Brand Name Blunders

In a global marketplace, the odds of a new brand name offending somebody somewhere multiply significantly. Do your homework before taking a brand name into new markets. And read Steve Rivkin’s Naming Newsletter. Here’s a recent excerpt:

In August 2002, the British sportswear manufacturer Umbro was denounced as “appallingly insensitive” for naming a running shoe the Zyklon. That’s the same name as the lethal gas used in extermination camps during the Second World War.

John Yunker
John Yunker

John is co-founder of Byte Level Research and author of Think Outside the Country as well as 19 editions of The Web Globalization Report Card.

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