Wong Eng Hong Julius {Group B}

So Why Localize?

Proper localization can save a company millions. Why? Because the cost of offending a
group of consumer by insensitive marketing messages can be very expensive and in some cases
permanent, leading to costly efforts in terms of re-positioning. In 2002,Abercrombie & Fitch s t-
shirt slogans such as Two Wongs can make it white or Get your Buddha on the Floor were
widely condemned and led to petitions for consumer boycotts.

Localizing brand names into other languages without compromising brand identity is a
crucial international marketing challenge for many companies. This becomes more of a problem
when brand names need to be localized for languages wherein phonetics and sematic issues pose
a challenge. He most common example is when companies use transliteration strategies to
localize their English brand name to a completely different writing system, as in the case of
Chinese scripts. For example, Carrefour chose its Chinese brand name (Jia-le-fu) based on how it
sounds (phonetic appeal), and its positive meaning in Chinese: It means home/family-happy-
fortune (Brand Source, 2009). The famous example of a bad brand name translation into
Chinese is that Coca Cola: Translation of ko-ka-ko-la meant something like bite a wax tadpole.

Leader of Indias Jewish community expressed outrage over a line of bedspread called
The Nazi Collection from a Mumbai(Bombay) based home furnishing company that used
swastikas in its promotional material (Sunday Times, 2007).

Even a simple thing such as the use of number in a culturally inappropriate way can
derail product sales. a golf ball manufacturing company packaged golf balls in packs of four for
convenient purchase in China. Unfortunately, pronunciation of the word four in Chinese
sounds like the word death and the items packaged in fours unpopular. Similarly, in the US,
the number 420 is associated with cannabis culture, and in India 420 spoken in Hindi refers to
conman or con-woman and has negative connotation.1

1
One of trhe petitions is still available as of November 1st 2010 at http://boycott-af.com

1
Wong Eng Hong Julius {Group B}

Works Cited
Sunday Times. (2007, October). Retrieved May Monday, 2016, from Times Online:
www.timesonline.co.uk

Brand Source. (2009, January). Retrieved May Monday, 2016, from Lab brand: www.labbrand.com