Look Before You Leap - Myntra and the Logo Change!

First published on Facebook on 31st January 2021

Myntra is in news for all the wrong reasons. Some people have found its logo objectionable. And Myntra was forced to work on its logo with a huge outlay of investments in money and effort.

Without taking sides, it is a lesson for all especially for entrepreneurs about the perils of public discourses about their logos and publicity material and the resultant vigilante activism.

Most smirked when it was reported that the CEO of Eastman company spent a fortune to find a word that does not mean anything (positive, negative, vulgar, offensive, hurting religious sentiments) in any world language. 

And the word finally used by Eastman company "Kodak" does not mean anything in any language. So companies be careful about what you say, what you show and what it means. Each element in the public domain can come back and bite, may I add viciously!

Comments: 

Aparna Vishwanath: One more case study👍

Anil Ramesh: True, life is full of case studies.

Patrick Anthony: Perception by a Consumer, five years after launch. Adds to the list of Communication mistakes.

Rajkumar Selvaraj: Now anything with M will be looked upon with avarice...but tell me what about the alphabet M? Should we remove it??

11th article published in HANS INDIA today (26th July 2014). It is an article titled "Brand Names and their origins"

11th article published in HANS INDIA today (26th July 2014). It is an article titled  "Brand Names and their origins"

9th Article in HANS INDIA (12th July 2014). It is about 'Colours in Marketing'

9th Article in HANS INDIA (12th July 2014). It is about 'Colours in Marketing'

A Rose is a Rose is a Rose - Company Names!

I am reading a Classic book the 22 immutable laws of branding by Al Ries and Laura Ries, when I was stuck by a thought. ‘A rose is a rose is a rose’ said by Gertrude Stein as part of the 1913 poem Sacred Emily,. In marketing a name is everything. It is the soul and the identity of the company. Just consider.

Kodak the company that owned the space of Instant photography in the minds of the customer has fallen in bad ways. The naming of Kodak was very interesting. It is said that George Eastman researched the world to find a word that means nothing. Yes you have read it right. Kodak does not mean anything in any language. It is a totally neutral word with no negative connotations in any language.

One of the most intelligent and loyal breeds of dogs is the GSD - German Shepard Dog. So why is it called GSD? We have to go back to the Second World War II for the answer. After the second world everything German was hated. A breed named German shepherd dog was doomed. The German shepherd dog breeders did two things. They started calling the dog the Alsatian, and started putting the word GSD next to it. Thus the breed was being referred as Alsatian (GSD).  In India even today the short haired version of the German shepherd dog is called an Alsatian and the fully hairy version is the GSD or the German shepherd dog. Luckily the other top German dog breed has no such issues. Any guess about the breed – infallible and indomitable – Doberman Pincher.

Similarly Kentucky Fried Chicken shortened it name to KFC. Not only does it sound stylish but it also hides the dreaded five letter word that the Americans dislike FRIED. The Americans fed on the images of lean, trim and lean bodies knows that fried food is not good for health. But that is what made KFC famous in the first place. It was the juicy fried chicken. In the recent years KFC has realized its mistake. It is wooing the customer unabashedly flexing its USP its Fried chicken. There is even talk that the company is bringing back the name Kentucky Fried Chicken.

One company which was forced to shorten its name and got it right was 3M. Originally named Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company the name made no sense in the changed times. The company was in many businesses not connected to either Mining nor manufacturing. That is how Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company became 3M. 3M is known as innovation factory and is credited with winners like Post It stickers.

Heineken the world famous beer is from Netherlands. It is often mistaken as to being from Germany the country famous for beer. Heineken was lucky that the largest selling beer in Germany is Warsteiner. A German beer with the name War in its name is not going to be a big success in world market. Austria has an amino acid based, caffeine injected, carbonated drink called “Roter Stier”. A very difficult name for the customers to remember. The rechristened name was a marketing coup of sought – Red Bull. Red Bull has become a market leader in the energy drinks market.

Colours in Marketing!

Image credit: The Logo Company

Colours are exciting. Life without Colours would be very drab. We experience the world in Colour - Man is the only species that can see Colours. All other species see the world in black and white.

Thus it is not surprising that colours play a very significant role in the field of marketing. Most of the products and their packaging would be in the primary colours - Red, green and blue or a combinations of these three primary colours. Coca-Cola is predominantly red and Pepsi is blue and green is a Colour that symbolizes agriculture and is now the latest buzz is green field marketing or green marketing.

One other Colour that is very prominent in yellow. Yellow, Green and red are the colours that are used in traffic signals. Why these three colours? These are the colours that are attractive and visible from a distance. Precisely the reason why the golden arches of the McDonald are yellow. Yellow because they have to attract the travelers’ attention from long distance and induce them to stop.

Kodak too is heavily yellow. But as a marketer one needs to be careful about colours. Yellow is a very sacred colour in India. It is associated with the sun god.  

Colours have different symbolism in  different cultures. In South India white is seen as a sacred colour and white coloured clothes are worn for marriages and for holy occasions. But in the western part of India white is the colour of mourning.

I had worked in Ethiopia and once I wore a white flowing kutra pyjama to a college function. I was surprised at the reaction that I got. Many of my Ethiopian colleagues expressed their regret. I was shocked. On enquiry to my surprise I came to know that Ethiopians have the same custom as in the western part of India. White is for mourning. Talk of similarities of culture across the continents!

Similarly one needs to understand a culture before we try to assimilate ourselves into that culture. One US based company sent its senior executives to do business in Taiwan. The executives got off the plane wearing green caps. They conducted the entire day’s business wearing the green caps. Later that evening they returned to their Taiwanese hotel. The hotel manager almost fainted when he saw his US guests wearing green caps. He was laughing his head off. The crest fallen US business men were sheepish when they were told that in Taiwan wearing green hats by men signifies that the wearer’s wife has been unfaithful – unknowingly the US businessmen were going around the town proudly proclaiming that their wives have been unfaithful.

For the typical Taiwanese it made no sense at all. He could understand infidelity but why make a hue and cry about it. The behaviour of the US businessmen had left the Taiwanese stumped and bemused. Read more about colors in marketing at

https://www.helpscout.net/blog/psychology-of-color/ &
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/233843