Reading time: 1 minute 
Summary for: VIDEO: A Czech carmaker wants Brits to stop saying its name wrongŠkoda Auto has launched a humorous advertising campaign in the UK encouraging British drivers to pronounce the carmaker's name closer to its Czech original.
The viral campaign focuses on one letter that doesn't exist in English: Š.
Because English lacks the Czech letter, many people abroad simply pronounce the brand as "Skoda." Through a series of videos and social media posts, the Mladá Boleslav-based automaker introduces audiences to the correct "sh" sound while celebrating the brand's Czech identity.
The viral campaign, which includes videos, billboards, print ads, and also incorporates Škoda's new logo, which subtly integrates the caron (háček) into the letterform rather than placing it above the S, uses playful spellings such as "Šhhhhhkoda" and rewrites words like "stylish" and "spacious" as "štylish" and "špacious" to reinforce the pronunciation.
The viral campaign consists of videos, billboards, print ads, social media posts, and other promotional activity. Created by creative agency Leo UK, the campaign transforms the háček above the Š into a playful branding device, with slogans such as “Šhhhhhkoda” and altered words including “Šmart,” “Špacious,” and “Štylish” encouraging British audiences to embrace the unfamiliar sound.
Despite the effort, Czech speakers say the result still isn't perfect. In the campaign's videos, the name ends up sounding closer to "Škuda" than "Škoda," suggesting that mastering Czech pronunciation remains a challenge even after learning the first letter.
The UK campaign follows a similar effort in Spain earlier this year, where Škoda's local team playfully replaced the Czech caron with the Spanish tilde used in ñ, adapting the brand's Czech identity for a different audience.
The campaign has an added layer of irony for Czech speakers: Škoda is not only the name of one of Czechia’s best-known brands, but also the Czech word for “what a pity” or “what a shame.” Without the háček, however, Skoda has no meaning in Czech; it is simply a mispronunciation of the brand name, which comes from founder Emil Škoda..
