What’s in a Name?: Recent Examples of Name-Changing Brands

It sounds like the start of a bad joke: what do IHOP, Weight Watchers and Dunkin’ Donuts have in common?

But there’s no punchline, just facts. All three brands have recently gone through a name change. Some of those name changes have been more fleeting than others (here’s lookin’ at you, IHOP), but all of them have done it in the name of marketing.

IHOP: For a VERY brief period of time, the house rules changed and IHOP was known as IHOb (Taylor, 2018). The switch was always meant to be temporary; by referring to the restaurant as the “International House of Burgers,” the company was hoping to draw more attention to their non-breakfast offerings (Bruner, 2018). This seemingly nonsensical change did increase IHOP’s word-of-mouth traffic, up to 30% from 19% two weeks prior (Taylor, 2018).

Weight Watchers: Weight Watchers is trying to get away from being “your mom’s weight loss plan.” It was announced this week that the company will now be called “WW” (Wohl, 2018). This name change comes as the company attempts to capitalize on the wellness trend that is currently dominating the health and fitness space (Wohl, 2018). The logo itself was redone in 2012, but this new name is meant to distance the company of its diet-focused past with its emphasis on the scale (Raphael, 2018).

Dunkin’ Donuts: This company is joining the list of things that millennials have supposedly “killed” (Corbett, 2018). Going forward, just call them “Dunkin’” as the company wants to focus more on its beverage offerings (Corbett, 2018). Things will still look the same, as the company has stated that they will maintain the same color scheme and font (Maheshwari, 2018). The slogan “America Runs on Dunkin’” sounds like it will be sticking around too (Maheshwari, 2018).

All of these brands are trying to reinvent themselves. Marketing has that power. The right marketing plan can turn things around, can create distance from consumers’ previously conceived notions. And we’re all trying to use that power (for good) this semester as we work toward our final project.

CMGT 541: Can you think of any other brands that have changed their name? What happened to them?

References:

Bruner, R. (2018). ‘IHOb’ is already back to calling itself IHOP again. TIME. Retrieved from http://time.com/5333719/ihob-ihop/

Corbett, E. (2018). Did millennials kill Dunkin’ Donuts? The coffee chain gets a name change. Fortune. Retrieved from http://fortune.com/2018/09/25/dunkin-donuts-name-change-millennials/

Maheshwari, S. (2018). Hold the donuts, says newly named Dunkin’. New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/25/business/media/dunkin-donuts-new-name.html

Raphael, R. (2018). Here’s why Weight Watchers changed its name. Fast Company. Retrieved from https://www.fastcompany.com/90241019/ww-heres-why-weight-watchers-changed-its-name

Taylor, K. (2018). IHOP has officially changed its name back from IHOb and is slashing the price of pancakes. Business Insider. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/ihop-is-back-after-ihob-phase-2018-7

Wohl, J. (2018). Weight Watchers changes its name and pivots to wellness. Advertising Age. Retrieved from https://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/banish-weight-watchers-vocab-ww/315017/