Is the Häagen-Dazs brand fundamentally inauthentic?
The name “Häagen-Dazs” doesn’t actually mean anything. It’s not an ancient Danish city, or the name of two Swiss ice cream masters, or anything of the sort.
The name was made up by Jewish-Polish immigrant Reuben Mattus, who sat at his kitchen table in the Bronx for hours, mumbling nonsense words, trying to name the ice cream shop he and his wife Rose would open in 1976.
Early packaging included a map of Denmark and mentioned Copenhagen by name, conjuring a very specific and intriguing experience for ice cream customers, despite there being no actual Scandinavian connection.
The concept of authenticity is critical to contemporary branding, but brands like Häagen-Dazs bring up an interesting question: what exactly does “authenticity” mean?
Mattus was trying to create a unique experience for his customers, and he liked the idea of a Scandinavian-themed ice cream brand. Given the response the public had to the brand, his instincts were obviously right.
Was Mattus being deceptive with his brand naming choice? Should he have given it some Jewish-Polish-Bronx name instead? (“Mmm…delicious Jewponx!”)
Or was he being genuine and true to his vision, cleverly crafting the brand experience he wanted to create with the cultural building blocks at his disposal?
It’s hard to draw clear lines on the issue of authenticity in marketing, but I personally side with Mattus on this one. The origin of the product doesn’t actually matter. It’s a great product, and the ingeniously well-crafted name adds an enjoyable layer to the brand experience that takes it beyond the product itself. I believe it would have been inauthentic for Mattus not to name his ice cream store Häagen-Dazs.
But that’s just my opinion. What are your thoughts? Where do you draw the line with authentic branding?
I think I’d be more insulted if Haagen Daaz wasn’t a fantastic product. I think it’s interesting that they crafted the name from nothing, but perhaps that’s what you need to do to create cachet and an aura around your brand.
I think that naming something that sounds exotic is a smart move, especially if the product backs it up.
Consider, if they had just gone with “Rueben’s Deluxe Ice-Cream-Not-The-Sandwich”, they probably wouldn’t have been successful. Even something simple like “Ruebens” or whatever doesn’t do them any favors. Haagen Daaz was doing something different with their product and the name identifies with that.
There’s a big difference between authenticity in a brand and the theming of one. Inauthentic brands tout false information for the sake of deceiving people into buying something that doesn’t *actually* solve their problems. However, finding an unfulfilled area of a market place (exotic ice cream), and tying it up in a nice, appealing package is the farthest thing for inauthentic. In fact, it’s probably more in touch with what people wanted than those willing to skirt the line for the sake of making a guaranteed, albiet unethical, buck.
As a dane, I can tell you that Häagen-Dazs doesn’t even sound as a danish name. More of a german or Swiss. We don’t use the ä. We have æ instead.
But if it sounds danish to the target group then why not? Here it’s not sold as danish ice cream, so I guess the point is that you have to differentiate your product depending on your target group.