FX.co ★ Five stories about creation of legendary brands

Pepsi

The story of how the name of the legendary Pepsi brand was created deserves the top rank. The secret behind this name is the successful implementation of two goals that the brand’s creator set for himself. The first is the intention to encode two opposing concepts in the word Pepsi, i.e. scientific definition and folk beliefs. The second goal is to implement an effective marketing ploy. Brand founder Caleb Bradham took part in the rebranding of an almost unknown drink and won. The name Pepsi is a blend of scientific and folk concepts. First, he picked the term dyspepsia, which means "digestive disorder", and removed the prefix "dys". Thus, his message was that the new drink is not only tasty, but also healthy.

Oracle

For billionaires Larry Ellison and Bob Oates, it was a painstaking process to pick the name for the new database corporation. At first, the new company was called Software Development Laboratories (SDL). However, the idea was to ensure that the new name implied the concept of a unique database. The essence of the new name was that the innovative information storage system should answer any questions. So, it should be a kind of mythical Oracle. This name was welcomed. Eventually, the database development corporation became known as Oracle.

Ikea

Quite often, the founders of large companies use their first names, last names, or city names in their own brands. Ingvar Kampard, the head of the famous global brand Ikea, acted in this way. The company produces affordable and high-quality furniture. Evidently, the word Ikea contains the first two letters of the creator’s name (Ingvar Kampard – I.K.). In addition to his initials, the head of the corporation used two other words in the name Ikea: Elmtaryd and Agunnaryd. The first letters of these names (E and A) refer to the village settlement and farm where the founder of the brand grew up.

Skype

The name of the popular messenger is based on a slang word, namely occasionalism, invented by the Skype development team. The origin of this name was the innovative concept of the device, which was described by the phrase: sky peer-to-peer. The developers of this new product have come up with a special virtual space for personal communication, but using the Internet. Later, the creators of the innovative project got the nickname skypers. Over time, the last letters in this word were removed, and the Skype messenger appeared in the market and quickly gained popularity.

Google

The top 5 global brands with unusual names are rounded out by the popular search network Google. The history of its name is unusual. The idea of the name of the global search giant changed in the course of time. At the initial stage, the future search engine was called googol, which means the largest number with one hundred zeros. Thus, the developers pointed out that their brainchild can work with an almost inexhaustible amount of information. However, the mathematical term was later simplified to Google, the name which gained worldwide recognition.