Does the slogan “Home Skin” mean anything to you? Perhaps you see it as a fresh and sophisticated allegory for tiles as the “skin of the domestic environment” with their patterns as tattoos, instantly evoking all the wonderful things that tiles can contribute to the home? Well maybe if you’re Spanish. For those that don’t know, it is the new branding for Cevisama. For me at least and I suspect most British the words have an awkward feel and the rebranding doesn’t really contribute much to the idea of a tile exhibition, other than some photographs of a scantily clad model with fake tattoos on her body, which may entice some industry buyers to attend in the hope that she will be wandering the halls. It reminds me of being asked to help with English product names in Japan, in particular a starter tableware set aimed at college students which the manufacturer wanted to call “Basic Set” with the strap line “A basic set for my basic life”, when I said that “everyday” would be a better word to use in English, I was told that “everyday” as adopted into Japanese has connotations of boring and basic. I said they should stop asking me as the set was aimed at the Japanese and not Westerners, so they should concentrate on the target audience and allow us English to have a laugh at the same time. Another example of a similar phenomenon was also in Japan, I had a bag which said “College road – one day I am going to go over the hill”. I used it very happily at the age of 21 but wouldn’t be so keen today, however most Japanese would have been happy to have something English and trendy on their bag. All of this underscores the need to consider who your audience is when developing any campaign, logo or branding device. People’s perceptions and expectations vary greatly by country and it is important to tailor your campaign to the nationality that you are addressing, although this is particularly difficult for an international event such as Cevisama. However if you are launching a foreign brand in the UK it is vital to adapt marketing material such as brochures, websites and adverts to the target UK market, not just translate existing material into English. Italian and Spanish trade customers seem to be conditioned to reading much more and much more complicated material in both brochures and advertising than the British where the best advice is definitely to adopt the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) approach.
To get back to Cevisama, I am looking forward to the show this year. After the poor attendance and half empty halls of 2009, it will be interesting to see how many of the old exhibitors return and a few old faces have definitely fallen by the wayside. But I know of at least 2 new firms who will be showing there and given the feeling in the air that things are beginning to improve in the UK, it is probable that more people will think it worth the trip to see what is on offer.
