Менеджеры и менеджмент (Executives and Management). Коломейцева Е.М - 52 стр.

UptoLike

ВУЗ: 

ТГТУ | Тамбов

Составители: 

Рубрика: 

226
call a toll-free number to request sales literature or ask for
information.
11. Your rep can visit customers: this is the most ef-
fective method of promotion, but also the most expensive.
…
T a s k 6. Listen to a part of a lecture about brand names. Point the brand names of portable radios,
drinks, food, cars and computer software which are on sale in the UK.
Lecturer:... Now, on the subject of brand names: English names are often used in foreign countries to make prod-
ucts sound more 'international'. But this doesn't always work. Take, for example, portable radios. There's the Party Cen-
ter, the Concert Boy, the Party Boy and the Yacht Boy – these are all marketed in the UK under those names, but they
do sound a bit silly to British ears, don't they?
Um...many foreign brand names just don't sound quite right in Britain. Here are a few examples of brand names
which would have to be changed if they wanted to sell me products...um...on the British market. Pocari Sweat – that's a
drink for sports people and...er...Calpis, Pschitt and Sic – these are drinks which sound quite disgusting in English.
Bum – that's a... a brand of bubble gum. There's Mother, a brand of biscuits. Bimbo, and that's a brand of bread.
Um...another strange name is Haagen-Dazs ice cream. This brand name was invented in the USA – um...it's sup-
posed to have a European 'quality' sound and look, but it doesn't actually mean anything in any language. Still, it's the
most popular luxury brand in Britain despite the fact that no one can spell it correctly!
Um...Oh, and not all British brands sound right in other countries. Um...there are two Irish whiskey liqueurs you
can buy in the UK: Irish Cream and Irish Mist. The latter wouldn't sell in Germany, where the word Mist means 'ma-
nure'.
And...er...h...how about the Nissan cars: Cedric and Gloria? Those English first names sound so unglamorous that
neither of them could be sold in the UK under those brand names. But, having said that, er... a good product can suc-
ceed even if the name does sound a tiny bit strange. Look at Japanese cars: you've got the Nissan Bluebird, the Daihatsu
Applause, the Honda Accord, the To...Toyota Carina- all very successful in the UK.
Oil, er...by the way, I've always been puzzled by how many Japanese cars have an R or L in their name: there's the
Toyota Previa, the Nissan Micra, the Toyota Corolla, the Nissan Primera- um...most Japanese cars I can think of have
a...an R or a...a...an L in their name, even though many Japanese people pronounce the sounds 'r' and '1' the same. A...an
exception is the four-wheel drive Mitsubishi Shogun (a... as it's called in the UK), but...er...in most countries it's called
the Pajero – er...except, in Spanish-speaking countries where that word is very rude indeed. There the same car is the
Ranchero.
Er...many international car names have been invented specially. They don't mean anything in any language but
they're just supposed to sound attractive – most of the brands I've already mentioned are invented words. Some more
examples of these on sale in the UK are the Ford Mondeo, the Toyota Celica and the Citroen Xantia.
But sometimes they may have to change the brand name to make it acceptable in different countries. In Europe,
General Motors cars are marketed under the Opel brand name. In Britain, these cars are Vauxhalls- a name that most
Europeans find very hard to pronounce. But there's a definite trend to create European brands: um...the Opel Kadett
used to be called the Astra in the UK, now it's the Astra all over Europe. And here in Britain the Vauxhall Nova has
taken on the European brand name Corsa – in Spanish and Italian No va means 'it doesn't go', which wouldn't have been
a suitable name for a reliable small car! And in the USA they have a car called the Rabbit – a sort of light-hearted,
amusing image, hasn't it? That's what we call the VW Golf, because consumers here seem to prefer a more serious
sporty image.
A fashionable product like... er... computer software has to have a marketable, and a...a memorable brand name.
And as more products are developed increasingly meaningless new names have to be invented, which nobody else has
thought of before.
Computer software products on sale in the UK often have brand names consisting of two words without a space
between them. So instead of being called Page Maker, the product is called PageMaker with a capital M in the middle.
Then...um...there's WordPerfect (with a capital P in the middle) and QuarkXPress (with capital X and capital P in the
middle). Um...but Microsoft Word is two words and... er...there are no capitals in the middle anywhere.
Now, having said all that, what I'd like you to do is to think of some... er... foreign brand names that you think are
unsuitable for the market in your country. Get together with a colleague and you've got three minutes to make notes.
OK?...
T a s k 7. Read this article from The Guardian and then sum up its most important facts.
Are brand names being pushed off the shelf?
According to the Wall Street Journal: "More and more shoppers are by-passing household names for the cheaper,
no-name products one shelf over. This shows that even the biggest and strongest brands in the world are vulnerable."
It has been clear for some time – principally since recession began to be felt in the major economies of the world –
that the strength of brands has been under fire. During the second half of the eighties, the Japanese, for example,
showed themselves willing to pay a huge premium to buy goods with a smart label and image to match: they were fash-

Страницы