Brand Translations in Chinese

I read this article a while ago and it hit me that the brand translation is no easy job.

"Brand names help consumer identify products that might benifit them" and "branding can add value to a product". (Kotler Armstrong, "Principles of Marketing", p285) Coca-cola 可口可乐 has become a satisying and pervasive brand in China partly due to the good branding in Chinese. In Chinese, the pronunciation is "keko-kele" and it means as "tasty and pleasant". How can the consumer resist a soft drink that is tasty and pleasant?

In China, personally I think you can basically divide the brand translation into 3 ways.
1. Only by the meaning of word
For example, Nestle as 雀巢 (que chao), which means the nest of sparrow

2. Only by the using Chinese chararters with similar pronunciation to the brand, but the actual word does not have any meaning.
For example:
Macdonold as 麦当劳 (mai dang lao)
KFC as 肯德基(ken de ji)
Sony as 索尼 (sou ni)

3. Combine the pronunciation and brand interpretation together, by using Chinese characters with similar pronunciation and with actual meaning of the word.
For example:

• Pizza Hut, as 必胜客 (bi shen ke), which means "always winning customer" or "the customer always wins" implying that the customer will get great value and taste from the food.
• Mercedes-benz, as 奔驰 (ben chi), which means "run quickly and speed" implying the outstanding performance of the vehicle.
• E-Bay, as 易趣 (yi qu), which means "easy hobby" or "easy and interesting" implying the major function of the site.
• Budwesier, as 百威 (bai wei), which means "hundreds of power" to support the taste of the beer
• Nike, as 耐克 (nai ke), which means " tolerance and overcoming" implying Nike's athletic image.
• Estee Lauder, as 雅诗兰黛 (ya shi lang dai), which means "elegant poem" to symbolize the beautiful and elegant image of the cosmetic maker.

If you don't know how to brand the product in Chinese, my personal recommendation is to put words with similar pronunciation but without actaul meaning. This is the safest way to go. Please do not make the same mistake as Toyota Prado ( 霸道) because there is a proverb in China as one man's remedy can be another man's poison.