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62 Times A Company Fixed Something That Wasn’t Broken And Customers Were Not Happy About It At All
A huge part of how successful a product, a service, or even a person is depends on branding. There’s an art to figuring out what people will love, and once you capture that lightning in a bottle, it’s best to hold on to it.
Some of the most recognizable brands in the world have reached their peak because of excellent branding. Take Twitter, for example: the blue bird logo and calling messages “tweets” helped it stand out from others. So, when Elon Musk rebranded it as X, the 88% drop in value and the loss of cultural recognition made sense.
Yet the infamous rebranding of Twitter is not the only unsuccessful attempt at a makeover that had people shaming companies far and wide. Bored Panda collected the most memorable rebrand fails, including logo redesigns, name changes, and other endeavors at revamping their identities that left customers confused and demanding the old branding back.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Twitter to X.
aveganrepairs:
Twitter had a brand name so recognizable, it became a literal verb that was widely used in the cultural lexicon. Sure, Facebook had posts and statuses, instagram had stories, but the word “tweet” is synonymous with and unique to Twitter. Companies spend millions on marketing to try and get something to catch on and stick like that, it’s like striking gold. Baby Huey Elon threw it in the trash like it was yesterday’s news for literally the most generic, garbage branding imaginable. It’s stranger than fiction.
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#2
In 2010 the Gap paid an ad agency a bajillion dollars to rebrand. They came up with the name typed in Arial. The Gap announced the rebrand. They were roundly mocked for spending a gorillion dollars on something that it takes two seconds for anyone to create.
They decided to just continue using the old logo. The rebrand lasted six days.
#3
NZ spent 26 million on designing a new flag and then it lost to the old one in a vote.
#4
Mine is Dunkin Donuts becoming Dunkin. Everyone has always called them Dunkin Donuts or DnD. Such a waste of money and effort.
Riley Quinn 21 hours ago
As a Boston resident (where the fanatics live), I'm not brazen or foolish enough to say this out loud, but under an alias I'll boldly admit I don't patronize Dunkin Donuts because the donuts and coffee are mediocre at best. Haven't entered a store since they stopped making the donuts on site.
#5
It’s been years since Angie’s List was rebranded to Angi and they’re still running ads that clarify who they are based on the old name. Great work, everyone.
Riley Quinn 23 hours ago
I'm not going to keep repeating myself regarding this nonsense. If you have to explain your new brand, take a hint. It ain't working.
#7
Royal Mail (UK) has been around for over 500 years and couldn't have a clearer name/brand. In the 00s they spent millions rebranding to Consignia.
They neglected to tell anyone about it and apparently consignia is Portuguese slang for the lady of the night. The British public was outraged and after a year they changed the name again.
The new name? Royal Mail.
#8
The Sci Fi channel to "SyFy".
xkulp8:
"Sci-fi" is a generic term so can't be trademarked/copyrighted. So it was silly-looking but justifiable.
Upstaged75 21 hours ago
Apparently they changed it to be more appealing to women. 🙄 Women who are into those kind of shows don't give a hoot what the channel is called!
#9
Sierra Mist becoming Starry. It happened because the NBA lost Sprite as it’s direct soda sponsor, and Sierra Mist stepped in its place. However, the NBA did not want to be involved with the name Sierra Mist because it’s widely known as the “little brother” or the inferior sprite brand. So the NBA made them change their brand name.
#10
Super Sugar Crisp —> Super Golden Crisp
Sugar Smacks —> Honey Smacks
It’s almost as if they wanted to downplay the sugar content to moms who were buying cereal “as part of this nutritious breakfast.”.
#11
Sometimes the biggest question after a rebrand is surprisingly simple: what is it supposed to be? Uber replaced its familiar “U” with an abstract symbol that confused users and designers alike. The company spent months explaining the new identity before eventually abandoning it just a few years later in favor of a much cleaner logo.
#12
Comcast -> XFinity
I was involved in some of the meetings for that as a outside contractor. It was the dumbest move ever. 90% of the people involved knew it was dumb, but a handful or morons at the top really though Comcast's bad reputation would just magically disappear with the rebrand.
#13
What about Xerox renaming themselves Conduent? Anyone heard of a Conduent machine ? Didn’t think so.
#14
That time Netflix tried to break off its DVD rental service into a separate brand called Qwikster. It lasted maybe 3 weeks before they dropped the idea because customers hated it.
#15
Weight Watchers to WW
They tried to be cooler and hip and move away from “weight”. Turns out the only real value they have over the 10 million other diet strategies was their branding.
#16
I know this isn’t corporate but I love when I get to mention it.
In Arkansas there were two neighboring towns. One was called Helena. The other was called West Helena. One year they decided to merge into one city. What would be the name of this new city? This city made up of Helena and West Helena?
Obviously, they named it Helena-West Helena.
#17
"Nordic Choice Hotels" rebranded to "Strawberry".
They have to mention their old name all the time, because Strawberry could be absolutely anything.
#18
Destroying the Kinko’s brand when FedEx took it over. “FedEx Office” is so generic you don’t even know what it is. Kinko’s is such a strong brand that everyone knows it means quick printing. My job involves a lot of graphic design and document preparation and nearly everyone who mentions outsourcing printing refers to “taking it to Kinko’s.” It would be like Kimberly-Clark rebranding Kleenex as Kimberly-Clark Disposable Paper Things of Indeterminate Use.
Jeff White 20 hours ago
I do appreciate your example at the end of the post. Very enlightening.
#19
Two that I feel are equal due to the effects.
Books-A-Million to 'BAM'. I was in a parking lot with one and had no idea it was a bookstore, as I was a bit too far out to see more than 'BAM' from where I was parked.
Hot Topic focusing on being more fandom. Specifically getting rid of that gothic arch entryway so many had. I lost count of how many people lamented Hot Topic being closed -because- they were looking for that arch.
#20
RadioShack. For decades, RadioShack was where people went for electronics parts, cables, and gadgets. Hoping to attract a younger crowd, the company even rebranded many stores as “The Shack” in 2009. The new nickname generated attention, but it couldn’t solve the bigger problem: shoppers had already found easier places to buy electronics.
Janissary35680 12 hours ago
"The Shack" was the term used mostly by the hard-core electronics nerds who frequented it. Someone in corporate didn't realize that potential new customers in the rest of the population wouldn't get the in-joke.
#21
HBO Go -> HBO Max -> Max.
TonyzTone:
I get that they basically did away with the CineMax brand, and given their ownership by Warner Bros. and a whole bunch of other assets, they wanted to combine and show something new.
Basically anything owned by Warner Bros is on MAX, especially all of the HBO properties. Combining makes sense.
But why not just stick with HBOMax? That was such a solid name.
#22
The University of Western Sydney just recently spent millions of dollars to rebrand to Western Sydney University.
#23
Tropicana; removing the famous red-white straw directly into the orange imagery for...an unbranded clear glass of orange juice in a generic-looking (white-labeled-looking) package.
#24
Land Rover dropping “Land Rover” and kinda going with just JLR (Short for Jaguar/Land Rover) but also only referring to each of their vehicles by name only, ex: Discovery, Defender, Range Rover.
I still don’t know if I explained that correctly because it’s that confusing and galactically stupid.
#25
Candlestick Park. An icon in the Bay Area and loved by all Giants and Niners fans. Gets bought and renamed 3Com Park.
I felt insulted by it.
#26
KIA changed their logo on their cars and Google showed an uptick in the searches for “K N cars” because people liked the look of them but didn’t realise it was a KIA….
Riley Quinn 21 hours ago
I've owned a couple of KIAs back when I was driving, and I stand by their product. Inexpensive, yet reliable. Got the lifetime warranty and never paid a penny for maintenance.
#27
Not really a rebrand, but when Oldsmobile went to the "This is not your father's Oldsmobile" campaign, they basically alienated the only group of people who actually were buying Oldsmobiles at the time.
And now, nobody is buying Oldsmobiles.
#28
Overstock.com I think qualifies for weird rebrand. Bed Bath and Beyond went out of business and was bought out by Overstock and then Overstock just rebranded everything to Bed Bath and Beyond. If you go to overstock.com it’s just BBB.
#29
Facebook to Meta and trying to go all in on virtual poker games with work buddies, or whatever the Metaverse was.
liam newton-harding 20 hours ago
And now losing money hand over fist, because they were late to the game of the AI ponzi scheme.
#30
Buy.com got bought up and was changed to rakuten. Then they had to have commercials explaining how to pronounce and spell rakuten.
#31
Marriott Rewards to Marriott Bonvoy…… you know the Hotel loyalty program that REWARDS you for frequent night stays.
#32
Kodak saw digital photography coming and even helped develop some of the earliest digital camera technology. However, the company failed to adapt quickly enough as traditional film sales declined. In the end, having the technology wasn’t enough without changing the business around it.
#33
Instead of displaying the Union Jack, British Airways covered its aircraft tails with dozens of designs inspired by cultures around the world. The idea celebrated global travel, but many people felt Britain’s national airline had erased one of its strongest symbols. Even then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher publicly criticized the change, and the airline eventually restored the traditional tail design.
#34
TIL the nation of Iceland sued a company named Iceland to have all its trademarks invalidated. And won.
Kira Okah 21 hours ago
It was the Iceland Foods (UK) trademark in the EU, approved in 2014. The company is named after its main offering being frozen food. The company marded over an Icelandic company trademarking "Inspired by Iceland" as the generic phrasing was used on some of their products and the trademark was trying to block its use on other products. The Icelandic government misinterpreted the company's objection (thought they were objecting to the use of the term "Iceland" when they were objecting to the trademarking of a generic phrase) and accused them of abㅤusing the name Iceland by trademarking its use as a brand name (which is allowed). Iceland (the company) no longer holds the EU trademark and tends to use a different name in the EU, it only affects EU trademark.
#35
ABC Family to Freeform. I never understood.
#36
Oh! OH!
When Yum Brands tried to make Pizza Hut into THE HUT, when they were scared of wings and whatnot.
#37
This whole Kellogg thing happening now. Having the snacks fall under the new ‘Kellanova’ brand is so dumb I had to see if Musk recently bought the company and came up with the idea.
You guys make cereal and snacks - it will never be some amazing innovative world changing tech company. You aren’t ‘disrupting’ anything other than your own production and marketing costs. So stop trying to act like it to grow your stock price.
#38
When Snoop Dogg (temporarily) changed his name to Snoop Lion make a reggae album.
#39
Circuit City rebranding their PC technician division from IQ Crew (which predated Geek Squad, by the way) to...
Firedog.
I worked at a CC from 2005-2008 and we all thought it was a prank when we saw the announcement. "The intensity of fire with the loyalty of man's best friend." I kid you not, that was the marketing.
Bored Birgit 22 hours ago
Firefox and Thunderbird first wanted to name their products Firebird and Thunderfox I read.
#40
USWest->Qwest->CenturyLink->Lumen
I don’t care what your name is can I have more than 10mbps DSL at my address?
ConsciousValence:
In Europe, and it's now Level3 -> Centurylink -> Lumen -> Colt. I'm sure they rename in the hope people forget the incompetence
#41
After Facebook became more popular, MySpace tried to reinvent itself as a platform focused on music, artists, and entertainment. The new direction attracted some interest, but it wasn’t enough to bring back the large audience MySpace once had.
#42
Saturn had built a loyal customer base with friendly dealerships, fixed pricing, and a unique brand identity. But as General Motors made Saturn more similar to its other brands, it slowly lost the qualities that made it different and recognizable.
#43
Any time a corporation takes over the naming rights to a stadium or skyscraper that already exists. They don’t seem to realize that culturally the original name is permanently backed in and they’re spend 8 or 9 figures on branding that isn’t going to work
I’m in Chicago and there’s plenty of examples
The Sears Tower (once the tallest building in the world) was renamed as the Willis tower. No it wasn’t, unless you’re from out of town and just don’t know any better
The White Sox play at Comiskey Park, not US Cellular or.. I think it’s Guaranteed Rate these days? Nah it’s Comiskey, always will be
There’s an amphitheater out in the suburbs that gets its name changed every few years. I can’t remember what it is currently. I know it’s not the Tweeter Center anymore cause it isn’t 1999 anymore but everyone just calls it “the amphitheater in Tinley Park”
If rebranding a stadium or whatever EVER works, it must take decades — like I’ll give it to the United Center; no one calls it the Chicago stadium anymore.
Grace Sssssss 23 hours ago
YES, THIS. I can't keep track of whatever the names are this year...I'm just going to call it by the name I know.
#44
Brown diamonds that had a million industrial uses to “chocolate” diamonds by Levian. Their marketing sounds like someone’s high af talking about “chocolate diamonds lusciously wrapped around raspberry rhodolite in 14k vanilla gold”. Gross.
#45
JCPenney. Customers constantly claimed they hated coupons and endless sales. JCPenney decided to believe them. The retailer replaced discounts with simple everyday pricing, expecting shoppers to appreciate the honesty. Instead, many stopped coming altogether because hunting for bargains had become part of the shopping experience.
#46
BlackBerry. Can a comeback arrive too late? BlackBerry certainly tried. The company launched new smartphones, adopted the BlackBerry name across the business, and introduced an entirely new operating system. Unfortunately, by then the smartphone market had already shifted, and customers had largely moved on to iPhone and Android devices.
#47
Pizza Hut tried to modernize its image with new logos, redesigned restaurants, digital ordering, and updated menus. However, these changes weren’t enough to compete with newer pizza chains and delivery-focused brands.
#48
Victoria’s Secret introduced VS Collective to replace its famous Angels and create a more inclusive brand image. While the change reflected modern values, some longtime customers felt the company had moved too far away from the identity that originally made it famous.
#49
ClearChannel to Iheartradio.
#50
I think SunTrust changing to Truist was a terrible decision. SunTrust is a better name and they have should told B&BT that Branch Banking & Trust is horrible and just needs to be dropped. No need to also ruin SunTrust.
#51
Waitr was an extremely successful delivery service here. They had full time employees and you could get food delivered in 30-45 minutes. Then, they made everybody an independent contractor and started calling themselves ASAP. "As slow as possible" caught on and they lost what the majority market share within a month.
#52
Some time ago Uncle Ben's was rebranded as Ben's. I don't get why though. It seems unneccecary.
#53
Yahoo scrapped the logo on top in favor of the one on the bottom.
#54
TIL McDonalds lost the 'Big Mac' naming rights in england after trying to sue an irish company called Supermac (that predated McDonalds) , allowing Burger King to troll them by calling their burgers things such as 'like a big mac, but actually big'
#55
TIL Sprite was originally a Fanta flavor. In 1959 Fanta released a lemon-lime flavor, and it was rebranded & became Sprite in 1961.
#56
TIL A Finnish food company was forced to rebrand its line of meatballs, as they did not contain enough meat. They are now known simply as 'balls'.
#57
Take 5, the OG Red packaging stands out so much more than just being another Reece’s candy bar.
#58
When after a major oil spill BP changed their branding to Beyond Petroleum for an ad campaign showing how they were investing in renewables. Logo change too.
Bored Birgit 22 hours ago (edited)
In Germany, BP bought ARAL, but they were smart and didn't rename and rebrand all the petrol stations, they stayed with well accepted ARAL.
#60
TIL that the German grocery store Aldi is actually two stores: Aldi Nord and Aldi Sud. In the US, Aldi Sud has been rebranded as Aldi, and Aldi Nord is what we now know as Trader Joe's.
#61
TIL that in 1924 Kleenex was invented and advertised as a cold cream remover. It was only rebranded in 1930 after a majority of customers reported using product mostly for blowing their nose, doubling the company's sales
#62
Google was originally called BackRub while it was still a university research project. In 1997, the name was changed to Google, giving the search engine a much more distinctive identity.
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StarCrossedFriday 21 hours ago
Tip for the next company planning a 'genius' rebranding: take the projected cost, keep your logo/name, and just donate it to a good cause instead. I can pretty much guarantee that'll do much more for your brand.
StarCrossedFriday 21 hours ago
Tip for the next company planning a 'genius' rebranding: take the projected cost, keep your logo/name, and just donate it to a good cause instead. I can pretty much guarantee that'll do much more for your brand.
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