Localization in international branding: A longitudinal comparison of the Chinese names of foreign brands in Hong Kong between 1987-1988 and 1994-1995

This paper presents a longitudinal study which covers two samples of Chinese names of foreign brands in Hong Kong over a period of 8 years: a 1987-1988 sample of 261 brand names and a 1994-1995 sample of 231 brand names. A framework developed by the author is adopted. The results show that a tendency of deepened localization developed over the period, meaning that the Chinese names of foreign brands are becoming more independent in terms of the connotation of the brand names as compared to their original counterparts. The origins were retained basically in terms of the length and the pronunciation. Possible explanations are also discussed.