AUTOMOTIVE CASE STUDY

SUMMARY

Sector:  Automotive manufacturing and distribution

Brand type:  Product

Senior Partner Client:  Superunion

Trademark territories:  14 jurisdictions

Trademark classes:  Total 2

Geographies:  14 countries

Languages:  29 languages

Validation types:  Trademark identical, Localized language, Automated negative words in 100 languages, Phonology, Google, URL

International Standards Implemented:  ISO 9001 Quality management and process implementation (Appella Ltd) and ISO 639-2 Language codification

PROJECT

This project involving the validation of 350 car model names and 100 model line names took place from June 2018 to September 2018 and covered most of the land mass of Latin America. The names were required to showcase models at a prestigious motor show held that Spring.

In addition to essential identical trademark and Google checks, the client here wanted us to carry out linguistic checks in as granular fashion as was reasonably possible within the generous 3 month time allocation for the project. With inspiring magnanimity, and no less wisdom, they were keen to ensure that their products would not annoy, threaten or cause any unpleasant associations, nor any unwanted laughter, across as wide a population within their market area as possible. This kind of consideration of non-majority languages is also a clear and memorable exercise in anti-discrimination.

From this brief we were delighted to source and evaluate in many of the area’s lesser known languages, for example: Ch’ol’ and Yucatec, spoken in Mexico by 220, 000 and 735, 000 people respectively, Wayuu spoken in northern Colombia by 122, 000 and Aymara spoken by 1 million people in Bolivia.

Our trademark checks evaluated problematic prior rights (graded and assessed by issue type and severity), character of jurisdiction (by robustness of trademark) and viability of line names (to support the parent brand).