Say what? Why brands are playing with pronunciation

The best creative work has always been about getting people talking, and right now that’s being taken more literally than ever, says Grayling's Alice McRoe.

Last week IKEA launched The Swedish Test, using TikTok as a platform to get the world trying (and failing) to pronounce its infamously tongue-twisting product names. This comes off the back of Škoda’s recent Shhhkoda campaign, educating Brits on the proper Czech pronunciation of the brand name and turning the Sk (shh) sound into a unique asset you can’t help but want to say (shhhay?).

Playing with language is nothing new

Who could forget the Compare the Meerkat cinematic universe (which we are somehow still living in). In 2023, Specsavers used misheard lyrics and Rick Astley to get the nation’s ears tested. And Hyundai arguably kicked off the recent car pronunciation chat in 2022 by telling us we’ve been saying its name wrong all along.

But why does this approach work so well?

As a nation Brits are a little bit obsessed with language.

Maybe that’s because English is itself such a mix of German, French, Norse and everything in between. We also have an estimated 40 distinct accents across our tiny island (not to mention the many other international languages and dialects spoken) so pronunciation comes up a LOT in day to day life. Being from Liverpool, I have to defend myself daily against my 3 year old telling me it’s ‘baaath’ not bath.

All these campaigns have one thing in common: participation.

You can’t help but want to say the words out loud. And there’s good reason for brands to encourage us to do so. Psychology calls it the “production effect” – the act of saying something aloud can make it 10-20% more memorable than simply reading it. Social platforms only amplify this, turning pronunciation into a community challenge. In a world where brands are constantly competing for attention, getting people to actively say your name rather than passively scroll past it is pretty powerful.

There’s also something in owning what makes your brand distinct. Škoda was once the butt of the joke in Britain, famously having to convince people that its cars were actually worth buying. Today, it can afford to have a little more swagger. By leaning into its Czech identity, right down to the pronunciation of its name, it’s taking something no competitor can replicate and turning it into a distinctive brand asset. The same is true of IKEA’s Swedish product names. 

What could easily be seen as a barrier or inconvenience becomes part of the brand’s charm.

In a sea of sameness, sometimes the thing that makes you slightly harder to understand is exactly what makes you easier to remember.