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SPEAKING FREELY
A brand new War of the
Words
By Naseem Javed
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
Online feature that allows guest writers to have their
say. Please click here if you are interested in
contributing.
NEW
YORK - Remember that old familiar French bistro with
those cozy tables? There, "Isabelle" twisted her slender
body into the chair across my table, which was graced
with a plate of succulent filet mignon, crispy french
fries and a glass of Bordeaux filled to the brim.
That's when my alarm sounded. I suddenly
screamed for freedom fries and, before my dream girl
uttered a single word, I was craving a freedom kiss.
That bell rang again. Indeed, it was my alarm clock.
Time to wake up and smell the coffee.
The war of
words between oversize American cuisine and fatty French
gourmet food is just a big joke, oui monsieur?
Suddenly, French wines are being poured out on the
sidewalks. No one dares to order french fries in a
restaurant, and all this because of France's outspoken
criticism in the United Nations Security Council of the
US-led war on Iraq. The war of words and name-calling -
via corporate and product names and nationalistic
posturing - is an ongoing issue, although recently it
has intensified between countries such China vs Taiwan,
Indo-Pak battles, EU vs US and even Canada vs US. A kind
of "us vs them" mentality is moving in fast from all
directions.
Globalization of brands is moving
much more slowly than the nationalization of names and
symbologies. Cultures of ideologies are attempting to
govern buying habits and forming a new Cold War of Words
with cultural posturing. US-owned Coca-Cola Co is
getting high-profile boycotts and competition from Mecca
Cola and Qibla Cola. The use of such religious iconic
symbols as branding will not bring Islamic consumers to
their knees to pray, but rather incite the issue of
anti-Americanism and quench the media. Imagine an
airline called HolyJet or a football team called The
Vaticans.
Parisians rallied hard against Mickey
Mouse and the whole Disney movement - now a cheesy
darling. These fights are short-lived and they will come
and go with the tide. However, the real challenge is in
the corporate-image area, where a new threshold is
emerging and companies are facing new challenges to
their existing corporate personas.
Some of the
personas that are poised to be challenged in the coming
months include:
Territorial persona - when a
company wants to project local domination and blend into
the local cultural personality. Names and images for
these types of companies convey the geographical reach
of the company, and brands are promoted to meet local
customization of culture. This oldest model of commerce,
based on close contact with the local customer, is the
prime foundation of corporate image. This
tried-and-true, old-fashioned corporate-image ideal was
thrown a curve ball when the Internet came on to the
scene and companies started naming themselves after
ideas and concepts rather than geography. Generic,
geographically based names such as Eastern Products,
Western Products, Blue Ocean or Star Brands and more,
simply fell out of favor. These images were changed into
strange, odd combinations to fit domains and new URLs
(uniform resource locators).
Nationalistic persona - when
companies attempt to evoke a nationalistic feeling
through a patriotic name or concept. These names are
either based on the country's name or distinctive
national icons. Images are promoted to show superiority
in global export markets. Every country is blessed with
unique, one-of-a-kind products and services providing
the opportunity to capture national symbologies. Think
Cuban cigars, French wines, Egyptian cotton, Hollywood
movies, Disney characters, Swiss banks, Chinese silk,
and American chips (not the freedom type, the silicon
type). Recently, the tech evolution has equalized the
national powers, and wine and fashion are no longer
exclusive to France and neither is Hollywood, as it
faces competition from entertainment centers such as
Bollywood. Today, China makes better products for
consumers, and India has a sharper edge over the United
States in software development. Great national iconic
brands are being tossed around in international trade
shows. This group has been under serious pressure and
nationalistic symbology may increasingly become a
liability. Now, as the Iraq war swings the nationalistic
pendulum, it will force the revival of the nationalistic
brands all over.
Universal persona - when
companies embrace global customers while still
understanding specific local needs. These powerful
brands have cemented global images and global
transparencies that are here, there and everywhere.
These companies have user-friendly names and their
brands have mixed in the local lingo and culture of most
of the consuming world. Think Nike, Sony, Disney, etc.
Today, fewer than 1 percent of global marketers use this
strategy, as it requires a major commitment. The Iraq
war will challenge the universal persona and force
global consumers to divide and take an ideological
position on brand loyalties and buying patterns. This
will make the evolution of brands into the universal
arena sluggish and will reinvent the naming and
positioning of products and services on ideological
grounds.
With or without a shooting war, the war
of words has started, and there is going to be a major
shift in corporate images as companies reassess their
ideological persona to fit the market while the
e-commerce revolution changes the scene and turns the
globe into one simple flat Earth.
Freedom fries
and freedom toast are just the start of the free debate
of free societies. Furthermore, the French did not even
invent the French kiss - they only liberated the
tongues.
Naseem Javed is a syndicated
columnist, the author of Naming for Power,
founder of ABC Namebank and a corporate naming
expert. E-mail him at nj@njabc.com or
visit http://www.abcnamebank.com/
or www.naseemjaved.com.
(© Naseem Javed 2003.)
Speaking
Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows
guest writers to have their say. Please
click here if you are interested in
contributing.
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