Can a name change affect the marketing, positioning and awareness of a business or product? Here are some famous examples that illustrate the power of a name change:
Original Name |
Present Name | |
|
Cosmair
| L’Oréal | |
|
ZimRide
| Lyft | |
|
Brad’s Drink
| Pepsi Cola | |
|
Backrub
| ||
|
Software Development Labs
| Oracle | |
|
AuctionWeb
| EBay | |
|
Bridge Gate Computers
| Compaq (on insistence of Ben Rosen, one of first investors, NameLab was called in) | |
|
AT&T GIS
| NCR (back to their original name) | |
|
Brad’s Drink
| Pepsi Cola | |
|
i586
| Pentium | |
|
Anderson Consulting
| Accenture (name change required by “divorce” – in hindsight magic after Anderson Accounting’s scandals) | |
|
Price Waterhouse Coopers
| Bearing Point | |
|
Oak (Software) and Green before that!
| Java | |
|
Tokyo Telecom. Engr. Corp.
| Sony (when the product became more famous than the parent company) | |
|
World Communications
| MCI (back to its original name) | |
|
Sound Around
| Walkman | |
|
Cellular One (and others)
| Cingular | |
|
Mosaic Systems
| Netscape | |
|
Marafuku
| Nintendo | |
|
Radar Oven
| Microwave | |
|
Salton Cooker
| George Foreman’s Lean Mean Fat Reducing Grilling Machine. | |
|
Wards
| Circuit City | |
|
Active Touch
| Webex | |
|
DrivUrSelf
| Hertz Rent-A-Car | |
|
The Mining Co.
| About.com | |
|
International Harvester
| Navistar | |
|
Tricord
(and before that Pepsi) | Yum! Brands (holding co. for KFC, Taco Bell, Round Table Pizza, A&W, Long John Silver, etc.) | |
|
Blue Ribbon Sports
| Nike | |
|
Stag Party
| Playboy | |
|
Firebird
| Firefox (browser) | |
|
FreeDiskSpace.com
| MySpace.com | |
|
Confinity
| Paypal | |
|
Peter’s Super Submarines
| SUBWAY | |
|
Sound of Music
| Best Buy | |
|
Jerry’s Guide to the World Wide Web
| Yahoo | |
|
Il Giornale Coffee Company
| Starbucks | |
|
Computing Tabulating Recording Company
| International Business Machines – IBM | |
|
Datsun
| Nissan | |
|
Quantum Computer Services
| America Online | |
|
America Online
| AOL | |
|
KW Transport
| TNT Express | |
| ProNav | Garmin | |
|
American Messenger Company
| United Parcel Service (UPS) | |
|
dreft
| Tide | |
|
Merchant’s Parcel Delivery
| UPS United Parcel Service |
See also Celebrity and Hollywood Name changes.
<– Return to Naming and Branding Articles
All articles copyright Brighter Naming. You are welcome to link to these articles, but not to copy them in any manner whatsoever.
© 2014 Brighter Naming® 650-704-8181 The Power of ®
See the latest Name Critic ratings for names like Skype, Pinterest, Etsy, etc.
Join 
