When is it worthwhile for a company to change its name? Discover 8 examples

Changing a company’s brand in the midst of a crisis or as a way to signal a shift in focus has been a popular strategy among companies for decades. But does this really help them overcome image issues, or do consumers see the name change as just an attempt to cover up issues?

Branding changes are often used in order to update a company’s name to reflect cultural changes in consumer behavior or values, as happened, for example, when the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant chain adopted the KFC brand and abandoned the use of the word “fried” at a time when American consumers were beginning to look for healthier food alternatives.

In other cases, brands have been changed after mergers or acquisitions, to signal a change in direction, or to distance a company from periods of negative publicity.

“The success of a name change depends on companies convincingly educating customers about the reasons for the brand change,” says Jill Avery, a senior professor at Harvard University’s School of Business Administration and an expert in brand management.

“If the name change seems illegitimate, if it lacks authenticity or if it was done for the wrong reasons, the company runs the risk of damaging its relationship with consumers.”

In the case of Facebook, which recently announced that it would change its corporate name to Meta, the risk is minimal for the company because the change is in the corporate brand, not the product brand.

Below is an overview of major US rebranding efforts over the past few decades and their results.

Dunkin’ Donuts —> Dunkin’

The company tried to breathe new life into its brand in 2019, dropping the “Donuts” name. Customers continued to recognize the logo and font, but the company wanted to prioritize beverage sales, which accounted for more than half of its business.

The popularity of the company’s long-standing slogan, “America runs on Dunkin'” was also an important reason to simplify the brand.

But the company says it continues to focus on donuts.

Neeru Paharia, associate professor at the McDonough School of Business Administration at Georgetown University, says the brand change has helped Dunkin’ diversify its product offering. “There was a great opportunity in the breakfast market,” he says. “And at the same time everyone knows that if you want a donut, this is the place.”

Just before the branding change took effect, Tony Weisman, then vice president of marketing for Dunkin’ Donuts in the United States, said the relationship between the company and its customers was similar to that of friends “who call each other by their first name “.

Philip Morris —> Altria Group

In 2001, Philip Morris announced that it would change the name of its holding company to Altria Group, as part of an effort to escape negative associations with the lawsuits that existed against its cigarette brands.

Steven Parrish, then senior vice president of corporate affairs at the company’s holding company, said recently that the company knew a name change wouldn’t change its problems.

“We knew that changing our name wouldn’t make the processes all disappear. It wouldn’t change the fact that people get sick and die from tobacco, and it’s addictive,” Parrish said. “But we believed that changing its name would help us explain what the company really was, which is to say, a major consumer products manufacturer, not just a tobacco company.”

Google —> Alphabet

Companies change brands for reasons other than just escaping a public relations crisis. In 2015, Google reorganized its business under a new brand, Alphabet, as a way to separate the profitable parts of the company from the loss-making parts. The company is now worth $1.5 trillion more than when it was called Google, according to DealBook. But it is difficult to separate which part of this increase is attributable to the name change and which part is related to the change in the corporate structure.

Changing the name to Alphabet isn’t the first time Google has changed brands. In 1996, the company’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, named their company BackRub — a reference to its ability to analyze the links that took users from one site to another.

Weight Watchers (Vigilantes do Peso) –> WW

Weight Watchers changed its name in 2018 when it announced a major effort to transform itself from a weight loss company to a “wellness” company. This came at a time when the movement to combat body shame was gaining traction, and the company was facing stiffer competition from companies focused on personal care and nutrition.

“While WW continues to be the world leader in weight loss, it now welcomes with equal attention anyone who wants to create healthy habits,” the company said in a statement at the time.

In Brazil, the change from Weight Watchers to WW was announced in early November this year.

British Petroleum -> BP

In 1998, British Petroleum announced that it would acquire the American oil company Amoco for US$48.2 billion. Under its new name, BP Amoco has become the largest producer of oil and natural gas in the United States. After the merger, a new branding approach was adopted that aimed to position the company as a retail group that sought to protect the environment.

Thus was born the slogan “beyond oil”, accompanied by a new logo representing the sun.

In 2001, BP Amoco changed its name to BP. The simplification came with political and environmental problems after the Deep Horizon oil rig spilled into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, when Washington authorities began using the terms British Petroleum and BP interchangeably.

Invoking the old name was seen as “a disguised assault on the UK” at a time when 39% of the company was owned by American shareholders and half of its board was made up of Americans.

IHOP -> IHOb

Some name changes are temporary plays to promote a product. In 2018, IHOP, the American chain known for pancakes, toyed with its name, pretending to change it to IHOb, in a campaign to launch a line of filet burgers.

The “b” was a reference to “burger”, and the campaign attracted a lot of attention.

“We thought people would be amused by it, but we never imagined that the country’s attention would be captured that way,” said Stephanie Peterson, a spokeswoman for IHOP.

Valujet —> AirTran

In May 1996, the crash of a Valujet Airlines plane in the Florida Everglades region caused the death of 110 people on board. A month later, the US Federal Aviation Administration suspended the company’s operations indefinitely, citing “serious deficiencies.” But a company spokesman announced that it would be back in operation.

In light of the image problems that arose, in 1997 Valujet announced the acquisition of AirTran Airways, and that it would abandon the Valujet name. The Valujet name was further obscured when Southwest Airlines announced the acquisition of AirTran in 2010.

Aunt Jemima —> Pearl Milling Company

The pancake mix and gravy line that until recently was known as Aunt Jemima has long faced criticism for its name and the visual branding of its products associated with racist imagery. The company recently abandoned the brand it had used for 131 years, and adopted the name Pearl Milling Company, which comes from the company in St. Joseph, Missouri, that created the pioneering pancake mix.

The shift was sparked last year after the assassination of George Floyd sparked protests against racial injustice in the United States and a national settling of scores over the southern symbols of the slavery and segregationist era, and their meanings.