The brand name of a company is more than just a collection of letters and words. It acts as an asset that binds the tangible and intangible factors and establishes a sense of relationship between the consumer base and the product that the company has to offer.
Big conglomerates, despite being aware of the importance, have to either let go of the name entirely or modify it, citing changes pertaining to financial reasons or image correction. The bottom line is that changing the name of a well-established company entails consequences that affect the corporeal functioning from all directions. Recently, the social media behemoth, Facebook, revealed its new avatar as Meta to lay the foundation for the next step in the world of social media. We present to you five companies that stood at the crossroads and took the road less taken or, to be more contemporary, we present to you five companies that pulled a Facebook.’
GOOGLE: It has been six years since the search engine, that is now considered a verb, changed its name from the widely-known ‘Google‘ to ‘Alphabet.’ The reasons, luckily, were not triggered by a mishap by the company but were completely due to company’s vision to expand its arms into various other ventures. The company, witnessing its growth, decided to put the minds of investors at rest by making its operations and acquisitions more transparent and streamlined. And that’s where Alphabet was born. Currently, Alphabet shelters various enterprises under its umbrella, including DeepMind, Fitbit, YouTube, and of course, Google.
APPLE: What Google did to expand its business, Apple did the same thing to elongate its production line. Before 2007, Apple was known as ‘Apple Computers Inc.’ However, things changed after Apple’s co-founder, Steve Jobs, launched what later became to be the flagship product of the company, the Apple iPhone. Apple Computers still remained in demand, but the iPhone came like a storm for the consumers. Since the launch, the company has sold roughly 2 billion units of iPhone. It recently launched the iPhone 13 series successor along with the new M1-powered Mac computers.
McAfee: McAfee, both the company and its founder, went through an immensely toppling journey. The roads were rough enough that the company had to change its name thrice and had to see the unfortunate demise of its founder, John McAfee, in June 2021. McAfee created the company and shot to fame with its antivirus software. However, he left the company he created in the 90s to try other hats, including a yoga retreat, which did not have a good run and took a significant chunk out of his fortune.
In 2014, McAfee associates decided to change the name to Intel Security Group since the company was owned by Intel at that time. But Intel let go of this crippling arm two years later, after which the company’s name was changed back to McAfee. McAfee, the founder, was jailed three years later, due to allegations of not filing taxes, which were self-inflicted. He was later found hanging in his cell in Spain.
BP: British Petroleum became BP in 2000 to become more aligned with the environmental conscience of the masses. But the move seemed puny since an oil company cannot really do much when it comes to taking care of the environment. The company’s vision was to correct its image by changing the name, and as a result, the logo went haywire due to several oil leaks and explosions that revealed the façade behind which the BP thought it could hide.
LIVESTRONG FOUNDATION: Started in 1997, under the moniker ‘Lance Armstrong Foundation,’ the NGO provided assistance and aid to people affected by cancer and their families. The former road racing cyclist, who himself was a cancer survivor, seemed like the perfect person to start such a venture. However, in 2012, in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Lance confessed about using performance-enhancing drugs during his career’s peak, that is, Tour de France 1999-2005.
From that moment, things did not go good for the foundation. The confession ruffled feathers, and Armstrong had to step down as chairman of the organization. The people in charge decided that it was better to change the name to Livestrong Foundation.
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