10/25/23 Grif.Net - Final Company Brand Quiz
b...@grif.net
[Can you discern the famous brand today from cryptic clues of its origin or meaning? Have fun with this third installment of “company brands you know”.]
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.
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.
3. The company name was an acronym for innovative use of the Internet to communicate, shortened because another domain with the original name already existed.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
~~
Dr Bob Griffin
"Jesus Knows Me, This I Love!"
