{"id":70302,"date":"2014-06-10T13:42:37","date_gmt":"2014-06-10T13:42:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/insight\/whats-in-a-name\/"},"modified":"2014-06-10T13:42:37","modified_gmt":"2014-06-10T13:42:37","slug":"whats-in-a-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/whats-in-a-name\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s in a name? Four high-profile brand name changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

The power of branding<\/a> is unquestionable. In many cases a businesses\u2019 product or service can evolve or completely change underneath established values, messages, and commitments that still attract customers.
\nBrands create loyalty, establish communities and influence behaviour, and a rebrand is therefore a major step for a business to take. Here, we explore the words behind four of the biggest brand name changes.
\nBlue Ribbon Sports to Nike<\/strong>
\nYou don\u2019t need us to explain the significance of Nike in the sporting world, but the firm is unlikely to have had the same monumental impact if \u2018Blue Ribbon Sports\u2019 had been kept in 1971. \u2018Nike\u2019 – the Greek goddess of victory \u2013 provides the perfect platform to build an aspirational brand upon, and brilliantly encapsulates the status the firm holds today. Nike is now more than a clothing and equipment manufacturer, it\u2019s a lifestyle.
\nResearch in Motion to BlackBerry<\/strong>
\nIn 2013, Research in Motion (RIM) adopted the name of its sole product \u2013 the BlackBerry smartphone \u2013 as its brand, largely because most customers referred to the company by the fruit-based title anyway. \u00a0The change also brought the company in line with dynamically-named rivals Apple and Samsung, at a time when both were rapidly stealing market share. It remains to be seen if the rebrand came too late to save BlackBerry, but its contemporary name in a sector that demands innovation gives the firm a better chance of survival.
\nBackRub to Google<\/strong>
\nThe dominant search engine\u2019s original name \u2018BackRub\u2019 possibly referenced the backlinks that played a major part in the service\u2019s algorithm, and the switch to \u2019Google\u2019 occurred in 1997.\u00a0 Today\u2019s title is a play on \u2018googol\u2019 the mathematical term for the number one followed by 100 zeros, which reflects the firm\u2019s task of organising masses of webpages. Such is the brand\u2019s success, \u2018google\u2019 has become a verb in its own right. \u201cI\u2019ll backrub it\u201d doesn\u2019t quite have the same ring.
\nComputing Tabulating Recording Corporation to IBM<\/strong>
\nThe adoption of \u2018International Business Machines\u2019 (IBM) from \u2018Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation\u2019 in 1924 gives us an early glimpse of the trend for cleaner and more succinct brand names that is prevalent today. The abbreviation enabled the technology firm to become a household name, a rarity for a specialist company in such a highly technical field, and it demonstrates the stickiness of a succinct title no matter the industry.
\nIf you can think of other brand\u2019s that changed their name for the better, let us know by leaving a comment below or tweeting @strattoncraig<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The power of branding is unquestionable. In many cases a businesses\u2019 product or service can evolve or completely change underneath established values, messages, and commitments that still attract customers. Brands create loyalty, establish communities and influence behaviour, and a rebrand is therefore a major step for a business to take. Here, we explore the words […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[314,414],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-copywriting-us","category-tone-of-voice-us"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat's in a name? Four high-profile brand name changes - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting & Content Marketing Agency<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/whats-in-a-name\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What's in a name? Four high-profile brand name changes - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting & Content Marketing Agency\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The power of branding is unquestionable. In many cases a businesses\u2019 product or service can evolve or completely change underneath established values, messages, and commitments that still attract customers. Brands create loyalty, establish communities and influence behaviour, and a rebrand is therefore a major step for a business to take. 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