10/26/23 Grif.Net - Pallbearers (+ Answers to Company Brands Quiz)
b...@grif.net
Following a funeral service, the pallbearers were carrying the casket out of the church when they accidentally bump into a wall. From inside the coffin, they heard a faint moan.
Opening the lid, they found the man inside alive! He leaped out and lived another five years before eventually keeling over.
Once again, a ceremony is conducted, and at the end, the pallbearers carry out the casket. As they head toward the doors of the church, the wife of the deceased leaps to her feet and shouts, "Watch the wall."
~~ANSWERS: COMPANY BRANDS QUIZ~~ Quiz #1 from June 6, 2023, and Quiz #2 from Sept 13, 2023, if you missed them are located at www.grif.net
1. Southland Ice Company found a demand to expand and sell groceries, so changed the name of some locations to “Tote’m Stores” (large totem pole as T in the logo). They needed to re-name ALL stores and let people know their business name/hours.
>>7-ELEVEN (stores must be open from at least 7 am to 11 pm, most now are 24 hours)
2. Founder Lee Byung-Chul began by selling fish and fruit, with his ambitious corporate logo having “three stars”. He wanted his company to become powerful and everlasting like stars in the sky.
>>SAMSUNG (Samsung is Chinese word for 3 stars)
3. The company name was an acronym for innovative use of the Internet to communicate, shortened because another domain with the same name existed.
>>SKYPE (evolved from “Sky peer-to-peer”)
4. The Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo KK (the Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation) name did not appeal to international markets, so they changed to an academic word that sounded like praise to the young innovators.
>>SONY (Latin for “sound”)
5. Co-founders Dan and Martin tried to develop a program that would identify users’ preferences in media and allow individuals to enjoy a more personal touch in music, video, and podcasts.
>>SPOTIFY (spot and identify)
6. Gordon wanted this business to have a “classy name” to attract customers. He thought “Cargo House” might work, but an advertising industry friend encouraged him to look to classical Greek and more familiar English literature for name and unique icon.
>>STARBUCKS (name of first mate on the Pequod/Moby Dick saga, with Greek sirens luring in the sailors as the logo)
7. Like hundreds of others, after studying the success of the fast-growing McDonald’s restaurants, Glen tried to imitate with a few burger joints and drive-ins. Not seeing much success in it, he gave up the burger idea, modified his menu, and launched a completely new chain in 1962.
>>TACO BELL (named after the founder Glenn Bell Jr)
8. In 1969, the Fisher’s opened a West-coast store selling to teens/college kids. Biggest sellers to that underserved market were jeans, records, and tapes. They thought about calling this mom-and-pop store “Pants and Discs,” but Doris recommended a broader name.
>>THE GAP (shorthand for generation gap)
9. Jack was unhappy with many of the “social media” sites flooding the market and desired a place to briefly message a friend or co-worker. His co-founder tried names to convey the excitement (“friend-stalker” didn’t seem all that ‘friendly’) of getting a message. Moving quickly thru the dictionary from “status” to “buzz”, they finally settled on name and icon.
>>TWITTER (the word twitter was described as “a short inconsequential burst of information” and “chirps from birds.”)
10. Travis and Gary wanted a new company that could not be compared to traditional transportation of the day (buses, taxis, rental cars, etc) and went for a foreign word to express their goal.
>>UBER (German word über, meaning "above all the rest")
11. A merging of telecommunications companies led to this name, chosen from roughly 8,500 possibilities. How can you miss the call when it’s based on two words from everyone’s favorite language, Latin?
>>VERIZON ("veritas" = truth and reliability, and "horizon" = possibilities ahead
12. A simple project of grad students led to "Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web", helping others find their way thru this new and expanding frontier. They were happy, but that was not the basis of the company name.
>>YAHOO! (acronym for "Yet another hierarchical officious oracle")
~~
Dr Bob Griffin
"Jesus Knows Me, This I Love!"
