When it comes to brand naming, 2021 started and ended with a few bangs. Early in the year, Aunt Jemima announced that they were changing their name, and then other popular companies would later announce new names for their companies and brands. Let’s take a look at the biggest brand name changes 2021 in chronological order.
The 5 Biggest Name Changes are…
Aunt Jemima to Pearl Milling Company
In February, PepsiCo announced the new name for Aunt Jemima to Pearl Milling Company. This announcement was based on the ongoing racist stereotype that has adorned its pancake mix and syrups.
The name “Aunt Jemima,” long criticized as a racist caricature of a Black woman stemming from slavery, will be replaced with the Pearl Milling Company name and logo on the former brand’s new packaging, according to parent company PepsiCo.
Survey Monkey to Momentive
In June, SurveryMonkey changed to Momentive. With this change, they announced momentive.ai! Momentive is a leader in agile experience management, delivering powerful, purpose-built solutions that bring together the best parts of humanity and technology to redefine AI. The products under Momentive, including GetFeedback, SurveyMonkey, and Momentive solutions for market research, empower decision-makers at 345,000 organizations worldwide to shape exceptional experiences.
Facebook to Meta
In October at Connect 2021, CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced Meta, which brings together our apps and technologies under one new company brand. Meta’s focus will be to bring the metaverse to life and help people connect, find communities, and grow businesses. The 3D spaces in the metaverse will let you socialize, learn, collaborate, and play in ways that go beyond what anyone can imagine.
Note that Meta is the new corporate brand name for Facebook and all it’s products. A similar approach was taken when Google’s corporate umbrella became Alphabet (see Resources below for more information).
Cleveland Indians to Cleveland Guardians
In November, the Cleveland Indians officially announced their new name, the Cleveland Guardians. Reportedly, it’s been a challenging path to the name change for Cleveland’s Major League Baseball team, which has been known as the Indians since 1915. The decision to drop Indians drew a backlash from some fans who felt team owner Larry Dolan gave in to the wishes of a vocal minority.
Square to Block
In December, Square announced that it is changing its name to Block. Block will be the name for the company as a corporate entity, and this change acknowledges the company’s growth. Block is an overarching ecosystem of many businesses united by their purpose of economic empowerment, and serves many people—individuals, artists, fans, developers, and sellers. The name change to Block distinguishes the corporate entity from its businesses, or building blocks.
In a related story, HR Block will no doubt take umbrage to Square’s name change as causing confusion with it’s namesake.
With 2021 coming to end, it was only right to talk about the big brand name changes that occurred this year. Let us know if we missed any? So, what companies will change their name in 2022?
Additional Brand Naming Resources
Brand Naming for Political Correctness (1 of 2)
Brand Naming for Political Correctness (2 of 2)
