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The brand name you'll never forget
If you want to understand the challenges of choosing a name for your product in the ever more interconnected global market, look no further than an Indian sportswear range.
It demonstrates that what works in one market can be a disaster in another.
Brand names are supposed to embody the core values a product wants to project. That is why big companies spend millions of dollars choosing the right name.
The owners of the new clothing range clearly believe they are onto a winner. It was launched with some fanfare earlier this year by Saif Ali Khan, one of India's leading Bollywood actors.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary its name means courageous and plucky. In Australia it is slang for an attractive person. Appropriate themes for a brand designed "for those people who have a flair for movement… and enthusiastically give in to the rhythm that surrounds them".
People "who are free of any inhibitions of mind and body" continues Futurebrands, the company behind the new range.
But "Spunk" must surely rank as one of the worst brand names in history - at least when it comes to the British market.
That's because in Britain the original meaning of bravery and valour has been almost entirely eclipsed by its use as a slang word for semen. (The first use of the word in this sense recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary dates back to 1890.)
I am sure I was not the first British person to let out an involuntary guffaw when I saw the brand name proudly emblazoned on an otherwise rather nice tracksuit.
There are lots of examples of funny and seemingly ill-advised brand names from around the world.
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34975365
The writer says: "And Spunk is not alone. The market for appallingly named brands is surprisingly congested."
Appalling?
I think it's catchy and clever. What do you think?
