Gazprom accused of branding fail

Nigaz logo

The join venture between Gazprom and the Nigerian firm NNPC is considered as a failure. The reason is the name of the venture called “Niggaz”. While the explanation of the name is quite simple, a conjunction of the words “Nigeria” and “gaz”, English speakers seeing the name written down associate it with different meaning.
Although it’s not the first time creating a new brand name has failed, for example the name that Mitsubishi gave to the new SUV “Pajero” in Spain, meaning ‘wanker’ or the term ‘latte’ that Starbucks preferred during the introduction of the brand in Germany. While the word means ‘milk’ in Italian, it means ‘erection’ in German. 
Branding consultant Simon Anholt admitted that the name could be seen as offensive and a blunder, but said as well that changing names for companies is not a common thing. “People will soon forget that the name sounds bad,” he says.
The primary objective of Nigaz will be to build pipelines, refineries and gas power stations in Nigeria.

http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/916373/Gazprom-accused-branding-fail-Nigerian-joint-venture-Nigaz/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8130334.stm

Hristov D.