Call me by your nickname: inside China's nicknaming phenomenon
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█ When Chanel debuted its Mini Flap handbag in China , the maison didn’t know that years later, the handbag would be widely referred to as "方胖子," or “Squared Fatty” in Mandarin. French brand Hermès also didn’t foresee that its classic shopper bag, the Picotin Lock, would become “菜篮子”, meaning food basket. A similar story occurred at Celine, whose Nano Belt bag became "the Catfish bag" because its leather stripes resemble the whiskers of a catfish. Chloe's Drew bag is known as “the Piggy bag” because the pronunciation of "drew" sounds similar to the Chinese pronunciation of pig (“猪” or “zhu”).
Calling a luxury product by its nickname, as strange as it might seem to an international luxury audience, is common practice in China. Young and old, consumers are used to inventing funny and sometimes not-so-glamorous names for products that have won their wallets and their hearts.
Over the years, brands have shifted their attitudes towards the nicknaming phenomenon from reluctance to acceptance. When used well, a nickname is a uniquely powerful tool to drive social momentum in one of the world's most dynamic and digitalised markets.
A catchy nickname is indispensable to China’s consumer culture. Ever since luxury consumption started to spread in the country in the early 2000s, the first wave of Chinese luxury consumers has been creating simplified versions of foreign brand names. French luxury house Louis Vuitton became “the Donkey brand”, as the Chinese character for donkey is read as “lv”; Dior became “the Vulture brand”, as the French designer's surname sounds similar to the Chinese for vulture or “diao”; Bottega Veneta was shortened as “BV”. In China's early luxury boom years, these simplified nicknames helped promote brands to an audience not yet familiar to pronounce French, Italian or English.
According to Ray Ju, associated director of the New York office of branding agency Labbrand, nicknaming luxury brands and products is a phenomenon unique to China. “Many product names are in English, and even their Chinese translations are too difficult for Chinese consumers to recognise, pronounce and remember,” he says. “Consumers are eager to pick up visual cues from the products themselves and create names to replace their original ones.”
Nicknaming might be an act of convenience at first, but then it also becomes fun. For example, Prada’s Galleria bag in saffiano leather became known as “the killer bag”, or “杀手包”, in China when actress Léa Seydoux carries it in the 2011 movie Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, in which she plays an assassin. Dior's Lady Dior bag is called "Princess Di”, or “戴妃包”, for its connection with Princess Diana. Although pronouncing and remembering foreign names is not a problem anymore for most Chinese millennial consumers, these nicknames, now part of China's fashion culture, continue to stick around.
On social media, infographics that pair luxury's “It” items with their Chinese nicknames have been a popular genre. The ability to call products by their nicknames indicates that someone is an “insider”, up to date with the latest trends. To brands, having a nickname not only testifies to their popularity, but it also means that consumers will talk about them intimately.
Besides the cultural context, Ju believes the phenomenon also owes to the uniqueness of the Chinese language itself. “[The Chinese language] is character-based with each character having a particular, in many cases symbolic and metaphorical meaning, so people tend to remember names by their associations with symbols,” he says. For example, Hermès’s Chinese name, “爱马仕”, literally means a person passionate for horses, while Chanel's Chinese name, “香奈儿”, has a clear connection with fragrance. Both names evoke pleasant images that add up to the brands' allure.
While there is no clear trace of China's nicknaming history, most industry professionals believe the majority of nicknames come from consumers themselves. According to McKinsey's 2019 China Luxury Report, these nicknames are based on a product's appearance, on its name transliteration and translation or pop culture references.
Labbrand's Ju agrees with McKinsey's finding. “The vast majority of product nicknames were created organically by consumers,” he says. “After all, the real allure of a nickname lies in its seemingly spontaneous and approachable nature.” Spoiled with an ultra-competitive market with countless choices, Chinese consumers prefer short and sweet product names that can become more memorable and more socially viable.
Sizhuren, a top fashion KOL and the founder of popular WeChat account “HiBetterMe,” believes that most of the nicknames have first originated from Daigous (private shoppers that sell luxury goods to China) or bloggers. For example, a Shanghai-based luxury aficionado is much more likely to see her daigou friend post about an “LV French Fries bag” on WeChat, rather than using the product’s real name — Louis Vuitton the Duffle bag. “Most product names are hard to read or remember, and a lot of them don’t have Chinese-friendly translations,” Sizhuren says. “Nicknames are much more intuitive.” However, based on the collaboration briefs she received lately, she also noticed that more and more brands have started inventing nicknames for themselves.
A Milan-based Daigou sells Louis Vuitton’s Duffle Bag and Damier Azur Pochette via WeChat moments, calling them the “French Fries” bag and the “Mahjong” bag based on their shapes. Photo: Phone screenshots
So far, the majority of brands that have been proactive in controlling the narrative have been in beauty. In a piece called Where do beauty bestsellers' nicknames come from, fashion journalist Lu Xi wrote that an early naming success could be traced back to Lancôme's “Little Black Bottle” in 2009. The “Little Black Bottle”, which refers to the brand’s Youth Activating Concentrate Serum, was among the earliest examples of international brands proactively creating nicknames for their Chinese audience. The name created a natural association with an already-popular product, Estée Lauder’s Advanced Night Repair essence, which at the time was known as the “Little Brown Bottle” in China. The similar-sounding nickname managed to take a “free ride” off another product’s established reputation in China, shortening the usual time brands take to educate consumers about a novelty. Today, the “Little Black Bottle” is one of China's most recognisable nicknames in the beauty world.
A more recent example is L’Oréal Paris, which created the nickname “紫熨斗”, or “purple flat iron”, for its Revitalift Eye Cream. The nickname makes a smart allusion to the product's efficacy as it will flatten your eye wrinkles like an iron. To make it recognisable and familiar to the public, L’Oréal has consistently used the nickname across multiple channels from Weibo and Tmall to Little Red Book.
The brand, which has an agile approach in China, has also been quick in adopting consumer-generated nicknames. According to L’Oréal China, while the name “purple flat iron” came from the team, consumers themselves invented the name “zero o’clock cream” for the Revitalift Filler facial cream. The term “zero o’clock” is a hint to millennial “night owls”, who after staying out late at night would recover their tired faces by applying the cream. The term quickly became viral across Chinese social media. Having noticed the trend, L’Oréal included the term into the cream’s official campaign and even made dedicated visuals around the concept.
L’Oréal China adopted the consumer-invented name “zero o’clock cream” and made dedicated campaigns on official channels. Photos: L’Oréal China’s Weibo
Beauty brands have understood China's particular appetite for affectionate nicknames, but luxury and fashion players face a different challenge. China's nicknaming culture could bring disarray to brands that have historically strictly controlled their image.
However, China's consumer landscape is peculiar. Unlike other mature markets, brands that solely rely on their aura of exclusivity and aloofness don’t easily reach success in China. A modern, China-smart brand should be agile, open-minded and not too reliant on luxury's traditional marketing tenets.
Pinko's “Swallow bag” or “燕子包”, one of the most well-known nicknames in China in the past few years, is a recent example. Originally named “the Love bag”, the accessory is exclusively known as the "Swallow bag" in China. According to Ambre Gao, marketing manager at Pinko China, the bag’s official Chinese name was “Flying Bird bag” or “飞鸟包”, but consumers started to call it “Swallow bag” instead and diffused the nickname. Although it isn't what the brand intended initially, Gao says Pinko's headquarters is happy about the naming twist. “In Chinese culture, swallows are known as a romantic species because they are always in pairs,” she says. “People associate swallows to peace and beauty, so we welcome customers to call the bag that way.”
Pinko's Love bag is called “Swallow bag” in China. Photo: brand's official website
Another recent example is Valextra’s Tric Trac bag, known as the “Little Box” or “小盒子” in China. Sara Ferrero, Global CEO of Valextra, says that to introduce the Tric Trac bag in China, her team initiated an official hashtag on Weibo called “一拍即 盒”, which means “the perfect match”. In Chinese, the pronunciation of "盒”, or “he", is the same as the one for "和” and “合”, meaning unity, which has a positive connotation during the Chinese New Year. Nevertheless, consumers started using the nickname “Little Box” on Little Red Book.
Even top-tier KOLs such as Mr Bags have opted for the unofficial, user-generated “Little Box” in their video content. "Fans can feel free to nickname our products if it is done in a non-derogatory way. It can make it even more participative and personal," a Valextra spokesperson added.
KOL Mr Bags used “Little Box” to refer to Valextra's Tric Trac. Photo: Valextra's courtesy image
China' consumer tradition of creating catchy and sometimes unexpected nicknames is here to stay. How to turn this crucial cultural touchpoint into a unique opportunity is in the hands of brands. Ray Ju from Labbrand offers three tips to create a culturally relevant nickname:
Look beyond the appearance of the product and draw inspiration from the consumer experience the product is aiming to provide, including function, efficacy, occasion, benefits and aspiration.
Conduct a semiotic study on the themes and attributes of the product beforehand. The signifiers of an attribute can be very different from culture to culture.
Brands can and should involve consumers and influencers into the creative process to make the results as organic as possible.
To boil it down: Playing at a superficial level doesn't work. Being mentally flexible and culturally curious does. For brands seeking cultural relevance, researching their products’ naming perception at the local level is the first step.
Although nicknaming probably won’t save a brand in China, when done right, it does reward a label with a more intimate connection with its audience and organic social buzz. That itself, at a time when engagement is often paid for, is an exceptional feat.