What if I told you your baby is perfect – save for one fatal flaw: its name. And not only that, but it could have a brighter future with a better name? As the anger boils and anxiety peaks, let me assure you we’re not talking about human babies (except for maybe Elon Musk’s child X Æ A-12). Rather, we’re talking about the entrepreneurial ones.
Ask any brand or founder and they’ll tell you they had no intention of changing their brand name after launch. The idea alone is uncomfortable at best. The more time a name has been in use, the greater the sense of permanence and thus perceived pain in changing it. The knee jerk reaction is to find all the reasons not to rename – SEO, URLs, social handles, money sunk in support of the current name, and most daunting, consumer confusion. These all add up to create seemingly unconquerable barriers. So why should anyone entertain it?
In writing this, I hope to show you that whether you’ve raised millions of dollars, been in the market for over a decade, have a cult following or just recently launched, that renaming can be an amplifier to success, not a deterrent. Reframing a name and brand change is an opportunity for greatness rather than an admission of failure. It’s a chance to tell a better story and learn from the past to fuel greater success.
Many of today’s thriving CPG brands and even globally recognized icons, didn’t start with their household names. Nike (formerly Blue Ribbon Sports), Pepsi (formerly Brad’s Drink) and Starburst (formerly Opal Bursts) were all born with a different name. (Let’s just avoid Meta nee Facebook – for now).
In the world of food and beverage, many would be surprised to know just how common this change is and what impact it can have on the trajectory of a company. The cases are numerous and at Interact alone, we’ve rebranded and renamed countless brands at critical inflection points (I add these examples because I’m intimately familiar with them – heck, that’s where I work!):
- We created Kettle&Fire (formerly BoneBrothCo) to avoid genericism, better align with the company’s vision and avoid being lost in the onslaught of bone broth competitors.
- We renamed KOIA (formerly RawNature5) to avoid legal issues around what constituted Nature, Raw and the meaning of 5 (ingredients at the time). By creating KOIA we developed an empty vessel of a name that would be filled with meaning and associations over time.
- We coined Beckon (formerly MinusTheMoo) to eliminate confusion for consumers who understood “minus the moo” to mean it was dairy-free and plant-based when it’s a lactose-free, dairy-based ice cream welcoming everyone to enjoy real ice cream.
- We developed Brass Roots (formerly SuperEats) to ditch the rat race of superfood trends and instead honor the New Orleans community the brand so wonderfully serves.
- We developed Longvine Growing Co to replace Houweling USA, a $100 million produce business, after the Houweling Family exited its ownership position from the US operations.
Of course, it isn’t just us. Other great examples include:
- Natural foods darling Siete, which started as Must B Nutty Tortillas. “With the name, Must B Nutty, we felt limited as to the products we could sell and the company we could become. We also realized that our family was at the core of our business and we wanted a brand name that was representative of that,” said founder Veronica Garza.
- DTC superstar Nuggs rebranded to Simulate upon realizing the original name was too product specific and didn’t allow for a platform of innovation.
- Naturally Slim, a company that had been around for 15 years, rebranded to Wondr Health after realizing cultural perspectives around food and healthy have shifted from the days of “diet” and “slim.”
- Mother Beverage, which captured American hearts and millions of PR impressions from their appearance on SharkTank – and the attention of the industry when it won BevNET’s New Beverage Showdown – rebranded to Poppi after the show’s airing.
- In the foodtech space, Memphis Meats raised over $180 Million before rebranding to UPSIDE Foods and Sustainable Bioproducts raised $100M+ before rebranding as Nature’s Fynd, both signaling a shift from a focus on tech to a focus on consumer adoption.
So whether a brand has been in business for 15 years, a DTC darling with tons of SEO traction, monumental press from national television, raised $100M+ or with revenue of $100M, a new name can be necessary and vital at any stage in the life cycle of a brand. If it’s ever out of alignment with the vision, purpose, products or people involved in the brand then a rename should be considered.
In our experience, a rename takes place for one of 7 (or several) reasons:
- The name has legality issues (RawNature5 → KOIA)
- The name is too product specific (Nuggs → Simulate)
- The name is misleading (Minus The Moo → Beckon)
- The name is generic or forgettable (BoneBroth Co → Kettle&Fire)
- The name no longer reflects the company’s vision (SuperEats → Brass Roots)
- The name doesn’t tell the right story (Memphis Meats → Upside Foods)
- The name is offensive/inappropriate (Aunt Jemima → Pearl Milling Co)
For entrepreneurs and upstart brands, one of the main issues is often overly descriptive names. They tend to be one of the industry’s biggest problems and most often occur at the onset of a trend. Look no further than brands with product oriented names in the Keto space: Kiito, Perfect Keto, KETO Pint, Keto Fit and NakedKeto, just to name a few. When the product becomes the primary focus of a name, you create a ticking time bomb of irrelevance.
Other issues can occur when a product-specific attribute is embedded in a name. For instance both Perfect Bar & RX Bar, now owned by Mondelez & Kellogs respectively, had to ditch the word “bar” as they launched new, non-bar products (peanut butter cups, nut butters or oatmeal) to mixed success. We’ve helped some of our own clients avoid these traps during our redesign process, with Hodo Soy moving to Hodo and Bobo’s Oat Bars moving simply to Bobo’s. These changes create greater flexibility for the brand over the long term in terms of innovation and shortens things to be much stickier and more memorable.
So does your brand name work as hard as it could for your brand? Does it tell a story or is it a dead end? Any name worth it’s weight adds significant gravity – just don’t let it be a drag.
About Fred Hart
Fred Hart is a Partner & Creative Director at Interact Brands – an entrepreneurial branding and design firm ushering in the changing of the guards in CPG.
Fred and his team work with magnetic founders and strategic brand managers alike, even building their own studio brands to truly practice what they preach. Clients include challenger brands like KOIA, Kettle&Fire & Vive Organic, industry leaders like Boulder Canyon Chip, Dogfish Head Brewery & Enjoy Life Foods, along with brand stewardship work for a number of Fortune 500 food companies like HotPockets.
When Fred’s not walking through grocery stores like they’re an art museum, he’s actively exploring cities on foot, collecting sneakers and constantly on the hunt for the worlds best donut. And it’s Bluestar. Bluestar Donuts is the correct answer.