An award-winning team of journalists, designers, and videographers who tell brand stories through Fast Company's distinctive lens. Leaders who are shaping the future of business in creative ways. New workplaces, new food sources, new medicine--even an entirely new economic system. But then! Oh noes! As Golijan writes,. Never heard that one. And you can imagine how often that happens.
So, does it matter? In this case, almost certainly not. And Nokia knew about that meaning before it launched the name, having done their due diligence, both from a trademark and linguistic perspective, as described on the Nokia blog :. Then experts in 84 dialects started work, checking for any negative associations in different languages and assessing how easy they are to pronounce.
Some letters like J, L R and V are difficult to pronounce in certain countries. This process is never foolproof—as a couple of comments pointed out lumi, or lumia, is a very old Spanish word, long fallen into disuse. Negative meaning in an obscure language that no one really uses? Probably not an issue.
Odd associations completely outside your target audience, as in the example of Pocari Sweat popular in Japan, not marketed in the US? Again, not a problem. A name that sounds like a word that makes kids giggle? You brand is bigger than that. Laurel Sutton is a partner and co-founder at Catchword , a full-service naming firm. For more leadership coverage, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Events Innovation Festival The Grill. Follow us:. By Laurel Sutton 4 minute Read. And Nokia knew about that meaning before it launched the name, having done their due diligence, both from a trademark and linguistic perspective, as described on the Nokia blog : Then experts in 84 dialects started work, checking for any negative associations in different languages and assessing how easy they are to pronounce.
