Category Archives: Voice Branding

Can you change your brand name? The Pe(p)si case

Posted on April 26, 2010 | 5 comments

It was like a little earthquake last summer for all branding gurus who claim you should never change your brand name. To this date – especially for all big international brands the rule was: never change your name in spelling and pronunciation! One brand in all markets!

And Pepsi did just the exact opposite. It changed its brand name in Argentina to “Pecsi”.

There is even an official Pepsi, sorry Pecsi website about pronunciation and it reflects in a humorous way how people from Argentina pronounce english words in a different way, e.g. “Rocanroll”, “Daunlos”. Continue reading →

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Voice Branding: can you “translate” a voice?

Posted on March 17, 2010 | 5 comments

Did you ever watch the original versions of “Die Hard” or “Forest Gump” and afterwards the same movies in a foreign language?

Yes, well, then you certainly know that Bruce Willis and Tom Hanks have very different voices in your language compared to the original movie. Assuming that you have seen a few original movies by these actors you will feel awkward about their transition. Our voices carry a heavy load of implicit information. Thus hearing a familiar voice our brain is conditioned to draw from all our previous experiences with the character traditionally belonging to this voice. A known character with an “unfamiliar” voice will be irritating to us.

This has implications for all brands which try to establish a corporate voice. The crucial question is: how can you transfer your brand voice character from one language to another? Continue reading →

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