Fashion has changed: what are brands called in Russia now?

Now the toast “Let’s drink to love” is owned by Igor Nikolaev

Photo: Mikhail FROLOV

“Let’s drink for love” – ​​lately it is not only a popular song by Igor Nikolaev, but also a trademark. Recently, the singer officially registered it with Rospatent. Under this brand, Nikolaev will now be able to produce drinks, musical products, and also provide advertising services for 10 years. Why 10 years? By law, private brands must be re-registered every decade.

Linguists say that today finding a good name for a brand is more difficult than choosing a name for a newborn. After all, “naming” (the art of making up names) is not about a beautiful combination of letters. It’s about emotions, about communication with the client. This is where Nikolaev hit the nail on the head: very effective communication is achieved: “Let’s toast to love, my dear, let’s drink to love!” Okay, Igor, we persuade you. Pour it up! That is, sell.

Over two years, 124,045 trademarks were registered in Russia.

Photo: Ekaterina MARTINOVICH

TRANSITION TO CYrillic

Why did Nikolaev register the trademark only now, even though the song is almost 30 years old? Perhaps one of the reasons is so that they don’t take away the brilliant name! After all, at the moment there is a real boom of brands in Russia. Hundreds of foreign companies have left our market and national ones are taking their place. And new brands appear like mushrooms after the rain. Judge for yourself: in 8 months of 2023, more than 75,000 applications were submitted to Rospatent. This is 35% more than the same period last year.

What names do our creatives choose for their “newborn” organizations? In a foreign style, to play on the emotions of fans of the defunct Apple and McDonald’s? Or are they trying to ride the patriotic wave, resorting to popular motives?

It turns out that both are in fashion. But it was not always like this.

Businessman Aron Tukhvatullin, an expert from the Youth Entrepreneurship Committee of the Moscow branch of OPORA Russia, said that ten years ago it was considered good manners to name products in English.

“In 2010 we launched a clothing line for newborns and called it Lucky Child,” says the expert. – At that time, consumers treated Russian manufacturers with a certain skepticism. And we had to prove for a long time that we are no worse than imported brands and that we are not inferior to them in quality.

By the way, there are many examples of this type. Off the cuff: Bork appliances, O’stin clothing, Gloria Jeans, Sela, Gulliver, Carlo Pazolini shoes, Erich Krause stationery, Greenfield tea produced by the Maysky Tea company. Yes, yes, these are all our native brands, but it did not even occur to many of us that they were made in Russia.

“At that time it was logical to give names in Latin so that the consumer would associate the brand with Germany, Italy, Japan, etc. In short, with those countries whose products the consumer was a priori accustomed to considering as being of the highest quality,” continues Aron Tukhvatullin. – Now the situation is changing. The move towards the Cyrillic alphabet began five years ago. And during this time successful Cyrillic brands created earlier have been developed.

There are also many of these: the Teremok catering chain, the Frutonyanya, Dymov, Alexandrov food brands, etc.

THE CUSTOMER COME CLOSER

“In recent years, entering the market has become much easier,” explains Aron Tukhvatullin. – This includes the development of markets (large trading platforms such as Wildberries and Ozon, where any entrepreneur can trade. – Ed.), and the foreign economic situation in which, due to the weakening of the ruble, it is more profitable to produce here. than buying abroad. Customer access has been shortened. Previously, it was necessary to enter retail chains, but this required a lot of resources. The markets have reduced barriers and made it possible to enter the market in any region of the country. In particular, thanks to this, many small manufacturers appear in Russia that do not require large investments.

According to Rospatent, our entrepreneurs strive to fill vacant niches and compete with Westerners in the segments of clothing and footwear, software, electronics and smartphones, household chemicals, perfumes and cosmetics and pharmaceuticals (see “Only numbers”). We asked analysts from Rospatent and the Kontur.Focus API service to make a selection of names registered in 2022 and 2023 to understand the modern preferences of Russian businessmen. For convenience, we divide them into three conditional groups.

Only numbers

Photo: Dmitry POLUKHIN

PURELY IN LATIN

Tableware – Caste, Treasure

Building materials: checkmate

Food: power within Hanuman, Snaqwell

Clothing and shoes – Boomtim, Kwaks, Crosby Denim

Tableware – Goodpan

– In general, the fashion for English names continues. There are two possible naming methods here: transliteration (writing Russian words in Latin letters) and a foreign name,” says Maria Vasilchenko, trademark specialist, associate professor at the Faculty of Journalism at Moscow State University and associate professor at the Institute Pushkin. – Compare, for example, Sugar&Vosk and SkinProbiotic. The brands that are imitated in the names (Italian, French, English) depend on the category of the product. There are stereotypes, for example, about the high quality of Italian shoes, French cosmetics and German household appliances. Marketers use these stereotypes everywhere and always, not only in Russia.

WITH RUSSIAN COLOR

“However, there is also a reverse trend – the choice in favor of Russian names,” says Maria Vasilchenko. – There are more and more examples of this type. This shapes Russia’s image as a manufacturer of fashion and high-tech products. It is important that naming has nothing to do with patriotism or politics. You can call the brand whatever you want, the name should attract customers. By the way, businessmen often register a trademark in two languages ​​at the same time, also with a view to exporting their products.

UNTRANSLATABLE WORD GAME

Tableware – Umelitsa, Posadskaya, Kalitva Tableware

Cars – Chistogor, Lesnik

Food products – Govyadinburgskaya, Ermolino

Food products “Filelepnye”, “Oladieny”, “Chebuladosy”, “Lunchmeni”.

“These names are formed according to the rules of Russian word formation, in the form of suffixes,” continues Maria Vasilchenko. – A language game whose task is to attract the consumer’s attention. This is supposed to be fun. Remember the song of the Italian bandits from the cartoon “The Adventures of Captain Vrungel” (this is the gangsterito shootanto pistol. – Ed.): the same technique is used there. This may seem in bad taste to some, but to a marketer, the only thing that matters is what the target audience thinks.