As Shakespeare once wrote, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” However, companies invest time, energy and money into their name in order to build brand equity. These companies believed their old monikers were no longer worth the continued investment:

Phillip Morris » Altria

Faced with mounting negativity surrounding the cigarette industry as a whole, Phillip Morris changed the name of its parent company to Altria. While the company stated the reasons for the change as a reflection of how far it has come and to bring clarity to the organizational structure, critics blasted the move as PR fluff meant to distract consumers from the company’s place in the tobacco industry.

BackRub » Google

In 1995, Larry Page and Sergey Brin developed the search engine while attending Stanford, and within a year it took up too much bandwidth for the university’s tastes. In 1997, the partners decided a new name was in order. They opted for Google, a play on “googol” which is a mathematical term for the number 1 followed by 100 zeros. Fitting, considering that one can find that many search results on certain subjects. Google hasn’t looked back since.

Kentucky Fried Chicken » KFC

The Commonwealth of Kentucky trademarked its name in 1990. This savvy business move required all companies using Kentucky in their name to obtain permission from the state and pay licensing fees. Kentucky Fried Chicken refused to buckle under pressure and shortened its moniker to KFC in 1991. The company and the commonwealth finally reached a settlement in 2006 allowing KFC to resume calling itself Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Datsun » Nissan

1981 marked the beginning of the Datsun brand’s transition to Nissan. Although the Datsun line has always been a subsidiary of Nissan, the auto manufacturer used the Datsun name on all passenger vehicles in the US market. Possibly influenced by the brand recognition of Toyota and Honda, the auto manufacturer decided to streamline its brand by dropping the old name in favor of Nissan, its name to the rest of the world. The initial stages of the campaign included badges on the vehicles that read “Datsun by Nissan.” This cosmetic change first occurred in 1982. By the mid 80s, however, the Datsun name was out of commission, fully replaced by Nissan.

Sci Fi » Syfy

Writers for the television industry have had trouble when referring to the Sci Fi Channel. Is it Sci Fi Channel? Or Sci-Fi Channel? Maybe SciFi? With part of the issue being the fact that Sci Fi refers to an entire genre of television programs and films, the cable station had trouble owning, and even trademarking, the moniker. So in 2009, the company respelled its name as Syfy. The new name is shorter and far more proprietary, allowing NBCUniversal to not only trademark the name, but also create a cohesive brand not limited by the Sci Fi genre.

Blackwater » Xe

Much like Phillip Morris, Blackwater sought to change its name in response to its unsavory reputation. The North Carolina-based security company had been under scrutiny for its role in the deaths of at least a dozen Iraqi civilians. The new name, pronounced Zee, does not actually mean anything, making its main draw not being Blackwater. It is supposed to “reflect the company’s new focus away from private security,” which sounds a lot like “we are trying to shift the focus away from our last private security job – you know, the one in Iraq…”

World Wrestling Federation » World Wrestling Entertainment

Pro wrestling’s biggest draw has been in a legal battle over its initials since 1989, when it applied for a trademark. The problem was the World Wildlife Fund had already trademarked the initials in 1961. The two WWFs had an agreement that the Fund said was violated by the Federation’s use of wwf.com. The new name World Wrestling Entertainment provides an extra piece of insight into the world of pro wrestling, namely the fact that it is staged entertainment and not a competition. It is somewhat ironic that a group of hulking men were defeated by an organization represented by a cute panda bear.

The National Network » Spike TV

Originally The National Network, TNN wanted to rebrand itself to become the first network for men. The network already boasted a 65% male audience, and the chance to develop a niche parallel to Lifetime for women and Nickelodeon for kids was too good an opportunity to pass on. It landed on Spike TV, a name that portrays the essence of in-your-face attitude the network is now defined by. The network also altered its programming to skew more heavily to its primarily male demographic.

Anaheim Angels » Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Prior to the 2005 season, the Anaheim Angels edited their name in the most geographically inconsistent and convoluted way possible: by including two cities. The result, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, is supposed to make the team more marketable across the greater Los Angeles area. The new name is certainly a mouthful, and to make matters worse, Anaheim isn’t even in Los Angeles County. It’s in Orange County. The new name is also somewhat redundant, as Los Angeles is Spanish for the City of Angels, so the team is effectively calling itself the City of Angels Angels of Anaheim. The city of Anaheim wasn’t exactly fond of taking a back seat in the team’s name either, as it brought a suit against the team for breach of contract. The jury found in favor of the Angels, however.

There are many reasons why brands seek a name change. Moving, expanding services, and shifting focus are all good reasons. In addition, enough negative PR can make a name change utterly necessary. The key to a successful name change is making sure it resonates with the target market and the company can build on its promise moving forward, much like Spike TV’s quest to become the first network for men.

Tags: altria, anaheim angels, blackwater, datsun, google, kfc, los angeles angels of anaheim, name change, nissan, phillip morris, rebranding, sci fi, spike, syfy, tnn, wwe, wwf, xe

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 2nd, 2012 at 9:23 am and is filed under marketing, sports design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.