Do Brand Names in a Foreign Language Lead to Different Brand Perceptions?

This paper was prepared during the Spring Semester of 2016 for COMM 226-003 - Introduction to Public Relations.

A key issue for the leadership of Harley-Davidson is whether the strength of the Harley-Davidson brand will continue to grow, especially in global markets. Further, do global customers, view the brand simply as another symbol of American culture, or do they see Harley-Davidson as a truly global brand?

National brands benefit from brand equity and image through their extensive advertising and brand image. Marketing activities can influence the brand image however through pricing and promotions, jingles, slogans and 14 much more. The lower prices of store brands can either be viewed as a competitive advantage or ultimately be associated with lower quality. Brand Loyalty and Store loyalty have an influence on brand purchase choice. Many consumers have loyalty towards certain brands or products and this can be down to their habits and therefore tend to make habitual purchases i.e. purchasing what they always have. Previous research also states that store image also has a major influence on the purchasing behavior of consumers stating that if a store has a nice image and atmosphere then consumers will purchase more of their store brands. Research has also indicated that packaging can be a major influence in purchasing decisions especially at point of purchase and that many store brands try to mimic the packaging of national

The above answers indicated that consumers enhanced the importance of brand and design instead of the manufactured country. Interviewee M9 supports this by sharing “I had only used label to judge product’s country previously, but now, I will use other information to help me.”

In this study we will prove that there is positively association between Cosmopolitanism and Global Brand Loyalty.

A key to enhancing the equity of a brand is the selection of an appropriate branding strategy. Laforet and Saunders (1999) define branding strategy as the way companies mix and match their corporate, house, family and individual brand types for their products or services. This mix and match of brand types generates a variety of options for the companies from which they can select a suitable branding strategy for a product/ service. Furthermore, McDonald et al. (2001) assert that an appropriate branding strategy is crucial as it would reinforce the desired positioning and hence influence purchase behaviour. Unfortunately, even the best brand managers have struggled to choose the most appropriate branding strategy, in part, due to a lack of academic clarity and

In recent years, a number of studies have been done on cultural factors and cross culture comparisons in different areas by great researchers (such as Kim, Forsythe and Gu 2002; Sokling, S, 2004; Monika and Morven 2005). Moreover times in the previous studies have been discussed and compared cultural differences between two, or more than two nations and regions and in some cases it explains the effects of cultural factors in customer values, needs and behaviour. The research investigate the customer’s needs, beliefs and buying nature and to gain customer loyalty in two different countries. The research concluded that consumers in different cultural environments will be affected by their cultural values, needs and behaviours when choosing some brand and so retain their brand loyalty (Kim et al, 2002)

To discuss the significance of Public Relations and understand the all-encompassing impact PR has on our daily lives, one must first learn the meaning and the history surrounding the field. The term Public Relations and the commonly held notion surrounding this area of communication manifested themselves in the twentieth century. Today the field of Public Relations is concerned with managing the public image of commercial businesses and corporations, high-profile people such as celebrities and public figures, and non-profit organizations. As defined by General Electric’s head of communications Mike Mare “Public relations involves professions working in public message shaping for the functions of communication, community relations, crisis

Now and again, these topics may convert into changing desires for business organizations and arrangements. Based on the changing desires and needs and wants, “people 's purchasing behaviour ultimately, are shaped by their environment and their values. Therefore, when you are creating new products or services in different countries or regions, it is important to conduct research beforehand about the target market. Consider characteristics like the role of gender in the culture, their decision-making process and what they value the most”(Innov8 Education Solutions, 2017). Based on that, it is clearly stated that the importance of understanding the different culture is just cannot be ignored, and should be implemented to enter the market also understanding the consumer’s behaviour in the market. Besides, the importance of understanding the cross cultural communication through the brand that the company wants has to be accepted in the cultural or even in the society.

Authors have introduced a country of origin framework which has 3 different dimensions of COO which impacts consumer’s perceptions, those 3 dimensions are called “Affective”, “Normative” and “Cognitive”. This framework was heavily used in modern research of COO effects on brand equity, therefore I will employ elements of this framework in conducting my own research.

In this article the importance of conducting global market research is to understand the importance of how consumers from developing countries evaluate global brands from developed countries. Conducting research will allow companies to understand the attitudes of their market consumers. Knowing the attitudes of your consumers will allow the company to know what is preferred and being sought after. Companies then can become to have a clear understanding of how to improve, increase revenue, and how to satisfy customer wants and needs. In this article the author “proses that global orientation, including global consumption orientation and global identity, are key factors accounting for the attitude variance” (Guo, X., 2013, pg. 1).

Public relations is one of the most important tools marketers have to help them foster goodwill about a company or product. Not only can public relations be used to promote goodwill, it can also serve as the main defensive tool against a scandal or company issue. With consumers more connected to news through social media channels than ever before, public relations has taken on a new importance for companies who want to isolate themselves from as much bad press as possible. Companies who fail at public relations, on any level, leave themselves open to numerous issues that will have negative impacts on their sales, performance and customer perception.

The third presentation was about foreign branding, the presenter covers the uses of foreign branding and the differences between it with the country of origin. First, the presenter explains that foreign branding is the marketing strategy for using brand names that evoke foreign associations through foreign spellings or pronunciations (Racela & Thoumrungroje 2012). The reasons of using foreign branding are discussed. Foreign branding are able to manipulating consumers’ stereotypical and results in change of presumptions. Besides that, it is used for easier justification for the range of product choices and also in hopes of enhancing qualities of the products. Furthermore, the presenter

Establishing an international/global brand lies hugely on its capability to explore or venture into new fields and also maintain its competitive advantage in terms of production and econimies of scale. A brand can be truly global once it shadows same values world over. An international brand when markets for itself removes any kind or barriers that comes its way, for example linguistic, territorial, religious, etc. A natural demand or an emotional connect has to exist for a brand to excel. When business strategies are to cut across borders and offer a large number of products and services, corporate houses face a lot of difficulties related to maintainance cross-border acquisitions and enforcement of patents and trademarks.

Success of a brand name that is potent enough to convey the quality of the product to the customers is widely depended on the brand positioning strategy. This majorly deals with the appeals the brand name offer to capture equally the mind and heart share of the market in a way that the world may have never seen. The conditions that may prove favorable to successful branding are a brand name should be comprehendible, memorable, easily pronounceable, associations affiliated to a brand, the strength of competitors' brand name, and the legal registration of a brand