*This article is reproduced from the autocarweekly public account
Author: Xiaojie Chung
Today, I saw on a certain automotive platform the top hot search: BYD officially announced the naming of its new pure electric vehicle EA1 – “Dolphin”. This piece of news has actually been out for quite some time, but the official announcement today still made me feel a little surprised by BYD. Compared with the grandiose “dynasty naming” in the past, “Dolphin” suddenly seems so cute ~
But come to think of it, it does make sense. As a pure electric compact car that targets the young female market, “Dolphin” is mainly inspired by marine life and waves in terms of appearance, and the overall design is very cute. With such a soft and memorable name, it’s a guaranteed success… “Super Idol’s smile cannot beat my cuteness”
This also made me seriously think about the matter of naming. In fact, a name itself is a kind of communication, and a good name often means better influence and conversion rate.
Just like the previously released Huawei “HarmonyOS”:
“HarmonyOS” is an era in Chinese historical legends, and it represents the beginning of everything, before the chaos, at the beginning of the world’s Taiyuan. Just hearing this name, netizens immediately started to talk about it on their social media: it’s too cool!
Yes, a good name often has the inherent quality of going viral. Initially, we don’t need to know what this system is, what it can do, or even what it means. For most people, a good name is the beginning of understanding it.
And Huawei’s new system named “HarmonyOS” is a testament to its determination to chart a new course. This implication combines well with Huawei’s current situation, and it can also be seen that the company has bold ambitions. This elegant and atmospheric name with unique Chinese characteristics can naturally arouse intense discussions among the public.
In addition to “HarmonyOS”, Huawei also has phone chips named “Kirin”, baseband chips named “Baron”, server chips named “Kunpeng”, and AI chips named “Ascend”.
You can see that although Huawei’s names are simply “copied” from Shan Hai Jing, their meanings are positive and in line with the characteristics of the products. This can bring very good brand associations, and good brand associations can naturally bring deeper brand impressions.
A nice appearance may be common, but a simple and straightforward name can often be unforgettable.
The same applies to the automotive industry, In addition to BYD’s popularity recently, the first company that came to my mind was Great Wall Motors.
Great Wall Motors says: “I know how to solve this problem.”
Over the past year or so, Great Wall Motors has successively launched “unconventional” names such as Pao, Big Dog, Tank, Black Cat, White Cat, Good Cat, First Love, and Tank 300. While being concrete and situational, in addition to being simple and bold, they are also identifiable and have a stunning effect on the first-time listeners.
Take Haval Big Dog, which has the tagline “Only the sky is the limit”, as an example, if it was named Haval Explorer or Haval Trailblazer, would it still be easy to remember?
Today, let’s talk about Great Wall Motors’ clever naming strategy.
What happens when cats and dogs are brought from the animal world to the automotive industry?
Great Wall Motors is not the first to use animal names in automobile naming, prior successful examples include the Volkswagen Beetle and Ford Mustang, which have achieved great success in their respective fields, and the history of their vehicle models is even earlier than the birth of Great Wall Motors’ brand.
However, even among past vehicle models, when animal names are used, car companies mostly choose imposing and fierce animal images. It is the first time I have come across something as grounded and down-to-earth as Big Dog or White Cat.
Using Haval Big Dog as an example, although the name may seem comical, it has the advantage of not being decided by Great Wall Motors’ executives or Wei Jianjun’s impulsive decision-making, rather it was voted on by a large number of netizens. Although it may be somewhat humorous, from another point of view, this is also Great Wall Motors’ way of keeping its promise and is very appreciated by consumers.
If you say that the users are wrong, then sorry, you are the one who is wrong.
And if you analyze it carefully, the name Big Dog is also linked to Haval’s product attributes.
# Haval Big Dog: The Hard-Line Urban SUV with a Differentiated Positioning Strategy
Haval Big Dog is an urban SUV with a tough and rugged look, targeting differentiation competition. Specifically, the company has defined a very clear product positioning for the Haval Big Dog: a three-quarters scaling vehicle.
In their own words, “it has more off-road fun than an urban SUV, but less roughness than a hard-line off-road vehicle.”
In other words, Haval Big Dog is positioned somewhere between an urban SUV (at a 2/4 scaling) and an off-road SUV (at a 4/4 scaling). This innovative approach combines both the core strengths of the two segments, representing a smart strategy.
From low-end to high-end, Haval Big Dog’s four models are named after different breeds of dogs: Husky, Labrador, Border Collie, and Mastiff. According to the characteristics of each breed, these four models are increasingly capable of surviving outdoors.
Given that dogs are often perceived as loyal friends who are brave, intelligent, and trustworthy, naming the models after dogs is both appropriate and memorable. That being said, naming the models “Big Wolf” or “Big Tiger” would be somewhat over-the-top, while “Big Dog” strikes a perfect balance.
With Haval Big Dog already in the market, it’s time to open a cat café. The naming strategy of Ora Cat Series is also a masterpiece.
In a world of youth culture, virtually nothing can’t be solved by “cat-snuggling.” If there happens to be any problem out of our reach, we just have to snuggle up to another cat.
Initially, Ora only launched a small electric vehicle of A0 level, known as Ora White Cat. But no one ever thought that the name “White Cat” would be so popular that users who are avid fans of “cat-snuggling” began to request a name change for the already-launched Ora R1.
To everyone’s surprise, the name change event was so heated that it became the second most popular topic on Weibo, generating 25.74 million views and over 8,000 discussions.
In the end, Great Wall finally came up with a perfect response to the request of fans, renaming Ora R1 as Ora Black Cat.No matter whether a cat is black or white, as long as it can catch mice, it is a good cat; no matter what name it has, if it is interesting and well-received by everyone, it is a good name.
In my understanding, although cats have a lazy image, they are also human-like and it just depends on whether they want to interact with you or not. Isn’t this in line with the values of Euler brand, which targets young female consumers: be free to be yourself and live according to your own preferences?
Moreover, the names created by Great Wall, which are somewhat like zoo names, may seem superficially uncreative, but they actually fit the product features and have been carefully considered.
The most important point is to emotionally resonate with users.
We can make a comparative analysis with the “Rural Style Culture” that has been popular in the short video field in the past two years:
Why do people like cheesy and awkward rural love words? Because it is different from the cliché Chicken Soup for the Soul culture – it is simple, straightforward, easy to understand, funny and with a hint of dark humor, making people both like and hate it: whether you really like it or not, it will brainwash you.
The naming of Great Wall’s zoo series is intended to narrow the distance with users in a down-to-earth way. Since its positioning is to be an affordable brand that can bring users closer, why not just squat on the roadside, eat barbecue and chat with car owners?
Sometimes, people may laugh at me for being crazy, but I will laugh at them for not seeing through me.
In addition to the zoo series, Great Wall also has “Lemon”, “Tank” and “Coffee”
In addition to the well-received zoo series, Great Wall has also launched three major technology brands: “Lemon”, “Tank” and “Coffee Intelligence”.
Although intelligence has become a hot word in the industry and all major car companies are stepping up their game in the field of intelligence, compared with the various “high-end and sophisticated” names given by its peers, in my opinion, Great Wall is very smart to use “Coffee Intelligence” as a synonym for vehicle intelligence.
Just think about it, for contemporary young people who work overtime 996 all year round, which drink do they see more often in the office, milk tea or coffee?According to industry statistics, the survival probability of milk tea shops has been around 20% in the past five years, while the national coffee consumption has grown by 500% in 12 years, and is still growing at a rate of 15% to 20% every year.
Among them, 75.3% of coffee is bought by young people aged 20 to 35. Drinking coffee to prolong life has become a physical and spiritual dependence for many young people.
If milk tea is a sweet comfort for young people, then coffee is the last weapon against work pressure.
The love for coffee actually represents a positive attitude towards life among young people:
Every drop of brown liquid concentrated in coffee carries a transcendent posture, allowing us to learn to enjoy and love life in the present moment. There are many beautiful things in this world waiting for us to explore and experience.
This is incomparable to milk tea or wine: after a cup of coffee, success and failure become clear, everything can be laughed off, and life goes on. If we want to see the truth of life, we must face all the facts and not numb ourselves by complaining or using other things.
As a result, coffee seems to have become a visual symbol of exquisite life. Using a cup of coffee to refuel the fight seems to have become the simplest way for contemporary young people to maintain their dignity.
WEY’s first flagship model, “Mocha”, which applies “coffee intelligence”, captures this point well in its name:
Why did WEY name its new car “Mocha”? According to WEY’s interpretation, coffee represents quality upgrading; coffee represents personalization, with each cup offering a different experience; and coffee also represents globalization, as it has become a common social language for global citizens since the day it was born.
What WEY wants to express is that cars are no longer just simple means of transportation, they can even become the third space for social activities for young people.
Moreover, since “Mocha” comes from the “Coffee Intelligence” platform, it must fully express the characteristics of coffee:
Mocha is a common mixed coffee, made by blending Italian espresso, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and milk. It has a unique taste, a variety of layers, a pleasing fruity acidity, and a distinct chocolate flavor.# The English Markdown text translation is as follows, with HTML tags preserved:
For WEY, “smart technology” is the way out with the support of the “smart coffee” platform.
In terms of intelligent hardware alone, the “Mocha” is equipped with advanced configurations such as the Qualcomm 8155 chip, the first vehicle-standard 5G+V2X, the first vehicle-standard LiDAR, AR-HUD, L3 autonomous driving domain controller, which is why this cup of Mocha is rich and mellow, as smooth as chocolate.
In addition, the naming of “Tank” and “Lemon” by GWM is also very innovative:
Let’s start with “Tank”. What is everyone’s first impression when they think of tanks?
It is the king of land combat that conquers everything and is also a symbol of reliability and durability.
We also have reason to believe that GWM chose the name “Tank” precisely because they valued the tank’s powerful combat and off-road capabilities, and they also valued this sense of masculinity.
Now, let’s turn to “Lemon”. As an automotive architecture platform, GWM has surprisingly named it after a fruit, which gives us great imagination.
When I think of lemons, my first reaction is versatility: in my opinion, lemons can be paired with various ingredients to present completely different flavors, revealing a strong inclusiveness, which is consistent with the emphasis on compatibility of automotive architecture platforms.
Secondly, the lemon color is bright, whether it is green or yellow, representing youth and energy, which is also consistent with the increasingly youthful positioning of the GWM brand.
Random naming is unimportant as long as car manufacturing is not arbitrary
For GWM’s bold naming “stunts”, opinions on the Internet are sharply divided, with some people loving it while others expressing doubts:Some people believe that the naming of new cars nowadays is basically English words plus numbers, such as X5, X7, V3, M3, S3 and so on, which is homogenized and lacks distinct characteristics. Meanwhile, new Chinese-named cars often use common words such as “Rui”, “Rui”, “Yue”, “Feng”, “Wei”, “Lang” and “Tu”, making it difficult for people to distinguish them.
However, in the new naming system of Great Wall Motor, starting from “Lemon”, both the car models like “Big Dog”, “White Cat” and the technical brands like “Tank” and “Coffee” are named more friendly and down-to-earth, which makes it easy to associate them with their technical attributes.
Compared to other brands using the same old “Pro” and “Plus” naming conventions, Great Wall’s new naming system is obviously more sincere and energetic.
Others, however, doubt how much the new naming system can actually contribute to real sales. Is it just superficial or truly effective? This remains to be seen.
Despite this, in today’s culture of “lying flat”, Great Wall’s positive response to market changes is something to be appreciated. Regardless of the outcome, at least they are willing to cater to consumers and listen to their opinions and ideas. This is a major change in attitude compared to the past, and it’s important because successful marketing plans must resonate with consumers.
Moreover, for Great Wall, which embraces the philosophy of “striving for excellence”, talent determines the upper limit, but effort determines the lower limit.
So, if Great Wall was to launch another new car tomorrow, what kind of “cool” name would you suggest? What do you think of this series of naming stunts Great Wall has pulled off?
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.