By Thein Thein Win

Myanmar’s growth rate is very encouraging to its citizens and investors. The Asian Development Bank has assessed Myanmar’s GDP and found it likely to achieve 6.8% growth in 2018 and 7.2% in 2019.

As the economy in Myanmar grows, many foreign brands venture into the Golden Land. However, out of the population of 53.8million, only about 20-30% speak and understand the English language.  The rest speak Burmese, which is the official language in Myanmar. There are many other languages and dialects spoken in Myanmar. More than 100 languages.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Thus, when in Myanmar, do as the Myanmar people do! Which is “Speak in Burmese”! Or at least your brands should speak in Burmese to the locals.

Localising your brand in Myanmar should be considered as English is not widely spoken (as yet). Let’s explore how some well-known foreign brands have their own Burmese version of their brands in Myanmar (most are transliteration to Burmese).

Coca-Cola – ကိုကာကိုလာ

   Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink produced by The Coca-Cola Company, an American multinational beverage corporation. Originally intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century. Coca-Cola created the awesome idea in Myanmar that the name of friends or family members like father, mother, aunt etc, (in Burmese version) was put on the bottom of their logo (ready to chose). A customer can, therefore, give the present for their beloved one.

Pocari Sweat sports drink – ပိုကာရီစွက် 

Pocari Sweat is a Japanese sports drink, manufactured by Otsuka Pharmaceutical. It was launched in 1980 and is now also available in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.

Maggi (seasonings) – မက်ဂီ

Maggi is an international brand of seasonings, instant soups, and noodles that originated in Switzerland in the late 19th century.

Ovaltine – အိုဗာတင်း, and Milo – မိုင်လို

Ovaltine (Ovomaltine) is a brand of milk flavoring product made with malt extract sugar and a registered trademark of Associated British Foods.

Milo is a sugar, chocolate and malt powder that is mixed with hot or cold water or milk to produce a beverage popular mainly in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Thailand, South Africa and some other parts of the world.

TELENOR – တယ်လီနော

Telenor Myanmar is a telecommunications company in Myanmar. It is a subsidiary of the Norwegian Telenor Group.

OOREDOO – အူရီဒူး 

Ooredoo Myanmar is a telecommunications company in Myanmar. It is a subsidiary of the Qatari Ooredoo Group.

SUNSILK – ဆန်းစစ်

Sunsilk is a hair care brand produced by the Unilever group. The brand was introduced in 1954 in the UK, available in most global countries.

Signal Toothpaste – ဆစ်ဂနယ် 

Signal is the iconic oral care brand in Sri Lanka leading the way for innovations and activations.

SATHAPANA LIMITED – စထာပါနာ လီမိတက်, a leading microfinance institution in Cambodia

The above brands’ in their Burmese versions were and still are heavily advertised on television, billboards, online and flyers. As a result, they could build customers’ recognition of the brand in the local market. As a result, foreign brands become more popular among the locals and are easily the choice Myanmar people make, even in rural areas.

Following this, localising your brand in Myanmar gives you an added advantage in this frontier market.

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This article is published purely for information and should not be construed as legal advice. For more information, visit www.kass.asia or drop an e-mail to hello@kass.asia.