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Recently, I'm watching the Chinese port version of The Voice (not sure if I can call it that since they differ greatly at least in my opinion), 中國好聲音 (The Voice of China).

Every time the name of the show is said, it's referred to as 「加多寶 中國好聲音」. 「加多寶」 is the name of a drink. They sponsored it so the company name is placed every time with the show's title shows up. In Chinese, we call this 冠名贊助. Direct translation would be "name-placing sponsorship". 「冠名」 means literally placing a name on top somthing.

I know in America, there are lines like "<company>'s <show>", "<company> presents, <show>", or "<show>, brought to you by <company>". What is this called in English? What is this action of putting the company's name with the show's title called?

Upon further research, I also don't think this is an example of eponym, so I'm not looking for eponymize.(now whether or not that's a legit word is debatable)

Edit: I edited the title to avoid confusion since, per some dictionary, the meaning of eponymous is exactly bearing name of something or someone.

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  • It sounds to me like you're talking about "sponsorship".
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Jul 19, 2015 at 12:44
  • @HotLicks Sponsorship is a way to get my name placed with something, but I don't think all sponsorship gives you that. I'd assume only top tier sponsors get that privilege.
    – RexYuan
    Commented Jul 19, 2015 at 12:47
  • Then maybe the word you're looking for is "money". Money buys you "naming rights".
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Jul 19, 2015 at 12:55
  • Corporate sponsorship.
    – Oldbag
    Commented Jul 19, 2015 at 12:59
  • 3
    I think you're talking about presenting sponsorship
    – PM 2Ring
    Commented Jul 19, 2015 at 13:12

3 Answers 3

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The 冠名赞助 sponsor itself is normally called a title sponsor in English (or sometimes a presenting sponsor if used in the “<event>, presented by <sponsor>” manner):

A title sponsor is a patron of an event that provides money, goods, or services in exchange for the exclusive right to have the patron’s name appear prominently before the title of the event. […]

A title sponsor is often the highest level opportunity and provides a company with the exclusive right to have its name featured in conjunction with the title of the event.

The name of the title sponsor should be listed before the name of the event. For example, a title sponsorship might appear as “XYZ’s Battle of the Stars.” A title sponsor is sometimes also known as a presenting sponsor, and in that case the title of the event might appear as “XYZ Presents the Battle of the Stars.”

As far as I am aware, however, there is no commonly used verb in English that corresponds to 冠名 itself. You would probably be understood just fine if you use title-sponsor as a verb (“Jiāduōbǎo title-sponsor The Voice of China”), but I don’t recall seeing or hearing it used as such, so I don’t think it’s a common construction. More likely, as in Chinese1, you would simply say that “Jiāduōbǎo is the title sponsor for The Voice of China”.

 


1 My intuitive feeling is that you would say “加多宝是中国好声音的冠名赞助” more commonly than “加多宝冠名了中国好声音”, but my Chinese is not native enough to know if that’s accurate.

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I asked my wife who speaks Chinese and she said it is a kind of sponsorship. I agree with her choice of word. Sponsor is the name of the person providing money, so you might say, "The constant and awkward placement of sponsor names upsets me."

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Technically, this marketing strategy is called "product placement."

Product placement means any form of audiovisual commercial communication consisting of the inclusion of or reference to a product, a service or the trade mark thereof so that it is featured within a programme, in return for payment or for similar consideration.

per http://ec.europa.eu/archives/information_society/avpolicy/reg/tvwf/advertising/product/index_en.htm

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  • It’s a particular subtype of product placement, but just referring to it as product placement would not make any sense as a way of referring uniquely to this type of sponsorship, which is what the question is looking for. Commented Jul 19, 2015 at 16:12

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