One of the most important elements that have the marks is your name. The name is crucial, a key element that can make consumers feel or not identified with the brand or attracted to it. The name acts as a sort of first point of call and is also what makes consumers stay often with the brand and its products. Christen a brand is a complicated process and branding is one of the most difficult moments of the creation of any product. In fact, there are companies that are dedicated only to find the perfect name and they charge for it, in street language, a paste.
But what happens when you have the perfect name, when consumers have accepted and internalized and when for one reason or another brand have to change?
Make rebranding is possibly one of the most painful issues that must face a brand and also one that can generate more friction between consumer and company. The brand has to strive to make consumers see why he made the change and has to know how to sell. But the truth is that not only faces the ire of consumers for a change that often do not understand and do not share, but also identity change potentially opens many risks and hand have to face many problems. In the new situation and the new identity, the brand may face oblivion, to be diffused to others and simply that consumers fail to learn the new name and continue to seek to brand ‘always’ (what a world marked by the network and identity is a graver than once) problem.
One of the latest brands that have faced a problematic change of brand and one that shows all the risks that may have to face a company in this way is Nintendo. The firm has gathered a single point linguistic problems (translate the name brands is complex and difficult) and also problems of ‘love’ of consumers by a name and an existing identity. Nintendo wants tokill Pikachu, one of Pokemon, at least in certain markets.
Pikachu is not only one of the most popular Pokemon (identifiable even by those who do not follow the franchise) but also one that has created stronger bonds with consumers. The company has just launched its 20th anniversary a special edition of video games and with them has opened Pandora’s box. For the first time, the company’s launch in traditional Chinese, which will be distributed in Hong Kong, Taiwan and China in a different language than always did. With this, the company reaches more consumers and does so in the language they use, but actually has gotten into a hornet’s nest. With the new translation has officially changed the name of the characters and have changed throughout the region to unify.And consumers are outraged because the new translation has become a rebranding of Pikachu and has been renamed.
The change has some business logic (it is tighter serves linguistically or not to have an identity multiplied by three in the same market), but has only managed to enrage consumers and generate a sense of shame. As reported Quartz in Hong Kong have been organized to demonstrations outside the Japanese embassy to show displeasure with the new name and ask Pikachu again be the same Pikachu as always. The issue is also much more complex because with this change the brand has taken political party (possibly inadvertently) in a region where linguistic issues are read at that level and has hindered the brand image.
Rename is always a problem
The truth is that follow certain tips to name the brand can be crucial from the zero point and can avoid facing certain problems in the future, especially the painful process of change and then reset the identity of brands and products. Many times the brand has no choice but to do so. The Comtessa cake became Vienetta by a legal dispute, but consumers have not forgotten the original identity and is still using, much as Frigo has completely changed the brand identity. If you are looking for recipes to make at home you will find the name ‘usual’.
Making a name to settle in the collective memory is difficult and changing identity marks have to make great efforts to achieve seat the new and delete the old one. Mr. Clean was not so many years ago Mr. Proper, although it ceased to prevent the production of a country would affect another (it was done ‘traffic cleaners’ to import that were cheaper). To get consumers to know his new identity, they launched a tiresome song that made it clear that Mr. Proper it was “the beginning” and that “now called Mr. Clean”. The success of the campaign was possibly linked to the fact that this was still a world of television and the ads are reminded, leading to wonder if something like this could succeed in the internet world. And yet, for many consumers it remains Mr. Proper.
Rename is complex and difficult and often does not actually generate profits. According to a study from a German university, only one – fifth of the name changes of companies and brands brings benefits for the company. Getting it right can report success (the Bollylandia sales increased by 27% when it became known QE) but doing this is not easy. The most common is that consumers end up on social networks claiming back the angry Pikachu touch them.