The document discusses several examples of poor translations that led to unintended meanings and branding blunders when introducing products and slogans in international markets without proper research and understanding of cultural and linguistic differences. Some key examples include the Mist Stick curling iron being called the "manure stick" in German, Kentucky Fried Chicken's slogan translating to "eat your fingers off" in Chinese, and Parker Pen's advertisement implying their ball-point pen would make users pregnant instead of embarrassed in Mexican Spanish. The importance of thorough research for international branding is emphasized to avoid embarrassing mistranslations and ensure effective communication across cultures and languages.

1. “Bite the wax tadpole!”
And other Branding Blunders: The importance of research.
Clairol introduced the “Mist Stick”, a curling iron, into German only to find out that “mist” is
slang for manure. Not too many people had use for the “manure stick”.
Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American campaign:
Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.
In Chinese, the Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan “finger-lickin’ good” came out as “eat your
fingers off”.
The American slogan for Salem cigarettes, “Salem-Feeling Free”, was translated into the
Japanese market as “When smoking Salem, you will feel so refreshed that your mind seems to
be free and empty”.
When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in
the US, with the beautiful Caucasian baby on the label. Later they learned that in Africa,
companies routinely put pictures on the label of whatís inside, since most people canít read
English.
An American T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish market which promoted the
Pope’s visit. Instead of “I saw the Pope” (el Papa), the shirts read “I saw the potato” (la papa).
In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the name into “Schweppes Toilet
Water”.
Pepsi’s “Come alive with the Pepsi Generation” translated into “Pepsi brings your ancestors
back from the grave”, in Chinese.
We all know about GM’s Chevy Nova meaning “it won’t go” in Spanish markets.
When Parker Pen marketed a ball-point pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to have read,
“it won’t leak in your pocket and embarrass you”. Instead, the company thought that the
word “embarazar” (to impregnate) meant to embarrass, so the ad read: “It wonít leak in your
pocket and make you pregnant”.
The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as “Ke-kou-ke-la”, meaning “Bite the wax
tadpole” or “female horse stuffed with wax”, depending on the dialect. Coke then researched
40,000 characters to find a phonetic equivalent “ko-kou-ko-le”, translating into “happiness in
the mouth”.

2. MARKETING STRATEGY
Getting results from your organization’s marketing has everything to do with choosing meaningful
marketing tactics based on sound strategy and a strong brand. That’s not a new idea, but
knowing how to evaluate the status of your organization, set achievable goals, choose tactics to
employ and determine how they should be executed isn’t always obvious.
A good foundation should be based on exploring the purpose, mission and values of your
organization. Goals should be set from this research and paired with an analysis of your
organization’s business situation. From this process, a plan should be created to deliver the
outcome that you desire.
I. RESEARCH
Core Values:
1. What business are you in?
2. What is your mission? What are your three most important goals?
3. Why was the company created?
4. Describe your products or services.
5. Who is your target market?
6. Prioritize your stakeholders in order of importance. How do you want to be
perceived by each audience?
Competition: (complete competitive analysis)
1. What is your competitive advantage? Why do your customers choose your product
or service? What do you do better than anyone else?
2. Who is your competition? Is there a competitor that you admire most? If so, why?
Marketing Inventory: (complete marketing inventory)
1. How do you market your products and services?
Trends:
Fresh Dirt Marketing 2003 Blair Blvd, Suite 200, Nashville, TN 37212 615.279.1502 www.freshdirtmarketing.com

3. 1. What are trends and changes that affect your industry?
2. Where will you be in five years? Ten years?
Success:
1. How do you measure success?
2. What values and beliefs unify your employees and drive their performance?
3. What are the potential barriers to the success of your product or service?
4. Place yourself in the future. If your company could do anything or be anything, what
would it be?
Messaging:
1. If you could communicate a single message about your company, what would it be?
SWOT: Use the information above to complete a SWOT evaluation
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats (Challenges)
II. BRAND EVALUATION
Definition of a brand.
The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as a “name, term, sign, symbol
or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller
or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers.
Branding is not about getting your target market to choose you over the competition, but it is
about getting your prospects to see you as the only one that provides a solution to their
problem.
Your brand resides within the hearts and minds of customers, clients, and prospects. It is the
sum total of their experiences and perceptions, some of which you can influence, and some
that you cannot. A brand is not always a company, it can be a person (i.e. Oprah)
Fresh Dirt Marketing 2003 Blair Blvd, Suite 200, Nashville, TN 37212 615.279.1502 www.freshdirtmarketing.com

4. Brand Objectives.
• Delivers the message clearly
• Confirms your credibility
• Connects your target prospects emotionally
• Motivates the buyer
• Concretes User Loyalty
Brand architecture.
This refers to the hierarchy of brands within a single company. In BMI’s case this could
be the artists as sub-brands. Sub brands should mirror the parent’s strategy and support
company growth. Examples are:
iPod and Apple Computer
Polo and Ralph Lauren
Oreo and Nabisco
Sesame Street and PBS
What are BMI’s sub brands and how do they support the parent brand?
Building a Brand. A strong brand is invaluable as the battle for customers intensifies day
by day. It’s important to spend time investing in researching, defining, and building your
brand. After all your brand is the source of a promise to your consumer. It’s a
foundational piece in your marketing communication and one you do not want to be
without.
Fresh Dirt Marketing 2003 Blair Blvd, Suite 200, Nashville, TN 37212 615.279.1502 www.freshdirtmarketing.com

6. Designing Brand Identity by Alina Wheeler © 2006

7. COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
Who is your biggest competition and why?
Who is NOT your competition and why?
What do they do What do they do
Competitor
Services offered better/differently worse/differently Notes:
Name & Website
than you? than you?
Fresh Dirt Marketing: Strategic Development Worksheet

8. MARKETING INVENTORY
EXTERNAL
Newsletter/ Sales/ referral Customer Collateral Web site Direct mail Mass media –
Intranet campaigns information TV, Radio,
tracking/ mining Print, Outdoor
PR E-mail marketing Social events Sponsorship Community giving Promotional items
Fresh Dirt Marketing: Strategic Development Worksheet

9. MARKETING INVENTORY (CONTINUED)
NEW MEDIA
Pay Per Click Social networking: Other
FaceBook
LinkedIn
Twitter
STRATEGIC ALLIANCES
COI planning Networking planning Other
Fresh Dirt Marketing: Strategic Development Worksheet

10. Lyric Financial A Fresh Dirt Marketing Case Study
W W W. F R E S H D I R T M A R K E T I N G . C O M
PROFILE PROJECT GOALS
Lyric Financial’s mission is simple, to create and offer meaningful Lyric Financial came to FDM as First
financial products that nurture the growth and development of the Entertainment Financial. The first order
independent music community. Lyric Financial is run by music people of business was to come up with a
for music people. They understand what it’s like to worry about tour new name. We needed to come up
support, or if the next royalty check is going to be enough to cover with something that fit our client’s
the bills. They’ve been there and they’re here to lend a hand. At company’s personality. Since the
Lyric Financial, we have the ability and understanding to create a company was still very small – without
deal that’s right for the clients in the music community. multiple locations and employees -
we had to draw inspiration from the
owner’s vision, his own style, and that
of his centers of influence. We had
to balance his desire for a name that
was different, and our needs to find
something that was not-too-serious
but not-too-risky, understandable to
his target, and most importantly, not
already service marked. It was quite
a task. Two weeks and a half-dozen
“almost” company names later, Lyric
Financial was born.
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11. A Fresh Dirt Marketing Case Study
W W W. F R E S H D I R T M A R K E T I N G . C O M
PROCESS & STRATEGY CREATIVE SOLUTION RESULTS
What we learned from our client while The logo mark for Lyric isn’t a mark Lyric’s branding efforts along with
helping create his company’s name at all. In this case, we knew that the strategic alliances including the Fast-
and build their strategy gave us the products would tell the story of the Forward My Royalties program offered
tools we needed to take that company company, so each of them would have exclusively to BMI Members have
name and make it a brand. We now their own marks. The Lyric Financial launched Lyric Financial to Success
understood his company’s culture, mark is a laid-back typestyle in silver even in tough financial times.
values and core beliefs. First of all, we on a black background that can be
learned that at Lyric, it’s all about tak- replicated in a number of branded
ing the way things are normally done colors.
and turning them up side down. There
were no rules - this had everything to We let these core values drive the tag
do with Lyric’s brand. Lyric is a finance line penned as “Words. Music. Money.”
company that serves musicians, so the Again, the Lyric Financial feel is about
culture is loose – no suits allowed. The as simple as you can get because
products would have cool names like banking often doesn’t seem simple
FastForwardMyRoyalties. Traditional and Lyric is the “anti-bank.” “Words.
banking terminology would be turned Music. Money.” describes what Lyric
on its head because the founder of does – they lend money to the people
Lyric Financial is a music guy turned that write the words that are made
banker. Not the other way around, into music. Their market gets it, and it
which is much more common on Nash- requires little to no copy support.
ville’s famous Row. Lyric isn’t a bank
per se, but understands the financial The decision was made to use images
needs of the music industry, and that of real artists and clients on the Lyric
alone makes them different and ap- website and in their advertising design.
pealing. We had our core competency. We let the irreverent tone drive font se-
lection and advertising and web copy.
We played on the idea that many
songs are written on scrap paper
and the backs of napkins whenever
the inspiration hits. We developed a
postcard campaign that played on the
“back of the napkin” idea and all the
while, we kept it clean and simple. The
design stays congruent and we often
promote the product while keeping
the Lyric Financial message secondary.
It isn’t about the company; it is about
what they bring to the music com-
munity.

12. Fresh Dirt Marketing A Fresh Dirt Marketing Case Study
W W W. F R E S H D I R T M A R K E T I N G . C O M
PROFILE PROJECT GOALS
Fresh Dirt Marketing, LLC (FDM) is a boutique marketing consulting When Holly began planning to open
firm in Nashville, Tenn., created to serve small businesses and a marketing consulting business in
entrepreneurs seeking strategic marketing direction and marketing early 2007, she knew that the brand
implementation services. had to be “right on point.” After all, if
It is FDM’s philosophy that marketing is a discipline based on a you own a marketing company that
toolbox. Sometimes as marketers we need the advertising “hammer,” the claims to be able to brand and market
public relations “wrench” or the social media “screwdriver.” The tools work other’s, you better be able to brand
fine alone, but together; they build a strong platform on which to build a and market yourself!
solid brand. That leads to growth in sales and revenues – and that is what
they want to achieve for our clients. The process began by stating the
obvious...
1. The company would be challenged
to use Holly’s last name - GRENVICZ
- in the title. It is hard to spell, and
pronounce!
2. The name needed to be memorable
and different.
3. The brand needed to be reflective of
the company’s core business - market-
ing strategy.

13. A Fresh Dirt Marketing Case Study
W W W. F R E S H D I R T M A R K E T I N G . C O M
PROCESS & STRATEGY CREATIVE SOLUTION RESULTS
The process began by brainstorming The ideas of digging, dirt and growth A striking first impression that is always
words that Holly liked. This yielded a were the jumping off point for the FDM a conversation starter.
document with more than 100 words brand. The colors green and brown
and word combinations. Holly kept were chosen to communicate and sup- A unique and layered brand percep-
coming back to the words that dealt port the name and tagline. A bright tion that illustrates a shining example
with “digging” since this described the green was the focus to create a “fresh” of how FDM works with their own
strategic development process quite and recognizable look to illustrate clients in developing brand strategy.
literally. Her family tree ties back to a that FDM is truely a different and fresh
farm in Northern Alabama that Holly’s alternative. A leaf was chosen as a
family still runs and she visits often. symbol of growth.
“Dirt” is no stranger, and became an
obvious option for depicting organic The bright green has been carried into
business growth. everything from collateral materials
to the color of the office environment,
Final inspiration came when the tag promo items and the office door.
line jumped off the page - “We Dig
In. You Grow.” said it all. By pairing The concept of growing and “digging
the literal tag with the more creative - in” has been applied to everything
even “fun” company name made it all FDM does including holding monthly
gel and created a platform for great educational “DIGs”.
design and creative execution.