketing & Marketing Research Widget
“Tongue Tied have always been excellent at providing timely, accurate and cost effective translation services. Due to the nature of our work, deadlines can be tight and accuracy is vital – Tongue Tied have always delivered to a very good standard. I would certainly recommend their services to other professional services firms”
David Johnson
Mercer Limited
“We have found Tongue Tied to be the most reliable, efficient and prompt translation company we have used both in Latin America and Europe. Turnaround is always on-time, and the quality never disappoints. No matter what locale a company operates in, we always recommend our clients and suppliers go to the UK, and use Tongue Tied”
Hugh Williams – Partner
Brasil Global Research
“We used Tongue Tied after starting a translation project with another supplier of such services but finding that they were delivering poorly. Tongue Tied provided an excellent and friendly service at a much more reasonable price, making me wish we had discovered them sooner. Now Tongue Tied is our supplier of choice for translations – keep up the good work!”
Martin Ison – CEO
Micomms Ltd
“Hallmark IP have used Tongue Tied for multi-language translations for a number of years. The team at Tongue Tied have consistently provided an efficient, professional service and we have no hesitation in recommending them.”
Joretta Price
HallMark IP Limited
“The translations themselves were highly accurate – not only because of your team’s linguistic abilities, but also their understanding of our business, the project and the target audiences for the various pieces of collateral.
Most of all though, I must express my gratitude for the speed and the patience of your team. The project moved, changed and expanded – and it is true to say that without Tongue Tied’s help, we would have found it very, very difficult to meet our deadlines”
Monique Chambers
Aura Corporation UK Ltd