Click to read the original text for details 1 In 1927, Coca-Cola landed in Shanghai, initially with the Chinese name "蝌蚪啃蜡" (Kēdǒu Kěnlà), which sounded strange and tasted odd, severely impacting sales. In 1936, The Times published a notice soliciting a Chinese name with a prize of 350 pounds. Ultimately, the Chinese scholar Jiang Yi, living in Britain, won with the translation "可口可乐" (Kěkǒu Kělè), receiving a prize equivalent to 168,000 RMB today. Jiang was a colleague of Fang Zhimin and served as the magistrate of Jiujiang County. 2 In 1993, cross-talk actor Jiang Kun delivered a memorable advertising line on CCTV: "Jingjiu is good, but don't overindulge." 3 The first time condoms were placed at supermarket checkouts in China, the first sex guidebook, and the first social media-savvy condom brand—all from a brand you wouldn't expect: Jissbon. 4 Nokia is named after a river in Finland, and the company originally started by making tires and paper. 5 There was once a phone that was wildly popular across China, with the slogan "The fighter among phones," which was even adapted into a sketch by Zhao Benshan and Song Dandan. A veteran employee who worked there for nearly a decade left to start his own venture and became the king of African phones. His company, TECNO, is the best-selling phone in Africa with a 40% market share. 6 The founders of the "Three Tong One Da" (STO, YTO, ZTO, and Yunda) express delivery companies are all from Tonglu County, Zhejiang Province, and their familial connections are not a rumor. 7 The most famous liquor in Hunan, with a sack-like bottle design and name, is the work of an artist. To this day, all major bottle designs for this liquor are still done by this artist. The liquor is called Jiugui (Drunk Ghost), and the artist is Huang Yongyu, a cousin of Shen Congwen. 8 Dutch peas are called "Chinese peas" in English. 9 The Bentley logo features wings with 11 feathers on the right and 10 on the left. 10 Being kicked out of the company you founded, then having your new company acquired by the original one—one person has a more legendary story than Steve Jobs. Ferdinand Porsche designed Volkswagen's most iconic model, the Beetle. After leaving Volkswagen, he founded Porsche, which had a turbulent relationship with Volkswagen, and now Porsche is a luxury car brand under the Volkswagen Group. 11 Yang Lide, who wrote lyrics for classic songs like "Dear Child" and "Dedication," named Head & Shoulders and coined terms like "studio" and "photo shoot." 12 Lyricist and composer James Wong not only wrote the line "Once Remy Martin is opened, good things come naturally," but also became the first Hong Kong person to win a Clio International Advertising Award. 13 Children often use a part to represent the whole, e.g., "Mom, I want the robot that transforms." KFC and McDonald's leverage this psychology with names like "Egg Wrap," "Big Rice Burger," "So Big Chicken Fillet," and "Twister Fries." Similar names include Wall's "Many Rings" and Yili's "Four Rings." 14 Many domestic brands imitate foreign brand names for promotional advantage. Examples: Proya vs. L'Oréal, Aihua Shi vs. Hermès, Xtep vs. Reebok and ECCO, Adiwang vs. Adidas. 15 To depict milk as pure and smooth, many commercials actually pour paint instead of milk. 16 Regional brands often play the local card to win over locals, like China's Future Cola. Sometimes success can lead to misunderstandings. For instance, Yili was originally restructured from the Huimin Dairy Factory in Hohhot, and its name literally meant "benefit for Islam." Now that it's big, many people mistakenly think it's religious, but it's not. 17 Chinese brands often choose auspicious names, especially those born in the 1980s and 1990s, like Guangming, Yili, Anta, Ping An, ZTE, and Aigo. Foreign brands do it too, like Champion, which recently became hard to buy due to TikTok. 18 If you time-travel back to 2013, the packaging of Wujiang Zha Cai had the advertising company's name printed on the lower left corner of the back. It was the first time in China that a client's mass-market product carried the agency's name. 19 Local advertising agencies founded by well-known Chinese advertisers pay lower salaries for the same positions compared to peers, and the more famous the agency, the lower the pay. 20 Nike's popularity led to a proliferation of Chinese sports brands with "克" (kè) in their names, like Hongxing Erke, Peak, and Jinlaike. Few know that 361° was originally called Buick. 21 Onitsuka Tiger never expected to be surpassed by its own American distributor, which was Nike. 22 A Japanese designer, a huge Levis fan, named his denim brand Evis because of his love for Levis. It was so similar that it caused confusion, so he added a 'u' to the end, creating Evisu, which is now popular among young people. Its logo was even inspired by Levis' back pocket stitching. Of course, today's brand story no longer mentions this, instead claiming the name comes from the Japanese sea god. The red tag of Evis once resembled Levis' red tag. 23 The former general distributor for Wahaha in Hainan and Guangxi clashed with the company over cross-regional gray market sales. After leaving, he founded Yangshengtang and Nongfu Spring, creating hits like Yangshengtang Turtle Extract Pills, Nongfu Spring, Nongfu Orchard, Scream, Oriental Leaf, Mother's Beef Sticks, and Qingzui. 24 Zhong Shanshan, the most advertising-obsessed client today, is the only one who claims he does business just to make ads freely. He was the former Wahaha distributor for Hainan and Guangxi. 25 The three clients most like advertisers are Duan Yongping, Zhong Shanshan, and Shi Yuzhu. 26 There is no such thing as long-term organic word-of-mouth; only continuous operation. Durex is the most misunderstood brand when it comes to so-called organic word-of-mouth. 27 The name Xijiu gives a strong impression, but it's actually a coincidence. This liquor has been on the market since 1984. 28 Dongguan is like a municipality in the adult products industry, standing alongside regions like East China and North China, for reasons well known. 29 From May to September each year, fresh apples are not available; they are stored in cold storage from the previous year. 30 Insurance products often use a low-priced add-on with high payouts to attract you, while the main policy is overpriced. 31 When Meituan first entered food delivery, competing with Ele.me, its first strategy was: "Copy whatever you do, and outcopy you." 32 The 7-Eleven logo: the "11" in English has the first five letters capitalized, only the last 'n' is lowercase. 33 In small markets, only the top three brands are known; large markets can accommodate ten to twenty well-known brands. Examples: condoms vs. phones and sports brands. 34 An advertising agency creates its own brand and tests it on Taobao or WeChat Moments. If it succeeds, great; if not, it serves as a great vehicle for "airplane drafts" in the new media era. This is only for understanding, not to be taken literally. 35 A motorcycle manufacturer that idolized Honda named itself "Hongda" with the English name SINO-HONGDA, meaning "China's Honda." Later, its motorcycle sales surpassed Honda, and Honda noticed the name and sued, forcing a change to what is now Lifan. 36 Chang'an is today's Xi'an, but Chang'an Automobile is in Chongqing. 37 Lu Xun was a designer overshadowed by his literary fame. He designed the Peking University logo and the national emblem of the Republic of China (Beiyang period). 38 After the 2008 melamine scandal, Sanlu Group went bankrupt and was acquired by Sanyuan. The yogurt subsidiary of Sanlu, after years of independent development, became the fourth-largest dairy company in China and the largest in Hebei. It is called Junlebao. 39 99% of images found on Baidu are copyrighted, and unauthorized use constitutes infringement. If the company using them is large and well-known, it will definitely receive a notice from the image company. Rights enforcement is one of the main business models for image companies. The same applies to font companies. 40 Pixabay offers a vast collection of free, commercially usable images. 41 iconfont is the best vector icon exchange website in China, with nearly 3 million vector icons, great for PPTs. Many people don't know it's run by Alibaba because they don't know the site. 42 The success rate for advertisers creating their own brands is less than 1%, a figure that is indicative of extreme rarity, not statistically significant. 43 CAT's excavators are top-notch for digging and road construction, and their shoes live up to the quality of their excavators. 44 Many local advertising agencies start by poaching clients from their former employers, and such founders are often wary of employees who might take clients away. For example, Durex's famous work was done at its former agency, Bo Sheng Yun Feng. 45 Some brands allow certain internal employees to see price differences for the same product in different markets. They sometimes sell at special prices on WeChat Moments, and some companies tacitly allow this special price channel. 46 It sounds unbelievable for a Chinese high official to endorse a foreign brand. A former deputy minister of culture in China once recited a poem for UBS, with the advertising guru Neil French supervising on set. 47 Real estate advertising is the most prolific source of long-copy experts in China, but they often lack confidence and suffer from the advertising industry's snobbery. 48 Nike's logo was bought from a student for $35. Apple's bitten apple logo commemorates Alan Turing, the father of computer science. Disney's logo signature was signed by an employee. FedEx's logo hides a white arrow. 49 Claims like "No. 1 in sales for X consecutive years" may not reflect recent market performance. For example, Keqiang still advertises "No. 1 in national sales for four consecutive years," which actually refers to 1997-2000. 50 Dabao SOD, Zhonghua toothpaste, Supor, and other national brands have been acquired by foreign companies. From 2005 to 2013, Nanfu batteries were once a Procter & Gamble product. Source: Advertising Common Sense (ID: aderous), author Guigui. -END-