Brand new name

To find or create a name for an organization, product or service is a very challenging and exciting task. Naming is a very important Branding tool. A product name should represent an important feature, an advantage, a value or a good feeling. It should represent something positive to the consumer; it should have a significant meaning. A name should be easy to be understood and pronounced by the target market –
a name that will be memorized.

As time goes on and markets, environment and scenarios change, companies may adapt their names or the names of what they offer. In the 90s, due to the globalization of markets and production supply chains, some companies changed or standardized names to gain economies of scale in packaging, promotion and logistics. Furthermore, since then, people have been more “globalized” as well. More people started to have more access to travel worldwide and yes, it is important to see your favourite brands when you are outside your home country. I still remember how strange was to see the global Milkybar name on one of my favourite Nestlé chocolate bars, which used to be called Lollo - a name that was present in my mind since my childhood in Brazil.

A few days ago, when I saw the Açaí Berry juice Bom Dia on the supermarket shelf here in Toronto I asked myself: Have I read it right? Am I reading words in Portuguese? How Canadians and all other people with international background present in this country would read it? Usually people who speak English do not pronounce nasal sounds like “Bom”. Well, what a challenge to consumers. What a challenge to promote it! There is the authenticity aspect, as the origin of the açaí berry is Brazil, and Brazilians speaks Portuguese – which is interesting. Also, many foreign products here in Canada have foreign names and many of them are – like Bom Dia – not targeted to a niche market segmented by cultural origin.

Let’s see how people will get the message from Bom Dia – which means both ‘Good morning’ and ‘Nice day’. What I know is that açaí gives a lot of energy to spend hours working and/or having fun!

A good benchmark

In my last vacations in Brazil I went to Rio and, after so many years, I was amazed again with its wonderful landscapes, popular culture and how cariocas really welcome the world. On the beach, people say that it is a tradition to drink mate and eat the Globo cookie. I was disappointed that Rio's mayor has forbidden the home made mate on the sand but the cookie was pretty good and made me remember the delicious snacks of grandma`s home.

Back to Toronto, shopping around in the Forest Hill neighbourhood, I had a nice surprise in an organic grocery store: bottles of Rio Mate. And what is even nicer is that they were well positioned on the shelves, on the top, in front of my eyes, all the different flavours and I really liked the labels design – it caught my attention.

On the product website, there is a nice slogan – A taste of pure Brazil. Also, the whole site is cool, with important info about the product origin and nutrition facts. The pictures give a taste of Rio and Brazilian vibe, which is is completed with news & tips about Brazilian touristic destinations, Brazilian events in Toronto, arts, dance...

The other point to be spotted is the distribution. For a niche foreign product I think it is in the right places and the company managed to get a significant number of points-of-sales. Nice work, Rio Mate! I haven’t compared the price with other brands and I don’t know how the sales are going but for sure the branding, promotion, distribution and, of course, the product (it tastes really good!) are well done, on the right way.

Cold promotion

Vancouver Olympic Winter Games are on and this blog is back in action! From Toronto since now. The Olympics are not for everyone. They are not affordable for most of people. Or they can't just be appealing for many others. So, what about an Olympic escape? That's what Globe and Mail proposed 10 days ago. Rio (Yes! Finally!) is among the options presented in the newspaper. We know that many Canadians travel during this period of the year to escape the winter. What we don't see very often is Brazil in the getaways' places in the travel agencies ads. The question here is: why? Ok, Florida, Cuba and Mexico have also beautiful beaches and exotic flavours. They are closer to Canada and for that reason are less expensive destinations. But why there are so few offers to go to Brazil in Canadian media? If there was more promotion about tourism in Brazil, we could have more Canadian tourists and this could lead to more affordable packages. In the tourism game, Brazil should not discard Canadian purchasing power but take more risks, which mean to invest.