Check out our new series on the histories of famous brand names that have changed over time. We’re starting with FedEx. How many of you have been around the block enough to know what that brand used to be called?
FedEx: Call Me By My Name
In this tellthetruths video we get into whether this change strengthened the name. We’d love to hear your opinion, too.
This video originally appeared in LinkedIn.
If you enjoyed this video, check out:
When It’s Easy To Rename Your Brand: Part 1
TRANSCRIPT:
Hi guys, it’s Rebeca with BrandTrue and I want to do a new series, we’re gonna see how this works, of talking about brand names that you know, well-known ones, that have changed over time. And the first one I want to share with you is FedEx. I’m sure you’re familiar with the name, FedEx. You might not know, unless you’re of a certain age, that they used to be called Federal Express. And so they chose this name for certain reasons, as people do when they’re starting a brand. In their case, they wanted to be sort of like the combination of the civilian part of the country and the federal government. I don’t know why, but that’s what they were thinking. So that name did that.
About 25 years after the brand launched, they shortened the name to FedEx. I can’t find proof of this, but I’m telling you they did it because that’s what people were calling them anyway. It’s just natural in society. It’s called syllabic abbreviation and we do it all the time. We do it more now than we did then. It’s Scarlet Johansson becomes ScarJo, right? It’s something we do. So I think people were calling them FedEx, so they went with it. That’s my theory. And it’s a stronger name. Sometimes it’s a good idea to listen to what people are saying, but sometimes when you do this kind of thing, it’s not necessarily making the name better, just shorter. In this case, shorter is good, but in this case, it’s also just a more powerful name. It sort of sounds faster. Even though it doesn’t say express, I still think it sounds faster, and it’s very verb-able. You can easily say, “Just FedEx it,” versus, “Just Federal Express it.” Just express it federally, just fed… it’s subtle, but FedEx is better. It’s better!
We’re not even going to talk about the FedEx logo because it’s so awesome, but it’s a whole other topic. The name. So that’s what I think. Let me know if you knew that, if you have some thought on it. If you want to hear more of these naming histories, I’d like to know how you feel. Thanks. Bye!
