Client: Created in 1958, 5áSec has become the “world leader in retail textile care” with their over 1,470 shops operating in Europe, South America, Asia and North Africa. 

Case: Chinese brand naming

Qualities that 5áSec wanted to express were quality, speed, and reliability. 

Solution: 五优洁 (wǔ yōu jíe)

The 5 in the original name is important because it stands for the clearly defined prices (5 prices in total) that every store adheres to.  To keep the distinctive 5 in the original name, the Chinese character for five五 (wǔ) was used.

优 (yōu ) means superiority or excellence； it expresses the high quality of the service and result one can expect from this brand.  洁 (jíe) means cleanliness and also the verb “to clean”.  Together, 优洁 can be taken to mean superior cleaning, which is aligned with the company’s identity. 

On another level, 五 (wǔ) is similar in pronunciation to 无 (wú)，which means “without”, while 优 (yōu) is one radical away from 忧 (yōu)，meaning “worry”.  Together, they can be understood as worry-free.  洁 (jíe) is a homophonic character for 捷 (jíe), which means speed an efficiency.  The qualities of reliability and rapidity are clearly communicated here. 

In 3 simple characters (each counting fewer than 10 strokes), corresponding to the three-syllable name in French, this name reflects the brand’s core values of worry free, stress free, superior quality dry-cleaning.