A foreign company that wants to ensure the effectiveness of its operations in China should create a Chinese brand, even though the law does not require it. But market pragmatism does.
Chinese people speak, write, read, think, dream, joke and remember in Chinese. They remember brand names in Chinese even if they are fluent in English. Giving Chinese names to global brands is an expression of brand globalisation through localisation. Hotel chain The Ritz-Carlton has done no different.
The first The Ritz-Carlton hotel opened in Hong Kong on 29 March 2011. At the time, the name 丽嘉 (pronounced: lì jiā) was listed alongside the original branding, which at the time was more Cantonese than Mandarin. A milestone in the development of the network is the date 18.10.2013. On that day, the first hotel in mainland China opened in Tianjin, a city not far from Beijing.
As the hotel chain’s expansion in China progressed, the brand consistently communicated its new written Chinese trademark 丽思卡尔顿 (pronounced: lì sī kǎ ěr dùn). Trademark protection was possible (Class 43, #12585117) because the chain had filed for trademark protection in China six months before the Tianjin store opened. Although the previous name was short and easy to remember, it was difficult to associate with the image of an American luxury hotel chain. The chain has not officially explained the reason for the name change. One can only assume that it was felt that the brand should be further localised in China.
Currently, the official Chinese equivalent of The Ritz-Carlton brand is 丽思卡尔顿 (pronounced: lì sī kǎ ěr dùn). The trademark was created using the phonetic transliteration method, meaning that the Chinese pronunciation sounds similar to the original name. Although it has no direct meaning, it is worth noting the deliberate choice of Chinese characters.
In this case, the Chinese name 丽思卡尔顿 reflects the concept of the hotel. The official brand motto is “We are Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen”. The word ‘Ladies’ in the motto is translated into Chinese as 淑女 (pronounced: shū nǚ), which means elegant lady. The first hotel character 丽 is a more literary abbreviation of the word 佳丽 (Wyn.: jiā lì), which is synonymous with the word 淑女, meaning elegant lady).
The Ritz-Carlton chain uses both trademarks in China – as well as the distinctive word and graphic 丽思卡尔顿, which is widely used on individual hotels’ official communication channels on China’s most popular instant messaging service, WeChat (see graphic above).
Naming a Chinese brand name is an art that should not be left to chance. Selecting the perfect Chinese brand name every time should be entrusted to a native Chinese speaker, a naming specialist.
