Bands have been known to make a lasting impact for decades and even centuries. There are many brands that have taken over their respective industry and have become a synonym for the purpose they serve. It takes a huge amount of branding and marketing to make that happen.
Facebook has recently made news after announcing a drastic change in its brand image. News has taken over the internet that Facebook will be re-branding itself with a new name.
As per the Verge, it is said to happen at the company’s annual Connect conference on October 28th.
While it may or may not work for a brand this far ahead in its career graph, here as some of the well-established brands that change their names in their initial years.
BackRub (Google)
Google was started in January 1996 by Larry Page & Sergey Brin as a research project. However many do not know that Page and Brin originally nicknamed the new search engine “BackRub” because the system checked backlinks to estimate the importance of a site. It was eventually changed to Google and is now the tech giant and leader in the search engine domain.
Matchbox (Tinder)
Found in 2012, one of the leading dating apps globally, Tinder was initially named Matchbox. It was however changed soon after as it was too similar to another IAC dating company, Match.com.
Blue Ribbon Sports (Nike)
Nike originally was founded by University of Oregon track athlete Phil Knight and his coach, Bill Bowerman in 1964. The sportswear giant that Nike is today was initially named Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS).
The company officially became Nike in 1971 and was named after the Greek goddess of victory.
Brad’s Drink (Pepsi)
Founded by Caleb Bradham in 1893 the carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. was originally named ‘Brad’s Drink’. It was in 1895 that it was changed to Pepsi-Cola, eventually becoming ‘Pepsi’ in 1961.
Cadabra (Amazon)
In 1994 Jeff Bezos, a former Wall Street hedge fund executive, incorporated Amazon.com. Initially, he decided to name it ‘Cadabra Inc’ after the magical words, Abracadabra. He later decided to name his company Amazon after the world’s largest river.
He chose this name primarily because it began with the first letter of the alphabet and because of its association with the vast South American river.
Snickers (Marathon)
Snickers were named Marathons in the UK and Ireland until 1990. Snickers was the global name used in the United States so Mars decided to align their UK product by changing the name to fit with the global brand.
