Branding strategy: An universal brand name!

After reading A Look at Branding Strategies from Fidèle Armstrong’s Blog, I was inspired to research more on branding strategies.

A good Brand name helps companies increase sales and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage, especially when a local brand explores oversea market.

Paris Baguette cafe is a famous for its up-scale french style cake, cookies and bakeries in Chinese market.

As a fan of Paris Baguette,I used to believe that it is a French company not only because of the French style products but also the French brand name. However, Paris Baguette is a Korean company, headquartered in Seongnam Gyeonggi-do, South Korea.

Personally I like this brand name very much because it introduces the main product- French Baguette and tells consumers the key character of this brand is French bakeries.

Besides, a English-French name supports its oversea expansion. Language used in brand name can partly influence the brand image. Paris baguette leaves a French style image in my mind, which makes me more willing to purchase bread there because of the good reputation of French bakeries.

Now, customers can find Paris Baguette in US, Singapore, China and Korea.

Compared with Paris Baguette, a Chinese bakery chain store (Dao Xiang Cun)which is famous for traditional Beijing pastries is using the antiquated Chinese name and a simple PinYin name to help foreigners recognize.

The PinYin translation is unattractive and meaningless for English speakers, which could have help this traditional bakery be more successful when it seeks to expend.

Thus, my recommendation for Dao Xiang Cun would be finding a better English brand name, which may help this company expand worldwide.