As part of its expansion project into the Chinese market, the Smythson brand needs to transliterate its name into mandarin. Following an initial creative phase and a shortlist selection, Smythson wants to assess the potential of these options in terms of relevance and alignment with the brand’s core values, image, and positioning.
Nomen proposed a two-step methodology.
Creation phase: our linguists at Intercheck developed multiple creative options combining semantic precision and phonetic proximity. Three transliterations were selected at the end of this phase.
Testing phase: A quantitative online study was conducted with 200 Chinese respondents from Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Chengdu, all aged 25 to 45, interested in the luxury sector, and having purchased at least two luxury products in the last 12 months. This study helped identify the transliteration most aligned with the brand and with the strongest potential in terms of visual identity to maximize Smythson’s brand presence in the Chinese market.
