Cracking the code: How global brands woo Chinese consumers with clever name creations. Part 3 – Baby products

In the previous posts, we looked at some excellent examples of linguistic brand localization in China, focusing on the effective Chinese naming of famous foreign brands. We found that characters like ‘乐’ (happiness) and ‘爱’ (love) are favored by Chinese consumers for their positive connotations. In the following articles, we will explore how product characteristics influence the strategies behind Chinese brand name adaptation. In today’s post, we will focus on baby products.

The huge trust crisis in China: why Chinese consumers are losing faith in local baby products?

In the 1990s, as China’s domestic economy improved and the market opened up, China became a preferred destination for the expansion of foreign baby product brands such as Johnson’s Baby, Pampers, Friso, Mead Johnson Nutrition, and others. Compared to the past, Chinese consumers were more willing to spend more money on quality and valued the choice among a greater variety of available products.

At that time, the situation for local baby product manufacturers in China was not optimistic. They lagged behind their foreign competitors in terms of production technology, raw material quality, and quality control. The market advantage of imported baby products was clear. Take diapers, for example – until 2000, the diaper market in China was dominated by foreign brands, which controlled 97.9% of the market.

Similarly, when it came to choosing infant formula, Chinese consumers showed a strong preference for foreign brands. But why?

At the beginning of the 21st century, China experienced several shocking scandals related to contaminated milk powder. The most notorious occurred in 2008, involving the Sanlu (三鹿) company. A batch of their baby formula was found to contain melamine, a chemical used in the production of plastics, which caused severe illnesses in infants and young children across the country. This scandal, which resulted in at least four deaths and required treatment for nearly 40,000 infants, caused an enormous loss of trust in domestically produced infant formulas, ruining their reputation for years.

Chinese consumers immediately turned to imported formulas from Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and other regions known for their well-developed dairy industries. As a result, there was a frenzy of milk powder purchases by Chinese consumers in Hong Kong and the producing countries. The popularity of foreign brands extended to all baby products.

The sales of imported diapers, baby bottles, skincare products for babies, and other items surged. It’s no wonder – the credibility of “made in China” products was zero. For mothers, the safety of their children was always a priority. Over time, the situation began to improve, though to this day, foreign baby products remain highly popular among Chinese parents.

E-commerce has become a significant sales channel for this product category, with all the major global brands represented.

How to create good Chinese brand name?

It’s not easy, let’s be honest. Creating good brand name is an art. Whatever brand you create, it must be registrable as a trademark in the given classes. However, if you insist on doing it yourself, here are two tips.

Tip 1: Highlight your target customers

Every product has its own consumers, and baby brands are no exception, whose primary customers are infants. Therefore, in order to capture the attention of potential customers, it is necessary to emphasize this point in your brand names.

Firstly, brand names of baby products usually contains characters like “婴”(yīng),  “宝”(bǎo), “贝”(bèi), “儿”(ér) . All these characters mean “baby” in Chinese.

Take a well-known American diaper brand, Pampers for example. In 1997, Pampers entered the Chinese market with the name “帮宝适” (bāng bǎo shì). Here, “帮” (bāng) means “ help”, and “宝” (bǎo)  means “baby”. The last word “适” (shì) can be interpreted as either “adapt” or “comfortable”. Therefore, the brand name “帮宝适” can be understood as “to help babies adapt to their life” or “to make babies feel comfortable”. This Chinese brand name perfectly convey its mission – “Pampers is dedicated to every baby’s happy, healthy development.” And even better than the original English brand name, the Chinese name “帮宝适” emphasizes that this brand is for babies and toddlers.

The Chinese brand name of Pampers is a creative adaptation based on the pronunciation of the original brand name. However, if the pronunciation of your brand differs greatly from the pronunciation of the characters like “婴”(yīng),  “宝”(bǎo), “贝”(bèi), “儿”(ér), don’t worry! You can try to directly add them into your brand names.

For example, the official brand name of the Dutch milk powder Friso is “美素佳儿” (měi sù jiā ér). “美素” (měi sù) means “beautiful and simple” and “佳儿”( jiā ér) means “good children”, which definitely doesn’t exist in the original brand name. Although the name didn’t sound like the original brand name, but it emphasizes their target consumers, infants. This move allows consumers to know that it’s a baby product at first glance. Of course, it would be better if the Chinese transcription could be more closely pronounced as the original brand name.

Additionally, using the baby language can also highlight the target consumers of baby products, such as American bottle brand COMOTOMO, which adopted Chinese brand name: 可么多么 (kě me duō me), while the Japanese brand ChuChu Chinese – 啾啾 (jiū jiū). These names often retain the sound of the original brand name, but use simple and cute Chinese characters that align with children’s language habits, effectively highlighting the brand’s focus on the infant and toddler market.

Tip 2: Use Chinese characters with positive meanings.

The second tip is more universal. As we mentioned in our previous articles, try to use Chinese characters with positive connotations, such as “乐” (lè, meaning “happy”), “美” (měi, meaning “beautiful”), “喜” (xǐ, meaning “joyful”) and so on.

Moreover, for the target consumers of baby products, high safety and professionalism are the priority criteria for product selection. Consumers hope their children to grow up healthy and strong with great baby products. Therefore, it is also important to imply this concept in the brand names. Let’s have a look at another famous brand.

Johnson’s Baby is a well-known American baby product brand, familiar to every mom, founded by the Johnson brothers, hence the name Johnson’s Baby. Over time, the name ‘Johnson’ has been transliterated as ‘约翰逊’ (yuē hàn xùn) or ‘强森’ (qiáng sēn). However, the company finally adopted name “强生” (qiáng shēng), which means “strong life” in Chinese. This clever and unique naming conveys its brand’s purpose: to give every baby the healthiest start to life.

When searching for baby products, it’s clear that every mom is looking for the right kind of product that she can trust. Trust was likely intended to be the foundation of communication for the American brand Dr. Brown’s. In China, they chose the brand name: 布朗博士 (bù lǎng bó shì), which is a direct translation (布朗 bù lǎng – means ‘brown’; 博士 bó shì – means ‘doctor’). However, this translation may or may not cause some issues when consumers search for it online. As a result, they might come across information about an actual doctor instead of the product.

We hope you find this article helpful. If you want to learn more about trademarks and branding, check out our posts on this website. If you need Chinese brand name, please contact Trademark Partners.