Twitter, Facebook, Google: Companies That Rebranded

Elon Musk has added Twitter to the long list of companies that cast aside their original branding in an attempt to reinvent themselves.

Twitter replaced its bird logo with an X symbol on its website Monday, after changing its corporate name to X Corp. in April. The social-media company joins other established companies like Facebook, Google and Dunkin’ Donuts that no longer wanted to be known by their famous names.

Musk has said he wants to use Twitter as the foundation for an all-encompassing app called “X.” The letter replaces the bird iconography that has been on the platform since it was founded in 2006.

Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion last year. Advertisers have fled and thousands of employees have departed the company since the billionaire took it over. 

Companies rebrand themselves when they want to fix their reputation, create an umbrella organization or adopt a new name after a merger, analysts said. The move is a relatively common corporate tactic that can signal to the market that the company is shifting its focus. Some of these companies coined new titles for their umbrella companies while keeping the names of their well-known products.

Allen Adamson, a branding strategist, said X could be a difficult name to work with. He pointed out that the letter, Musk’s longtime favorite, sounds like “ex,” as in ex-girlfriend or ex-boyfriend.

“He’ll have to create a completely new meaning and understanding around the letter X,” said Adamson, the co-founder and managing partner of the marketing agency Metaforce.

Here are some notable companies that have rebranded themselves:

Meta Platforms

The company once known as Facebook changed its name to Meta in 2021. The move signaled the company’s efforts to expand into the metaverse, an extensive online world conceptualized in science-fiction novels. The Facebook social-media platform didn’t change with the name shift.

Alphabet

Google created the holding company Alphabet in 2015 as part of a reorganization to manage its growing suite of businesses, including those building self-driving cars and developing nanoparticles, in addition to its namesake search engine. 

Apple

The Silicon Valley giant was known as Apple Computer until 2007, when the company decided to drop the second half of its name. Apple also wanted to be known for its iPods, iPhones and other products.

Tronc

Tribune Publishing’s rebranding didn’t last long. The news company in 2018 abandoned the name Tronc, short for Tribune Online Content, after two years of ridicule.

Paramount

Altria

The tobacco company changed its name from Philip Morris to Altria Group in 2003 to shed its association with its most troublesome product: cigarettes. Philip Morris International was spun off from Altria into its own company in 2008.

MCI

WorldCom, the long-distance telephone carrier, adopted the name MCI in 2003 in the middle of an accounting scandal.

Dunkin’

The company decided in 2018 that America would run on Dunkin’, not Dunkin’ Donuts. The chain wanted its new title to signify its increased focus on beverages over pastries.

The Shack

If “The Shack” doesn’t sound familiar, it’s because RadioShack’s 2009 rebrand didn’t work. The company went back to its original moniker, synonymous with retro technologies like batteries and radios, because the name proved too established with customers.

Mondelez International

Kraft Foods in 2012 named its snack-business spinoff Mondelez, a portmanteau of “monde,” derived from the Latin word for world, and “delez,” a twist on the word delicious. A then–Mondelez board member said a year later that the name sounded like a disease. Still, the rebranding was eventually accepted.

Abrdn

The Scottish asset manager once known as Standard Life Aberdeen PLC ditched the vowels in 2021, renaming itself “Abrdn.” The company has roots dating back to 1825. It said the move was intended to standardize branding.  

Write to Alyssa Lukpat at [email protected]