Key Takeaways
- Campbell Soup Company is rebranding to The Campbell’s Company.
- The new name is meant to reflect its wide array of brands, which include snack, sauce, and beverage companies.
- Campbell is the latest in a long line of companies that have rebranded by making their name less tied to one product or service.
Campbell Soup Company (CPB) is dropping a key word from its name in a rebrand meant to reflect the culinary variety of its owned brands.
Aside from soup, newly named The Campbell’s Company also owns potato chips brands Kettle and Cape Cod, sauce brands Prego and Rao’s, and Goldfish crackers, among others. The company said the new moniker is “a name that represents soup…but is so much more.”
Campbell’s is far from the first company to change its name in a bid to shift customers’ perception.
5 Other Notable Corporate Name Changes
Dunkin’ used to be Dunkin’ Donuts, but trimmed its name in 2018 to raise the profile of its array of coffee and other beverage offerings.
Weight Watchers rebranded as WW (WW) in 2018 to focus less on dieting and more on overall health and wellness.
Philip Morris, which created the iconic Marlboro cigarette brand, became Altria Group (MO) in 2003, a name that the company said would better reflect the diversity of its portfolio beyond tobacco.
Facebook adopted the name Meta Platforms (META) in 2021, with Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mark Zuckerberg saying he wanted to make the company “metaverse first.” In addition to Facebook, Meta also owns Instagram and WhatsApp.
Google did something similar in 2015, changing its name to Alphabet (GOOGL) because it also owns YouTube, Waze, Fitbit, and other companies.
Some Well-Known Companies’ Former Names Are Obscure Today
Some of the original names are barely known in 2024.
Nike (NKE) was once Blue Ribbon Sports, eBay (EBAY) originally was called AuctionWeb, and Subway was founded as Pete’s Super Submarines.
Pepsi-Cola, now a unit of PepsiCo (PEP), was known as Brad’s Drink upon the company’s founding in 1893 by pharmacist Caleb Bradham.