Russian energy giant Gazprom recently announced a joint venture with the state run Nigerian energy company NNPC. Unfortunately they didn’t think it wise to get their chosen brand checked for inappropriate or culturally offensive meanings throughout the world.

The new brand name for the venture must have been decided last thing on a Friday afternoon; it’s the only way to explain the amount of creativity taken to come up with “Nigaz”.

“Hmm, a gaz company in Nigeria…I’ve got it Nigaz!!”

Such branding schoolboy errors come around far more often than they should, and it’s the big boys that are often the biggest culprits.

When Kentucky Fried Chicken translated their slogan “Finger lickin’ good” into Chinese, it came out as “Eat your fingers off”.

In Italy, a campaign for “Schweppes Tonic Water” translated the name into “Schweppes Toilet Water”.

When General Motors introduced the Chevy Nova in South America, it was apparently unaware that “no va” in Spanish means “it won’t go”.

Perhaps next time Gazprom launch a new brand in a foreign country they will use our international brand check service.

We get 10 linguists per language to answer a series of 20 questions relating to the brand, to make sure:

• Your chosen name is not already in use
• Your chosen brand name doesn’t have an offensive meaning in your target country
• The colours you have chosen are not considered unlucky in the county of your launch
• The brand name you’ve picked translates well and the meaning is maintained
• Your product is not culturally offensive

So next time you launch a product in a new country make sure you keep a small bit of budget for your brand check and avoid yourself a costly re-brand.