Question

List 10 international business blunders in the area of marketing. Example. The Chevrolet Nova failed in the Spanish speaking countries because no va is Spanish for it does not go. That is not a good name for a car.

Answer 1

1.....American motors :: A translatable product name was an important element in global branding and can derail a marketing campaign before it's even starts. American motors made this mistake in early 1970s when naming its midsize car the matador. Although the name was intended to conjure images of courage and strength it may have been a little too aggressive for Puerto Rican consumers- in Spanish, "matador" translate to" killer". Needless to say, the name didn't instill in a great deal of confidence in drivers.

2)........BMW:: The German car giant BMW made the marketing mistake of improperly using the UAE national anthem in a car commercial. The ad displayed the AI Ain football club singing the anthem and then breaking into a run towards several BMW cars when they heard the sound of the engine. Although the brand was trying to arouse intense emotion, it evoked range instead of passion. Emiratis found it incredibly offensive that the car company suggested their cars were more important than the anthem. The company explained its intent was never to offend, and it soon replaced the ad with a less offensive version.

3).......Braniff Airlines:: Braniff Airlines got in trouble in 1987 when it promoted its new leather seats south of the border with the same campaign it used in the US : "Fly in leather". While the Spanish translation, "Vuela en cuero",was appropriate throughout much of Latin America,it had different connotations in Mexico, where the expression also means"fly naked". The promotion may have appealed to some flyers, but it was far from the message the airline intended to send.

4)........Coors:: American beer maker Coors discovered that slang doesn't always translates well. When launching its "Turn it loose" campaign to Spain. It appears executives forgot to ensure the translation would resonate with consumers. When translated into Spanish, the tagline used an expression that's commonly interpretated as"Suffer from diarrhea". While the campaign made its mark on Spanish shoppers, it was for all the wrong reasons.

5).......Dolce &Gabbana :: A recent international marketing disaster was committed by luxury brand Dolce & Gabbana. It shared a series of ads on social media in which a Chinese women attempted to eat Italian food with a chopsticks while a male voice gave her directions. The ad was announced, and Chinese consumers, one of Dolce and Gabbana's largest market, threatened to Boycott the brand entirely. Even the Chinese government weighed. when advertising your brand abroad, it is important to create culturally appropriate materials that appeals to your international consumer base.

6)........ Electrolux :: Not all translation blunders have been made by US based companies. Swedish vaccum maker Electrolux got a quick lesson in English slang when it introduced its products in the states. Intending to highlight its vaccum's high power the Scandinavian companies ad campaign boasted, " Nothing sucks like and Electrolux. While the slogan might have been grammatically correct it never really took off with the US shoppers.

7)......Ford :: Auto giant Ford found that in Belgium, enticing consumers with a dead body in every car isn't the best way to make a sale. Hoping to highlight the cars excellent manufacturing, Ford launched an ad campaign in the European country that execs thought said, " Every car has a high quality body". However when translated, the slogan read, "Every car has a high quality corpes"-far from the image they were hoping to invoke.

8)..........HSBC BANK :: HSBC Bank was forced to rebrand after a failed international marketing campaign. In 2009 the worldwide Bank spend millions of dollars on its five-year old "Assume Nothing" campaign. In many countries the message was translated as "Do Nothing". In the end, the bank scrapped its original campaign and spend 10 million dollars to change its tagline to "The world's private bank" which has a friendlier translation.

9)....KFC :: while most businesses try to make a good impression when expanding into a foreign country fried chicken franchise KFC got off on the wrong foot when it opened in China in the late 1980 s. when the company opened its doors in Beijing the restaurant accidently translated its famous slogan "Finger lickin' good" to "Eat your fingers off". In the end, the blunder didn't hurt KFC too badly: it's the top fast food restaurant in China today with more than 5000 restaurants.

10)........Pampers :: sometimes companies run into problems overseas not just for what they say but how they say it. When Procter & Gamble started selling its pampers diapers in Japan, the packaging featured an image of a stork delivering a baby. While the imagery may have worked in the US,it never caught on with Japanese parents. After some research, the company learned that customers were concerned and confused by the image of a stork on the packaging. The tale of a stork delivering a baby to parents isn't part of Japanese folkfore. There, stories tell of giant floating peaches bringing babies to awaiting parents.