By Tutu (Edmund)
Source: FBIF Food & Beverage Innovation
Now some food and beverage products have been named, and they have begun to "not talk about martial arts" more and more. unbelief? Take a look at the following list of product/brand names, how many can you read?
Konjac, Anthracite, Bai, Wine, Furnace, Water, Two Yang, Da Long, Eighteen, Xi Xi, Hammer ZiJun...
This situation is like the first day of school, the teacher faced the children's various strange names when they were named, and showed a helpless smile...
These hard-to-read product names have even created a rather "embarrassing" situation. On October 6, a jelly product called "Konjac" (jǔ ruò)" appeared on Li Jiaqi's live broadcast room.
Kiss konjac can suck jelly Source: Kiss
Before the live broadcast, because the product name of konjac is too "difficult to recognize", a group of preview Weibo will be Konjac's product names in a variety of ways, including "pro-pro-drug jelly", "pro-weak jelly", "pro-pro-medicine Ge jelly" and "pro-prince Ju jelly".
The name of the god of konjac Is source: Weibo
Even the official Weibo of Pro-Food has officially "sold miserably" on this matter. Fans left messages under Weibo "Because of konjac, hugging and kissing ~~", and in the end, this Weibo received nearly 1,000 comments and nearly 2,000 likes, all of which are 50-100 times the average of pro-food Microblogs.
Pro-official micro "sell miserable" Source: Weibo
Konjac jelly sold 770,000 yuan on the night of Li Jiaqi's live broadcast room. And because of its diversified eating methods, it has caused a heated discussion, so far, the number of readings of weibo #Konjac's Immortal Eating Method #Super Talk has exceeded 100 million. It seems that the "Konjac Immortal Name" is no less popular than the "Konjac Immortal Eating Method".
After careful investigation, we found that there are many products whose names "can't be pronounced at all", including many emerging sub-brands under large brands. For example, Nongfu Shanquan's coffee brand "Bīng", Haidilao's noodle shop brand "Eighteen (cuān)", and Moutai's brand "Taiyuan (zhī) Wine" all caused a round of discussion about its name among consumers when they were released.
In addition, there are some brands that are often misread by consumers. For example, Nongfu Spring's tea brand "Tea π" has been read by consumers as "tea table" to this day. The word "yóu" in the Village of Xibei Noodles, a northwestern cuisine brand, is often mispronounced as "xiǎo". The emerging coffee brand "yú Tagawa" is often misinterpreted as "ǒu Tagawa".
In addition to "eating melons", we can also think about these two problems: the current mainstream naming theory tells us that brand/product naming should be easy for readers to identify in order to reduce communication costs. But why are there so many "strange word products"? What are some of the ways these brands can partially offset the communication impact of strange words?
Today's article, we will talk about the story behind these "don't talk about Wude" products/brand names.
01 Good product, why should people not read the name?
China's unique and profound Chinese character culture allows brands to dig out names that conform to brand positioning and have quaint meanings from the cultural treasure house when naming names.
This "konjac can absorb jelly" that caused "misunderstanding" gives an elegant meaning to the raw materials of the product.
Konjac can be sucked jelly and is a new jelly product launched by Pro this year. The product is made by using konjac, which is widely recognized by consumers as one of the raw materials, focusing on the concept of low calorie and 0 fat, and importing a whole set of technologies and production lines from Japan. Since its launch, the sales volume of konjac suckable jelly has exceeded 4 million.
Konjac is the ancient name of konjac, and has been used by Japan, which was deeply influenced by Chinese culture and has been used to this day. Haruki Murakami, a Japanese national treasure, is very fond of vermicelli made from konjac. [1] The "konjac jelly" that can be found in Japanese supermarkets today is actually a jelly made from konjac.
Konjac jelly products from Japan Source: bxlac
Kin-in was one of the first brands to restore the name "Konjac" to China. At the same time, because this konjac jelly adopts the technology and production line imported from Japan, the name "konjac can absorb jelly" is used, which has a different meaning of "Japanese".
Nowadays, the domestic market with "konjac" to represent konjac products, but also began to gradually become more, I believe this quaint and appropriate name, will be known to more Chinese consumers in the future.
In addition to raw materials, brands can also use strange characters to give elegant connotations to the product production process. For example, Nongfu Spring's coffee brand "Anthracite".
Nongfu Spring Anthracite Coffee Source: Nongfu Spring
One of the major selling points of "anthrax" coffee is that it adopts a low-temperature cold extraction process, which extracts coffee at a lower temperature, which can reduce the solubility of bitter substances in coffee, thereby reducing the "bitterness" of coffee and making the taste softer.
The word "仌" is an appropriate and quaint expression of this craft. In ancient times, "仌" was the same as "ice", and in the "Explanation of Words", it is said: "仌, freeze also." Like the shape of water condensation".
The word "ice" in many classical poems was originally written as "仌", and only later was written as the familiar word "ice" because of the evolution of the font. For example, the famous sentence of the Northern Song Dynasty scholar Su Shi " good sleep lazy open mo delay, self-pity ice face from time to time ", according to Mr. Long Yusheng's research, in the early version of the "ice" is written "仌", until the Yuan Dynasty was changed to "ice" character. [2]
Haidilao's noodle shop brand "Eighteen Yan" also found an appropriate expression for its noodle production process. "汆" is a cooking method. It is made by cutting and matching the raw materials, boiling the water on a high fire, putting in the raw materials, and adding spices when the water is boiled again. Dishes made in this way can not only prevent the loss of food nutrients due to high temperature cooking, but also prevent the food itself from getting old and yellow, and retain the original flavor of the ingredients.
Haidilao's noodle restaurant brand "Eighteen Feng" Source: Professional Catering Network
Wang Zengqi, a famous contemporary writer and known as "China's last scholar-doctor", was deeply impressed by the soup of his hometown when recalling the cuisine of his hometown, saying: "Suzhou people have a stir-fried, pepper and salt method for making pond fish. The usual way to eat in our hometown is to add vinegar and pepper. Tiger head shark soup, the fish meat is very tender, loose but not scattered, the soup taste is extremely fresh, appetizing. ”[3]
The essayist Liang Shiqiu was even more praised for the crabs produced by "汆" (Liang Shiqiu called them "汆大甲"). He wrote: "Don't forget to ask for a bowl of large armor. This bowl of soup is very interesting, the broth is boiled in a bowl, seven or eight pieces of crab claws are thrown, and immediately the pot is poured into the bowl, sprinkled with minced coriander, pepper and chopped back pot old fritters. Except for this flavored big one, no other soup can hold the foot of this meal. ”[4]
The custom of using strange words to express beautiful meanings Chinese ancient times, and even "creating" a strange word for a beautiful meaning. Wu Zetian, the only female emperor of China, created the character "曌 (zhào)" when she ascended the throne, and renamed herself "Wucao", meaning "the sun and the moon are empty".
Another example is Liu Yan, the founding emperor of the Southern Han Dynasty, who also created the character "䶮 (yǎn)" after ascending the throne, and renamed himself "Liu Yan", taking the meaning of "flying dragon in the sky".
There is also the Northern Song Dynasty literary scholar Song Jiao, in order to avoid the name of the name of the renaming of song 庠 (xiáng), its "庠" character is the ancient name of "school", and Song Ku has excellent results, in the township test, the meeting test, the temple test have won the first place, becoming one of the rare "Lianzhong Sanyuan" in Chinese history.
Behind the seemingly "unreadable" name, it is actually the precise positioning and beautiful expectations of the brand and products.
02 Why do these "can't read" names attract consumers' attention?
Mainstream marketing theory tells us that product names must be easy to identify and easy to spread. Xiao Ma Song, a well-known strategic marketing expert, once said that "strange words are not only difficult to write, but also difficult to read, because few people know, let alone spread." [5]
But in a market where everyone adopts "big vernacular" names such as "Apple" and "Xiaomi", if you can use strange words skillfully, you may be able to "win by surprise".
According to the "Ipsos: 2019 China Food and Beverage Industry Packaging Trend Insight Report", 83% of consumers are very willing or more willing to buy products with novel and unique packaging. So what kind of novel packaging can most attract consumer attention? Studies show that the number one of all elements is:
The product name on the package has a new meaning (63%).
The effective methods of attracting consumers' attention in the traditional impression of "using large patterns on packaging" and "using large words on packaging" account for only 23% and 12%.
Source: Ipsos
Search for "Konjac" in Weibo to find that in the various product sharing of "Konjac", there is always ridicule and spit on its pronunciation. For consumers who are accustomed to seeing various products, such a novel product name as "Konjac" may instead arouse their interest and trigger discussion, so as to achieve unexpected communication effects.
Weibo users' ridicule of "konjac" Image source: Weibo
03 Consumers can't even pronounce the name, how to spread it?
However, in addition to causing consumer discussion, the problem raised by Xiaoma Song must also be solved: If a product makes consumers unable to even pronounce the name, how to spread it? Is there any good way to solve this problem?
There really is.
1. Design unique symbols
The famous Northwest cuisine brand Xibei Noodle Village, the logo consists of two parts: the words "Xibei Noodle Village" on the left and "I love" on the right.
West Bay Noodle Village Logo Source: West Shell Noodle Village
This is the use of the familiar English phrase "I Love You", so that consumers instantly understand the pronunciation of the word "莜". At the same time, this brand symbol borrows from the famous New York State promotional symbol "I Love NewYork", which adds a touch of international color to the brand. In the words of Mr. Hua Shan, the designer of the "I love 莜" logo, this logo allows Xibei to "enter everyone's hearts at once and solve a huge barrier to dissemination."
Image source: Network
2. Design a nickname that is easy to spread
If a name is too complicated, people often spontaneously design a "nickname" for it to spread conveniently. For example, World Footballer cristiano Ronaldo, fans often refer to him simply as "C Ronaldo". German football star and World Cup champion Schweinsteiger is affectionately known as "Piglet" by fans. Although the name is a strange word, the nickname can be easily understood.
The aforementioned pro-konjac can absorb jelly, and the pro-konjac designed a nickname for it that is loved by consumers" "V-face jelly". On the one hand, because when sucking jelly, the face will naturally become a "V-shape", on the other hand, because the product is mainly "low card 0 fat" concept, "V face" also has the beautiful meaning of "thinning".
The anthrax coffee of Nongfu Spring is affectionately known as "Charcoal Renren" by consumers, which is convenient for dissemination and brings the brand closer to consumers.
3. Design catchy advertising slogan
In addition to symbols and nicknames, advertising slogans are also an important way to implant brand impressions in the minds of consumers. Designing catchy slogans for products/brands containing strange words can also effectively improve the efficiency of communication.
For example, Nongfu Spring's tea beverage brand "Tea π", its advertising slogan of "tea π, its own school" has long been familiar to people. And kissing konjac can suck jelly, and there is also an interesting advertising slogan of "one konjac, kiss". This kind of advertising slogan can not only let consumers remember the "difficult to read" name, but also like the "brainwashing divine comedy", the product/brand name is firmly imprinted in the consumer's brain.
References:
[1] Murakami Radio, Haruki Murakami, Shanghai Translation Publishing House
[2] Su Shi CiJi, Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House
[3] The Complete Prose of Wang Zengqi, Wang Zengqi, People's Literature Publishing House
[4] ["Yashe Talks About Eating", Liang Shiqiu, Sichuan People's Publishing House.]
[5] "Pony Song Brand Naming Guide", Pony Song