Half the battle is won if a company is able to make a product stand out among all the others, and catch the eye of a consumer. All that is true, unless the “thing” that makes your product stand out is the fact that your packaging or labeling is weird. When you look closely, it is interesting to see how many companies spell or translate phrases in weird ways. You would think that companies would be willing to spend some money to get someone check their translations, or even Spell Check their catchy phrases that are printed in big bold letters!

For instance, even such a big company like Proctor and Gamble sometimes gets lost when translating. For people who speak fluent French, Charmin Ultra has a phrase on their packaging that says “Garante conenable de NOUVEAU! Petit pain”, which consists of two typos and which also translates to “Expedient guarantee of a fresh bun”. Although “n” and “m” are similar, “bun” and “bum” mean two completely different things!

Also, when I go visit Taiwan, I encounter products like this on a daily basis. Even big companies that have many product lines in Canada seem to be capable of messing up English to Mandarin translations. Maybe they do not want to waste money into hiring more than one translator, hoping that nobody would read would be able to read and understand the descriptions. However, this is extremely unprofessional, and sometimes the translation are just cute harmless mistakes. In some cases, it can make potential consumers not want to buy a product. If it were a food item, you may not want to make a purchase because if a company can be so careless with the packaging of their product, there is a chance that the content of the product itself is not trustworthy.

Source: http://bloomingmarketing.com/translation

Today, I will be commenting on an article written on Blooming Marketing: http://bloomingmarketing.com/april-fool-day

A recent article, “No Kids On-board Policy”, posted on Blooming marketing really caught my attention. The article discussed an interesting marketing campaign that several companies use, including WestJet, a company who has effectively used this tactic to appeal to more consumers.

Everyone knows that most companies takes advantage of all the “bigger” holidays like Christmas, Halloween or even Valentine’s day to promote their product or service during these festive seasons.  However, who would have thought that “businesses are making April Fools’ Day a part of their marketing plan”.

Last Year, WestJet promoted their “Child-free Cabins” video through Social Media, and obtained 739,649 views on YouTube. The humorous video featured something called “Kargo Kids”, which shows kids being put on a “travel toboggan”, and then being led to a different flight, separate from their parents, a plane filled with toys and a “Kargo Kids counselor” who supervises the kids for the duration of the flight. The children will then arrive with the luggage, making the parents’ cabins child-free.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4SkoJy3D0M#t=81]

Some might think WestJet is wasting their resources in filming a video to be aired on April Fools, however, I also believe that the video is “serving as a multipurpose strategy”, and is not at all wasteful. The online exposure of WestJet’s video became a hot topic in conversations and led to a great word-of-mouth, which created excellent exposure. By making a humorous commercial, consumers might feel “closer” to WestJet and connect better with the company. Which gives consumers a friendly image, making them inclined to fly with WestJet the next time  they decide to fly. By doing this for a couple of years, WestJet has kept people guessing at what their  next Aprils Fools’ joke will be, increasing their exposure and popularity.