Leading Chinese e-Business Brands as Key Elements for the Future of Chinese Economy

Leading Chinese e-Business Brands as Key Elements for the Future of Chinese Economy Marko Ljubi čić Nikola Zivlak Miroslav Radulović Lifan Yang Dr. Ming Xu Palić, April 2010.

Contents
Introduction
Special Characteristics of Branding in China
Characteristics of Chinese language
Implications of Chinese language’s special characteristics on brand naming in China
Analysis of Chinese e-business brands
Conclusion

I. Introduction
China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) recently reported that China has around 384 million Internet users (as of December 2009)
A year-to-year increase of 51.7% in Internet users
Continuous improvement in infrastructure, governmental promotion and increasing mobile access, along with more disposable income, will result with more widespread use of Internet and development of e-businesses

II. Special Characteristics of Branding in China – Characteristics of Chinese language
Very different than European languages
Member of Sino-Tibetan language group
Compounded of thousands of morphemes (around 3,500 basic in daily use)
A bisyllabic language (over 70% of words are two-syllable)
Around 400 syllabic sound components out of which the whole spoken language is formed
Mandarin (cca. 850 million speakers), Wu (cca. 90 million), Min (70 million), and Cantonese (cca. 70 million) most widely spoken Chinese dialects
Mandarin (Beijing dialect) the official language of instruction in all levels of education, government institutions and media.
Chinese characters evolved from hieroglyphs
The script is common to all dialects
4 tones in Mandarin speech

Chinese (brand) names cannot be freely formed as those in English or other European languages
You cannot simply scramble letters such as those in Oreo (a chocolate brand)
You cannot combine an existing word with some meaningless syllables, such as Motorola (a mobile phone brand)
You cannot make a combination of related, but incomplete words (e.g. Smartone, the name of a mobile phone company)
You cannot blend words (e.g. Telstra, the name of an Australian telecommunication company)
You cannot clip words (Intel, a computer processor manufacturer)
II. Special Characteristics of Branding in China – Implications of Chinese language’s special characteristics on brand naming in China

Basic rules for creating Chinese brand names
A good Chinese brand should be a two-syllable compound
The second syllable of a compound brand should be high-toned
The compounding structure should follow the pattern of modifier-noun
The compound brand should have a positive connotation
II. Special Characteristics of Branding in China – Implications of Chinese language’s special characteristics on brand naming in China 2-syllable X-H tone Modifier-Noun Positive 91% 73% 78% 66%

We have analyzed 18 Chinese e-business brands, ranging from search engines and social networking web sites, to online retailers and job search engines
Their brand naming strategies seem to follow basic brand naming rules in China
II. Special Characteristics of Branding in China – Analysis of Chinese e-business brands

Brand naming in Chinese online retailing Chinese characters 卓 - zhuó 越 - yuè Character analysis “ 卓” used as an adjective means outstanding, extraordinary, and eminent. The character consists of “ 匕” which meant “ 人” ( rén) , meaning people in ancient times . 卓 is frequently used in phases like “ 卓绝” ( zhuójué), meaning unsurpassed, distinguished, as well as “ 卓尔不群” ( zhuó ěr bù qún), meaning unmatched, or to stand alone above others. “ 越” means to surpass. It is comprised of two parts: “ 走” ( zǒu) and “ 戉” ( yuè). Its original meaning is to exceed, to overstep others. When used as an adverb, it means “more and more”, such as “ 越多越好” yuè duō yuè hǎo ） , the more the better. It is always used in the phrase “ 越过”（ yuè guò ） - to go over or to surmount.

Brand naming in Chinese online retailing
Overall, the name “ 卓越” (zhuó yuè) means to be outstanding and prominent. The Chinese name communicates that they are better than their competitors, contributing to brand differentiation.
Besides that, “ 卓越” has almost the same sound with its English name “Joyo”, which presents a consistent verbal identity to enhance brand recognition.
Joyo has already become a very large online company in China and their convincing name has likely contributed to their success.

Brand naming in Chinese online retailing Chinese characters 淘 - táo 宝 - bǎo Character analysis “ 淘” originally means to wash in a pan or basket to wash away useless parts and leave behind the valuable parts. It is often used in phrases such as, “ 淘金” (táojīn) , panning or looking for gold, “ 淘汰” (táotài) ,to wash, or to eliminate through selection. “ 宝” means treasure and precious things. It is made up of two parts: “ 宀” and “ 玉” ( yu, which means jade) which represents great value. “ 宝” can also be used as a noun, such as “ 宝宝” ( bǎobǎo ) , meaning baby or darling. Usually it is used as an adjective, such as “ 宝贝 ” (bǎobèi) valuable treasure , “ 宝藏” ( bǎozàng) , as in buried treasure or precious deposits .

The full name is actually “ 淘宝网” , or Táo bǎo wǎng. “ 网” ( wǎng) means “net” and is the noun used for website.
However, the online shopping site is always simply referred to as “Táo bǎo” ( 淘宝 ), which means to search for treasure.
The name indicates that all products bought on Taobao are of great value.
It evokes excitement and enjoyment surrounding online shopping, and conveys a sense of adventure. With 120 million registered users , Taobao is hugely popular in China, especially among young people.

Brand naming in Chinese online retailing Chinese characters 当 - dāng Character analysis “ 当” originally means appropriate or to be equal to. It is often used in phrases like “ 恰当 qia dang” meaning suitable, apt, appropriate or proper. When “ 当当” is spoken, it actually has the same meaning and a similar sound to “ 叮当 ding dang”which is tinkling, a jingle, or a “ding-dong” sound 。

Similar to Táo bǎo ( 淘宝 ), the full name is Dangdangwang ( 当当网 ), where “ 网” means “net” or website.
The name “ 当当” has no concrete meaning, yet its sound could give customers a joyful mood and encourage them to buy more. The name represents that two sides have agreed to make a deal on something, in this case a purchase.
The easily-pronounced, phonetically-harmonious name should be appealing to a variety of target audiences.

III. Conclusion
e-brand names closely follow the established rules of the brick-and-mortar world
m ost of the brand names are bisyllabic, two morpheme ones, emphasizing traditionally auspicious animals such as dog or dragon, and positively connotated words that are believed to bring good luck, such as ’excellent’, or ’cool’
several companies have very straightforward brand names, meaning ’job search’ or ’carry on a journey’, implying they were first to provide such services in China, and therefore the most experienced and proficien t
s ome choose their brand name to include lucky numbers, or amusing word play with numbers that have similar pronunciation with certain phrases

Thank you for your attention
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Contacts
Miroslav Radulović
[email_address]
Tel. (Serbia) +381 63 530 231
Marko Ljubičić
[email_address]
Tel. ( China ) +86 15021242364

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Leading Chinese e-Business Brands as Key Elements for the Future of Chinese Economy

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