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Many creators of brands and fashion houses did not plan to engage in fashion... This is probably why they managed to create iconic items.

“If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans,” says a famous proverb.

The creators of the brands and fashion houses that we will tell you about now did not even think about pleasing the Almighty and did not make grandiose plans for creating fashion empires. They didn't plan to do fashion at all... Perhaps that's why they managed to create truly iconic things.

Louis Vuitton: from chest to suitcase.

Louis Vuitton Company founded in 1854 by the son of carpenter Louis Vuitton. He was born in the small town of Franche-Comté in eastern France. At the age of 14, Louis went on foot to work in Paris (which, by the way, is almost 400 kilometers!). In the capital, he became an assistant to a master making travel chests.

In this business, young Vuitton was so successful that he soon became the personal master of Empress Eugenia and opened his own store on the Champs Elysees.

In 1858, Vuitton created a lightweight flat chest to replace the heavy and bulky one, the prototype of the modern suitcase. The aristocracy really liked this invention, because with the development of railways, people began to travel more, and they needed easier and more convenient ways to transport things.

After Louis's death, his sons continued his business. One of them, George, frustrated by the number of counterfeits of Louis Vuitton bags and suitcases, came up with the signature Monogram embossed print with the LV logo to combat counterfeits. As we now know, this did not help him... But the print itself became truly iconic...

Today the brand has 350 stores in 53 countries.

Hermes: the best harness in Paris.

Fashion house 'Hermes' was founded in 1837 in Paris as a saddlery workshop. In those days, high-quality harnesses and an expensive saddle could say as much about a person’s condition and position in society as expensive accessories say now.

Founder of the brand Thierry Hermes He knew his business perfectly: all self-respecting riders had his saddles with a signature large stitch. Ermes served the imperial stables of France, Spain, Great Britain and Russia. After Thierry's death, his children and grandchildren continued his work. In the 20s of the last century, when the aristocracy began to actively switch from horses to cars, the Hermes house for the first time diversified its business and began producing leather accessories - belts and bags.

Wherein distinctive features the marks - high-quality leather and large saddle stitch - have been preserved. They provided the goods with special chic and durability. Later, in addition to accessories, the brand began producing sportswear, which was later expanded to include casual wear and luxury homewares. There are always three iconic things in the Hermes collections: bags 'Kelly' and 'Birkin'’, as well as square silk bob scarves.

Every year the company releases new scarves with prints on the most different topics- from impressionist paintings to the history of aeronautics, and every year the collections always include a “horse theme” as a tribute to the history of the fashion house. And by the way, Hermes still produces saddles and harnesses.

Gucci: another horse story.

In 1906, the Italian Guccio Gucci founded a saddlery workshop named after him in Florence, the leather center of Italy. The business soon went bankrupt, driving its owner into debt. Gucci had to go to work as a doorman, first in Paris and then in London. He returned to Italy only 10 years later to finally realize the dream and open a store of accessories for riders.

This time the business turned out to be more successful, and soon Gucci decided to expand the store’s assortment to include women’s bags. Reselling goods from other manufacturers turned out to be not very profitable, so Guccio began to create his own bags under the brand 'La Gucci Vita'. A signature logo and print in the form of intertwined G letters was developed for it, which soon became popular throughout the world. Another recognizable symbol of the company was the striped braid, the prototype of which was the horse girth. Now it adorns both the brand’s belts and bags. And in 1947, the first it-bag ‘Gucci’ was invented - a bag with a bamboo handle, which is still “reissued” in different interpretations.

Hugo Boss work clothes.

The modest owner of a small German manufactory producing work overalls and robes Hugo Boss and I could not think that someday ministers and presidents would wear things with his name on the label. He founded his business in the 20s of the 20th century, when all of Germany was experiencing economic decline. Before World War II, the company began serving the needs of the Nazi army, so after the war it was practically bankrupt. The Boss himself died in 1948, but a couple of years later his relatives decided to revive his business.

Name 'Hugo Boss' they found it commercially attractive because it is easy to read and pronounced the same in almost all European languages. The brand began producing elegant men's suits and was soon able to compete with Italian fashion houses, which at that time dictated the rules in the world of men's style.

5 stories of unusual names.

And these brands were initially created in order to shine in the fashion or beauty horizon. But the etymology of their names is very unusual.

• Luxury brand 'Coach' grew out of a small workshop in Manhattan. The brand's first bag was made from... a baseball glove. Hence the sports name ‘Coach’, which translated from English means “coach”. But this word also means “carriage”, and this is what is depicted in the brand’s logo.
• Your company 'Cacharel' tailor Jean Bruske named it after the small bird cacharel, which lives in the south of France. She accidentally caught his eye when he was thinking about a name for his enterprise.
• Cosmetic brand 'Lancaster' merchant George Wurz and pharmacist Eugene Frezzati created it in Monaco immediately after World War II. They named it after the heavy Lancaster bombers that the British Royal Air Force used to liberate France from the Nazis.
• Brand 'Mexx' appeared after the merger of two clothing brands - men's 'Moustache' and women's 'Emanuelle'. The first letters M and E were taken from the names of both brands, and the last two XX signify the double kiss that sealed the new union.
• Finally, the brand name 'The Body Shop' and completely ironic. After all, this is what (The Body Shop) is usually called in America for car body repair shops...

Economic crises, military conflicts, political instability and others negative factors do not have a significant impact on them. The world's most successful companies are the backbone of the global economy, some of which have profits equal to the GDP of small developing countries.

Ideal marketing, financial foresight, non-standard management techniques - which recipe helps them take leading positions in all existing ratings year after year - is the biggest secret of big business. They are the best, time, money and millions of first-class specialists work for them.

The success of a company is assessed by three indicators:

1. profit;
2. asset value;
3. capitalization size.

For young, fast-growing companies, experts have introduced an indicator that evaluates how much their assets have increased since their founding.

The figures appearing in the annual reports of the world's largest corporations produce a stunning impression. To paraphrase a famous expression, we can say: “Corporations rule the world.” The world's most successful companies feel comfortable at the top of the financial Olympus, rarely and reluctantly allowing ambitious newcomers onto the pedestal.

1. Drive your dreams. Toyota

The assets of the automobile giant Toyota are estimated at $406 billion. It is the largest automaker in world. The company began operating in 1924 with the sale of weaving machines and over almost a century of history has become a global auto giant. In addition to the production and sales of cars, the company conducts business in several directions. Toyota Motors Corporation owns a financial structure, an insurance company, and carries out real estate transactions. The success of the Toyota brand was brought by 14 commandments of doing business, which, with truly Japanese scrupulousness, reflected all areas of life of a large corporation. “Make decisions slowly, look at everything with your own eyes, educate your leaders” - truisms work great, especially if they are written down in the “production system of the corporation” and are mandatory for everyone - from workers to directors. Over the three quarters of 2016, more than 8 million cars were sold – this is an absolute world record.

2. Black gold. ExxonMobil

Oil is not called black gold for nothing. One of the most valuable companies in the world ExxonMobil is a giant oil refining industry. The company has assets worth $395.4 billion, and net profit in the first half of 2016 amounted to $16 billion. The history of ExxonMobil began in the century before last, when Standard Oil, owned by the Rockefeller family, was divided into several companies. As a result of many transformations, divisions and mergers, the public company ExxonMobil appeared in 1999, which today owns shares of oil refineries in 45 countries, a network of gas stations in 100 countries and is engaged in oil production around the world. ExxonMobil's performance is the best illustration of its long-term success. Throughout its existence, the corporation has not had a single unprofitable period.

3. Investments and insurance. Berkshire Hathaway

Warren Buffett and his Berkshire Hathaway with a capitalization of $360 billion are the most successful investment holding in the world. The main activity is investment and management. Warren Buffett, the permanent chairman of the board of directors, began building his empire by organizing a small insurance company. By investing his profits in stock purchases, Buffett began to earn enough to buy entire companies. Berkshire Hathaway currently owns businesses in many different industries - retail, railway transportation, food production, household appliances, publishing and, of course, all types of insurance. The subsidiary media holding BH Media Group includes seventy newspapers and one TV channel.

4. IT geniuses. Microsoft

Microsoft is almost 100 billion behind the leader, its assets are valued at $303.5 billion. Since last year The company's profit increased by 10%. The corporation practically monopolized the market office programs And software. In addition, Microsoft produces computer accessories and its own tablet computer model. Microsoft products are sold in almost a hundred countries around the world, and their office suite is the most used on the market. The closest competitors remain far behind from year to year. APPLE is an exception, but its profits are driven by successful sales of iPhones and electronics. Microsoft's recent successes are attributed to a change in leadership. New CEO Satya Nadella is a proponent of a tough business style and an aggressive marketing policy.

5. China is always in the lead. Industrial & Commercial Bank Of China

No economic rating is complete without representatives of the fastest growing economy in the world. The Chinese Industrial & Commercial Bank Of China has a capitalization of $275 billion. This is one of the youngest financial leaders - the bank began operating in 1984. The Chinese government owns 50% of the shares. In 2006, the Bank carried out the most successful share placement in history - then a record $22 billion was raised for the global economy. Financial business remains one of the most profitable. The most successful of the product manufacturers, APPLE, occupies only the 7th position in the ranking of the most successful companies in the world.

6. Universal sales. WalMart

Retailer Wal-Mart, which owns the WalMart supermarket chain, has assets worth $200 billion. The company owns more than 10 thousand stores around the world, the number of employees is 2.5 million people. Retail trade is one of the most difficult types of business. Wal-Mart succeeds because of its tough business practices and cost-minimizing strategies. Many suppliers to WalMart stores testify that the company is forcing them to reduce selling prices, and representatives of small businesses are unhappy that the huge chain monopolizes the retail market in many countries. In addition, Wal-Mart has become famous for violating workers' rights and constant conflicts with unions. Since 2000, the company began a period of instability, during which two large projects were closed - in South Korea and Germany. In the first case, the department store format did not appeal to Korean consumers, and sales in Germany resulted in annual losses of $100 million.

7. Apple records. APPLE

The record holder for increasing profits among technology companies – APPLE is valued at $154.1 billion. 2015 alone brought APPLE owners $53.1 billion in net profit. During its existence, the brainchild of Steve Jobs increased its value by 50,000%. The corporation managed to do the impossible - to transform the use of smartphones and computer equipment into a real cult of worship of goods with the apple logo. It's not just about its own software and high quality, APPLE has created an ideal marketing model, the cornerstone of which is the prestige and impeccable image of the company. “If you own APPLE, you own the best” - this idea continues to bring billions in profits for APPLE.

8. Internet business. Google

Another representative of high technology, Google, ranks second eighth in the ranking. richest corporations in the world. Google is valued at $82.5 billion. Last year was not the best for the company, but even though profit growth was less than predicted, the increase reached 16%. Google receives more than a billion search requests every day, and the company operates more than a million servers. In addition to the search engine itself, the Google brand owns an email service, a social network, a browser, an image processing program and several sites that are in the top 100 by traffic. Every year Google introduces new applications to users, improves and updates existing ones.

9. Timeless classic. Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola lost ground somewhat. The most popular soda in the world began to lose its leadership position retail sales of soft drinks in 2010. Since then, the company's profits have been gradually declining. Some analysts attribute this to the fashion for proper nutrition and a healthy lifestyle. Others see a connection between falling sales and the merger of The Coca-Cola Company and Coca-Cola Enterprises. Despite the disappointing statistics, especially the disastrous one in 2014, the company is valued at $58 billion. A decline in sales does not always mean unprofitability, which is why the Coca-Cola brand is traditionally included in world rankings of the most successful companies.

10. Business on communication. Facebook

The Facebook brand is valued at $52.6 billion. It is the most popular social network in the world. Every year the company increases profits and, accordingly, the value of assets. Totally agree last year the growth was more than 50%. Facebook shows excellent results, but this is not surprising - almost 1 billion people use the network every day. In 2011, a fantastic figure was achieved - in one month the number of network visitors exceeded 1 trillion. In August 2015, the billionth personal page was registered in Facebook networks. We can say that today Internet communication is one of the most popular goods on the world market.

The main assessment is consumer confidence

Another interesting indicator by which the success of a company is assessed is the trust index. This criterion was introduced by the American consulting firm Reputation Insitute. The index shows the ratio of customer trust to the company's reputation. All enterprises included in the top ten are large transnational holdings, most of which are based in the USA.

Top 10 companies with the highest consumer confidence index:

1. automobile concern BMW;
2. the largest representative of the entertainment industry, The Walt Disney Company;
3. watch brand Rolex;
4. transnational corporation of Internet resources Google;
5. the Daimler concern, which owns the MERCEDES brand;
6. one of the market leaders in electronics and household appliances Sony
7. software manufacturer Microsoft;
8. Cannon company – manufacturer of optical, printing and television equipment;
9. food concern Nestle;
10. Apple is a manufacturer of original smartphones, personal and tablet computers, and software.

There are several ratings ranking the world's largest businesses. Each of them evaluates profitability, assets, sales growth and other objective economic factors. If you look closely at any TOP of the best, you will notice the most successful types of businesses. Oil refining, Internet technologies, software development, automotive manufacturing and retail are the areas in which the largest resources are deployed and the most high-profile fortunes are created. Most of these companies began to build their business empires at the beginning of the last century. The 21st century is the time of IT technologies and electronics. It is in these areas that newcomers have the highest chances of making it to the top of big business.

2016.11.29 by

What do you think connects home appliances to the auto industry? At first glance, nothing. But in fact, many products used to be made (and some companies still make them) by brands that are now known around the world for their cars. Surprised? Yes, in the first years of their activity, many produced not cars, but completely different goods. For example, sewing machines and even pepper grinders. It's hard to believe that companies like Opel, Peugeot, BMW or even Toyota opened their world history, . Here is a brief overview of the history of the largest and most famous automobile companies.

BMW

On March 7, 1916, Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG was founded as a successor to the Gustav-Otto-Flugmaschinenfabrik.

Initially, BMW was not involved in the production of cars. At the first stage, the German company produced aircraft engines for aircraft.

In 1923, she introduced her first motorcycle. BMW's automotive activities began in 1928, when the company acquired a license from Austin Seven to produce the Dixi compact car.

Mitsubishi

Iwasaki Yataro was founded in the 1870s. Mitsubishi's activities were related to shipping. The name of the company comes from two words “Mitsu” and “hishi”, which means “three diamonds”. Officially, the company began operating under the name Mitsubishi in 1873.

After the death of the company's founder, Iwasaki Yataro, control of the company passed to his younger brother, who expanded his activities in the construction of shipyards. The company also began activities in the field of mining in the field of banking.

During the 1930s and 1940s, Mitsubishi was one of the leading arms manufacturers in Japan.

In 1945, the Mitsubishi group already included 200 different companies, which carried out extensive activities in different areas economy.

The first Mitsubishi cars began to be produced in 1917. Production was carried out under the direction of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

The brand began producing cars as an independent automobile company only in the 1970s. It is from this moment until the present day that the company has been producing cars.

Kia

Kia was founded in 1944 under the name Kyongseong Precision Industry. But in the early years the company produced bicycles. The company began operating as an automaker only in 1952, which received the name Kia Industry Company.

The main Kia model in the early years was a three-wheeled pickup motorcycle (sidecar). This vehicle gained popularity in Korea in 1961.

The first four-wheeled car rolled off the assembly line in 1972. It became a truck named Titan.

In 1973, it designed and began production of the first gasoline engine in its history. A year later, this engine began to be installed on the first Kia passenger car, which was named Brisa.

Citroën

Founded by Andre Citroen, who in 1900 opened the production of parts for steam locomotives (gears, rollers, shafts, double spiral teeth, etc.). This explains the origin of the Citroën logo, which is still in use today.

In 1915, the company began mass production of weapons for the First World War. As a result, by 1919 the company had accumulated a lot of money. Thanks to this, Citroën began production of "Type A" cars. It was the first European car to be mass produced.

Surprising but true: Citroën was better known as a leasing organization and was also a leader in the car rental industry.

Opel

Adam Opel began his activities in 1862 in Rüsselsheim. But not many people know that it was not created to produce cars. The company was opened for serial production of sewing machines.

In 1912, a major fire occurred at the Opel plant. Immediately after this, the company management admitted that the production of sewing machines brought only losses and production sewing equipment was discontinued.

Bicycle production continued until the 1940s.

It is worth noting that in the 1920s, Opel was the world's largest manufacturer.

The first car produced by the company was produced in 1898.

Suzuki

The history of the automaker began with the production of weaving machines. Company founder Michio Suzuki created the Suzuki brand in 1909.

In 1920, the company went public. Despite the company's public offering, Suzuki's first car was introduced only in 1937, which never entered production.

During World War II, the company primarily produced products for military purposes.

After the war, Suzuki focused on agricultural products and also produced heating products.

In 1952, the company introduced the first motorized bicycle called the "Power Free".

In 1954, the company was renamed Suzuki Motor Company.

The company introduced its first civilian passenger car in 1955, which was named "Suzulight".

Lamborghini

Ferruccio Lamborghini founded his company in 1948 to produce tractors. Initially, tractors were assembled from unwanted military vehicles, the remains of which accumulated after World War II.

In 1959, it expanded its production and began to produce multiple consumer goods, ranging from burners to air conditioning systems.

It was only in 1963 that a car company (Automobili Lamborghini) was founded, which began producing sports cars that are still revered throughout the world.

According to legend, Ferruccio Lamborghini did not like the quality of his own. To teach (or teach) Enzo Ferrari a lesson, Ferruccio Lamborghini decided to create his own automobile company, which should produce better sports cars than Ferrari. Since then, two global car brands have been competing in technology, the quality of their cars and, of course, speed.

Skoda

True, the company was originally called Laurin & Klement (L & K), which was founded by mechanic Vaclav Laurin (on the left in the photo) and trader Vaclav Klement. At first, the company was engaged in the production of bicycles.

The founders of Laurin & Klement (L&K), thanks to their good ideas and proper efficient management, were able to enter the international bicycle market.

Four years later, in 1899, the company began producing motorcycles.

In 1905, the first legendary car, the Voiturette, was introduced.

Toyota

Founder Sakichi Toyoda began his career in 1894 with the production of handlooms. He then began producing motors and drives for the weaving industry.

Together with his son (Sakichi-san), he created an automated loom by 1924. Toyota Automatic Loom Inc. was created to produce and sell them.

In 1929, Sakichi Toyoda sends his son Sakichi-san to England to sell the patent rights to his automatic loom. The sale was necessary to raise enough capital to start an auto manufacturing company.

As a result, the son of the founder of Toyota managed to receive 100,000 British pounds for the patent.

In 1934, Toyota produced its first car.

Serial production of the car began at the end of 1934. The Toyota A1 was sold as a 1935 model.

Dodge

Dodge began its activities by producing spare parts for the auto industry. So the Dodge company, in 1901 (the year the Dodge brothers founded the company in Detroit), began producing and supplying ball bearings to the automotive industry. In 1902, she helped finance the launch of the Ford Motor Company.

The first own car production plant was opened in 1914.

Mazda

Mazda was founded in 1920. The company was originally called Toyo Cork Kogyo KK. At the first stage, the company produced finishing materials from cork. Since 1929, the company began to manufacture machine tools.

The first car entered the market in 1931. It was a three-wheeled Mazda-Go truck.

During World War II, it was active in the defense industry. In the 1950s, production of three-wheeled and then four-wheeled trucks began again.

The first real passenger car appeared only in 1960, which was produced only for the Japanese market.

Peugeot

As officially established, the Peugeot company actually began its activities back in 1810. It all started with an iron foundry. So the company began producing coiled steel, cutting discs, boning and springs.

Already in the second half of the 19th century, it produced an impressive variety of products, ranging from agricultural implements and razor blades, to irons, coffee makers and even household pepper grinders.

By the way, pepper grinders are still produced by Peugeot to this day. In many restaurants around the world, Peugeot grinders are still the standard of quality.

In 1881, Peugeot began producing bicycles. Surprisingly, bicycle production continues to this day. Cars under the Peugeot brand began to be produced only at the end of the 19th century.

Today LifeGlobe will introduce you to the most interesting examples of how the future popularity of a nascent company can depend on a lucky coincidence, luck, or even a spelling error. We present to your attention the history of the emergence of 20 leading world brands of our time

It has always been known that a company’s future success depends on a catchy, memorable name. Recently, when creating any large company or for the purpose of rebranding an existing but unpopular one, the practice of “brainstorming” is most often used - when all employees gather in one room and “throw” their name ideas onto a common table. This is an interesting and correct approach, but sometimes no “brainstorming” can compare with the will of chance, which brings up completely unexpected ideas or forces you to make a mistake that in the future will cause the mega-popularity of the brand...

Of course, in last words there was a reference to the most famous case of this kind - a typo when registering the domain of Google, the most extensive and popular search engine today. Initially, Page and Brin's search engine was called BackRab, but at some point they decided that something needed to be changed - in 1997, a brainstorming session was held among students in the Stanford University dormitory, the goal of which was to find a name that suited would be a search engine capable of processing colossal amounts of information. After several fruitless hours, the idea came to Page himself - the word googol, meaning one followed by a hundred zeros, but the student who was entrusted with registering the domain name made a typo, as a result of which the domain google.com was born.

In order not to go far, let's remember how Facebook was created - the largest this moment social network in the world. As you know, Mark Zuckerberg’s first trick was to steal photographs and data of Harvard students and post them on his Facemash website with the ability to vote for this or that photo. But the university management did not appreciate the student’s resourcefulness and Mark was expelled. After some time, the idea of ​​another project, much larger and this time completely legal, came into Zuckerberg’s bright head. One day, Mark was going through old things and accidentally came across his school photo album, “The Photo Address Book.” He remembered that no one ever liked this name, because... was long and took a long time to pronounce, so everyone called the album simply “Facebook” - this is how the future social network got a name that is not known today except in the most backward countries of the world or some native tribes South America =)

Another social resource that is popular here - VKontakte - got its name due to the fact that Pavel Durov, who created it, listened to the radio station "Echo of Moscow", where the phrase "In full contact with information" was often repeated on air. Without hesitation, Pavel removed unnecessary words and registered a domain name, which was recently shortened to just two letters VK. Well, I didn’t bother with the logo at all - I used the example of Facebook =)

The name of the Russian search resource Yandex is actually an abbreviation, and it is different in Russian and English - “Language Index” in Russian and “Yet Another iNDEX” in English. We don’t know exactly who came up with this idea, but official version it was one of the search engine developers

Domain name for the foreign search engine Yahoo! was invented, without knowing it, by the Irish writer Jonathan Swift, who used this word to describe an annoying tribe of natives in Gulliver's Adventures. In addition, it is also a joyful cry common in America, which is why the founders of Yahoo! Jerry Yang and David Filo chose exactly this name for the domain of the future search resource - in their understanding, “Yahoo!” means the user’s joy that he found the necessary information

The creator of the Hotmail trademark, which today is part of Microsoft, is Sabir Bhatia, who at one time went through a bunch of names ending in “mail” and, in the end, settled on the name Hotmail - due to the fact that it also encrypts abbreviation HTML. The very idea of ​​creating mailboxes, which can be accessed from anywhere on the planet where there is Internet access, belongs to Jack Smith. Today Hotmail is on the verge of closing due to the emergence of more convenient Outlook.com. In 2013, Hotmail will cease to exist forever, and its users will be automatically transferred to the new email service

In order not to stray too far from the Internet and IT technologies, let’s remember one of the leading manufacturers of prestigious new consumer electronics - Apple, whose brand was recognized as the most expensive brand in the world in May 2011. The history of the name is quite comical - one fine day, after three months unsuccessful attempts to come up with a name for the company, Steve Jobs threatened his partners that if they did not offer him an offer by 5 p.m. normal option, then he will name the company after his favorite fruit - an apple! They didn't offer...

The name of another major electronics manufacturer was decided by a coin - William Hewlett and David Packard tossed it when they decided whose last name would appear first in their name joint venture, whose first office was Hewlett's garage. It is logical to assume that since the company is called Hewlett/Packard, the coin turned out to be lucky for the garage owner =)

The Japanese company Sony also went through a long search - the creators of Tokyo Tsushin Koge Kabushiki Kaisa (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Company) Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuki wanted to find a more concise and laconic name, but they couldn’t come up with anything. And then the Latin language came to their aid, and specifically the word sonus, which translates as “sound.” It was the 50s and in Japan the American word sonny, consonant with it, was widespread in Japan, but written in Japanese hieroglyphs it meant “unprofitable.” The problem was solved with the inherent simplicity of the Japanese - they crossed out the extra N from the name and registered the SONY brand

Another Japanese giant company specializing in the production of digital equipment for home and office - Canon - initially, when created in the 30s of the last century, bore the intricate name Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory in Japan. But with the creation of the first camera, named for some reason in honor of the Buddhist goddess of mercy Kwanon, the brothers Goro and Saburo Yoshida decided to rename the company and at the same time take several consonant names, including Canon, “just in case.” Such foresight helped them in the future to avoid problems with religious structures, which did not like the fact that the name of the great goddess was “some kind of incomprehensible thing” - in the end, the Yoshida brothers settled on the name Canon, because It turned out that, in addition to its sweetness, it is also translated from English as “canon”, and in French it means “gun” - and since that time more and more “photo guns” have been produced =)

The name of the South Korean industrial concern Samsung means “Three Stars”. The reason for the company’s name is not known for certain, but many associate it with the three sons of its founder

The name of the American company Kodak was born thanks to the love of its founder George Eastman for the letter "K" - he was looking for short words, which would begin and end with this letter. He was also attracted to it by the fact that in all any popular alphabets in the world, the letter “K” is written the same way. As a result, the word “Kodak” was born in Eastman’s head - this is the sound, in his opinion, made by a camera with 100-frame film that he invented in 1888

The creator of the Xerox machine, Chester Carlson, wanted to highlight the fact that before his invention, the dry-powder copier, only wet copying technologies existed. Therefore, Chester sat down with dictionaries and found the word “xer” in Greek, which literally translates as “dry”, and based on it he came up with the name for his machine - “xerox”

In order not to go far, let us remember that in another American state a company was born whose products we consumed by the liter in the 90s - we are talking about Pepsi-Cola, which pharmacist Caleb Bradham invented at the end of the century before last. There are several versions of where this name came from. According to the more common one, Caleb named the drink after pepsin, a digestive enzyme that helps our stomach break down protein. According to another version, Bradham simply took the name of the company of one of his local competitors - Pep Cola - and “edited” it a little. The last opinion that you can pay attention to is based on the assumption that people liked that the black drink gave them vigor and strength (from English pep - energy, vigor) - hence the name

Already in this, the 21st century, Pepsi-Cola has been thoroughly replaced by another no less dark and no less harmful drink - Coca-Cola. Pharmacist John Stith Pemberton didn’t think much about the name - he named it after the main ingredients of his recipe, created on May 8, 1886 - three parts coca leaves (which are so popular in Colombia...) to one part tropical cola nuts. You can learn about other ingredients from the article What is in everyone's favorite Coca-Cola. According to another version, the name for the drink was invented by a local farmer who sold it to a pharmacist for $250. The Coca-Cola logo was written in calligraphy by Pemberton's accountant Frank Robinson - a gifted accountant, judging by the fact that the logo has not changed since then)

There is also an interesting story connected with the name of the German industrial concerns Adidas and Puma. Once upon a time, in the 20s of the 20th century, two brothers, Adolf and Rudolf Dassler, founded a common shoe making company. They called it simply - Dassler (full name - "Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory"). In 1948, after the death of their father, the brothers had a big quarrel and decided to go their separate ways. As a result, they agreed that no one would use the name Dassler anymore. Adolf named his newly formed company Addas, which was later replaced by the more benign Adidas (from Adolf's shortened name - Adi Dassler), and brother Rudolf founded the Ruda factory, later renamed to the similar word Puma. This is where the joint story of the Dassler brothers finally ended.

The Tokyo engineering company Mitsubishi was founded in the early 1870s, the logo was a three-leaf clover - the coat of arms of the family of the company's founder, Yataro Iwasaki. As a consequence of the coat of arms, the name “Three Diamonds” was coined (“mitsu” - “three”, “hishi” - “diamond”, according to another version of the translation - “water chestnut”). Why then doesn't it sound like Mitsuhisi? The answer lies in the phenomenon of Japanese morphonology, or Rendaku, as a result of which often the voiceless initial consonants of a root become voiced when read if the root of the word is preceded by a prefix or other root. This is why the "h" in the middle of Mitsuhishi is pronounced like a "b"

The history of the name of the South Korean financial and industrial group Daewoo is not as interesting as the translation of the name itself is unusual, which few people know about. The founder of the company, Kim Woo Chong, called it simply and modestly - “Big Universe”. Indeed, much more modest)

No less interesting is the name of the German auto giant Audi. The word itself is borrowed from Latin and translates as “Listen!”, but the main interesting feature is that Audi is the Latin version of the surname of the company’s founder, August Horch. The fact is that they didn’t think much about the name for the first car produced at the newly formed plant - they simply called it Horch, but when they began to come up with a name for the next model, the son of one of his partners came to the aid of August, who suggested a Latin version of the manager’s surname . From then on, the history of one of the most successful automobile companies in the world begins, which today is part of the Volkswagen Group.

As you can see, some companies were named on a whim, others needed weeks and months to find a suitable name, but all of them, nevertheless, became successful in their economic niches - mainly thanks to the right name, an interesting idea and the well-coordinated work of their teams

Myths and legends have long been a condition for a brand’s success in the market. A product that cannot be told a story is not a brand. Famous brands are shrouded in myths and legends, half of which are real facts from the history of their creation, and half are the fruit of the imagination of marketers. Western companies even have a special term “storytelling”.

IKEA

When the first IKEA stores were opened in the United States, having already gained recognition in Europe, furniture sales did not meet any expectations. After doing the research, it turned out that while Americans liked the simplicity of the design, they wanted furniture to fit the larger size of their homes. All that needed to be done was to increase the size of the furniture.

Western Union

Western Union owned almost all the telegraph services in the United States. At the very beginning of his business activities, Alexander Graham Bell, who at that time had a lot of debts, approached WU, offering to buy the patent for the phone for only 100 thousand dollars, but the company refused to spend the money, considering the phone a “toy” product. When they realized all the possibilities of telephone communication, WU leaders decided not to contact Bell and create their own system. However, Bell, who founded his own telephone company, sued WU and won. So Western Union lost its telephone business, which reduced demand for its main service - telegraph communication.

Pampers

Leading chemist-technologist at Procter & Gamble, Victor Mills, who helped his daughter care for her children, had to repeatedly pull out wet diapers from under his own grandchildren, wash and dry them. Of course, he didn’t like the process and wanted to somehow make his life easier. Then the idea of ​​a disposable “diaper” came to mind - a folded pad with high absorbency, which was planned to be placed in specially shaped panties. After several experiments with different materials Mills developed a new product for P&G, which they began to produce under the Pampers brand, which became a household name.

Chupa-Chups

The Chupa-Chups brand was founded in Spain in 1958 of the last century as part of the Granja Asturias company. Enrique Bernat was the first to create a lollipop (originally made of wood) that could be sucked without staining clothes or hands. The brand logo design was drawn by the famous countryman Salvador Dali to the owner of the company, Enrique Bernat. It was he who, in 1969, came up with the flower shape for the Chupa Chups logo, which, with minor modifications, has successfully survived to this day. He suggested placing the logo not on the side, but on top of the candy.

Land Rover

The Land Rover brand logo has essentially remained untouched for six decades. They say that the creators were inspired to develop the logo by a can of sardines. One of the engineers allegedly forgot it on the drawings. The oil print from the can was copied and proposed as a silhouette for the emblem of a new car.

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola was invented by pharmacist John Pemberton, consisting of coca leaves and kola nuts, patented as a drug for nervous disorders and sold in pharmacies. Cocaine at that time was not a prohibited substance, and nothing was known about its harm to health, so it was often added for pleasure and tone to drinks instead of alcohol - Coca-Cola was not an innovation in this. When cocaine was banned, Coca-Cola was partly blamed for its popularization. Cocaine was removed from the drink, but the positioning of the product did not change and popularity increased exponentially.

Lacoste

The captain of the French tennis team promised a crocodile suitcase to Rene Lacoste if he won the Davis Cup. Because of this dispute, which, by the way, Rene won, the American press nicknamed the tennis player “alligator.” In France, Lacoste's nickname was changed to "crocodile" and was assigned to him also because of his persistent and tenacious behavior on the court. Robert George, a friend of Lacoste, drew a crocodile for him, which was later embroidered on the short-sleeved shirt the athlete wore.

Swarovski

Daniel Swarovski created the world's first electric grinding machine for cutting crystal and precious stones, which allowed him to streamline the process of creating rhinestones. Rhinestones were named after the famous 18th century jeweler-fraudster Georges Frederic Strass, who passed off faceted crystal shards as diamonds. Thanks to Swarovski's flair and taste, the imitation became on par with the original, and the name turned into a world-famous brand.

Apple

According to one legend, Apple owes its logo, a bitten apple, to the brilliant mathematician, the progenitor of the modern computer, who made a huge contribution to computer science and suffered for his unconventional sexual orientation, Alan Turing.

Turing was a homosexual, which was illegal in Britain at the time, and homosexuality was considered a mental illness. In 1952, Turing was accused of sodomy and convicted. He was given a choice of two sentences: imprisonment or suppression of libido through injections of the female hormone estrogen, which was essentially chemical castration. The scientist chose the second.

One of the effects was growing breasts and decreased libido. In addition, as a result of his conviction, he lost his job and the right to work in the field of cryptography. The scientist lived in seclusion for a whole year, and then committed suicide by poisoning himself with potassium cyanide. Turing injected a cyanide solution into an apple, which he bit into and died. The apple was found on the night table next to the dead body.

Nestle

The original logo of Nestlé, founded in the 60s of the 19th century, looked like this: a nest with three chicks and their mother. Henri Nestlé used the family coat of arms as a trademark for his first products. At that time, a traditional family was considered to be parents and three children. Later, closer to the middle of the 20th century, traditions changed. The logo has also changed. Now in the nest, traditionally for Europe, there are only 2 chicks.

Ariel

Further, joint research by P&G and Levi Strauss Jeans showed that employees in casual clothing are more creative and work much more efficiently than those who wear suits. And what did they do? P&G internally introduces the right to wear casual clothes on Friday. This news, thanks to the efforts of both companies, received huge coverage in the press, and many corporations followed suit. The washing powder market grew by 20%.

Pirelli

In 2002, Pirelli broke with more than forty years of tradition and released its famous calendar featuring photographs of clothed rather than naked women. The cover of the publication featured a photo of a girl in an autumn coat, and the seventeen-year-old niece of then-reigning US President George W. Bush was chosen as the model. Lauren Bush, the granddaughter of the 41st President of the United States (Bush Sr.), was simply happy and shared her emotions with reporters: “I talked to my grandparents, and they were happy. And when I said that I would be wearing clothes in the photo, they were even more happy.”

Absolute

Uncle Ben's

The prototype of Uncle Ben is Frank Brown, the head waiter of one of the pre-war Chicago restaurants, often visited at one time by the management of the Mars company. The image of Uncle Ben is tied to American folklore. One of the old stories tells about a black farmer who was known throughout the country for the excellent quality and taste of rice he grew.

Michelin

At the beginning of the twentieth century, especially in the twenties, every large factory or small workshop acquired its own brand name. These were heroes of mythology, and images of animals (the Peugeot lion and the Lacoste crocodile), and symbols created from the company’s products, such as Bibendum. The Bibendum was created by cartoonist O'Galop in 1898, bringing to life the idea of ​​Andre Michelin. The myth says that at a bicycle tire exhibition, all the models were stacked on top of each other. The resulting stack was shaped very much like a fat man. Over more than 100 years, Bibendum has undergone major changes, but has remained a character of the Michelin concern.

Mazda

Zoom-zoom is an imitation of the sound of a fast moving object. “Zoom-zoom” is said by English-speaking boys playing with cars. And Mazda thus creates the image of a brand with a sporty character, capable of introducing the buyer into truly childish delight with its drive. By the way, when talking about Ferrari they use the expression “Vroom-vroooom”, and Mini Cooper does “Beep-beep”.

Heinz

Red Bull

The energy drink Red Bull was born in 1982, when Dietrich Mateschitz was on a business trip to East Asia I became interested even then in the widely used energy drinks there. He acquired the licensing rights to the famous Thai brand Krating Daeng (translated from Thai as “red bull”) and to use the recipe from Taisho Pharmaceuticals (Japan. When the drink was introduced to the wider market (Europe, USA), Coca-Cola was also the main competitor , and Pepsi, and Molson, and Labatt, and Anheuser-Busch... They all had a similar concept - they toned and stimulated, and the Jolt Cola energy drink also contained, among other things, a double dose of caffeine compared to Red Bull.

Then Dietrich Mateschitz took a risky step: he artificially increased the price by half compared to competitors, reduced the volume of containers shaped like a battery, and began placing cans in stores not in the beverage departments, but in any other (note when in Once again If you go to a store, you can find cans of Red Bull along with other energy drinks almost in the sausage department, including the alcoholic one).

In addition, cases of Red Bull were distributed free of charge to students on university campuses. At student parties, Red Bull went out with a bang, because by a random and happy coincidence it was quickly discovered that it went perfectly with vodka. Thus, a new cocktail, Vodka Red Bull, was born, which has become very popular.

Hewlett-Packard

HP founders Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard tossed a coin to decide whose name would come first. As you can imagine, Bill won.

Adidas and Puma

It is known that the Adidas company received its name in honor of one of the founders, Adolf Dasler. And Puma was created by his brother Rudolf Dasler. There is a legend that the father of the Dasler brothers worked as a baker all his life. Adolf and Rudolf Dasler together opened a workshop for tailoring sports shoes to order. Adolf had the qualities of a designer, Rudolf - a marketer.

After the Second World War and the death of their father, the brothers seriously quarreled and divided the no longer small Dassler company (about 60 people) in half. This happened in the German town of Herzogenaurach, which a quarrel between brothers also divided into two parts. The workers of these factories only went to their own taverns, drank different types of beer, and their children attended different schools. Companies maintained their own football teams.

And to this day, an employee of one company will face immediate dismissal if he is seen wearing shoes or clothing produced by a competitor.

Each famous brand has its own emblem by which it is recognized. Usually this logo is small and simple, but some are elaborate and mysterious. The history of the appearance of such specific logos of several of the world's most influential fashion houses is in this article.

Lacoste

Old and respected brand. Their logo, a tiny green alligator, is familiar to anyone who loves fashion. In 1927, during the Davis Cup, the American press nicknamed Lacoste "the alligator" because of a dispute in which the winner of the tournament would receive a suitcase made of alligator skin. In France, Lacoste's nickname was changed to "crocodile" and stuck with him due to his persistent and tenacious behavior on the court, where Lacoste never forgave the mistakes of his opponents.
Robert George, a friend of Lacoste, drew a crocodile for him, which was subsequently embroidered on the blazer in which the athlete competed, and then became established as the logo for all things produced by the company.

Fendi

In 1925, the brand appeared as the name of a married couple who opened their first store. And only in 1952, the Fendi family decided to invite a professional designer, the German Karl Lagerfeld, who laid the foundation for the brand, making it what we see it now. The designer also developed a memorable logo, which is still used today. The double “F” apparently symbolizes the Fendi couple.

Chanel

The famous Chanel logo was first shown to the fashion world in 1925 on the Chanel No. 5 bottle. There are several versions about the origin of the drawing. One story says that two crossed horseshoes are a symbol of success and good luck. However, most fashion historians are inclined to believe that the emblem is the initials of Coco Chanel, the founder of the French design house.

Calvin Klein

November 19, 1942 is the date of birth of the famous designer. Having started his atelier with the production of men's outerwear, Klein gradually moved on to designing clothes for women. In the 1970s, the designer adapted the classic men's suit for women's fashion. In 1970, he introduced the PeaCoat, a double-breasted short coat with wide lapels.

This model became not only a hit of the season, but also determined the fashion of the top women's clothing for almost a whole decade. The company logo – CK is easy to remember and gives a connection to the brand. A dark color logo is used on Haute Couture clothing, a gray logo is for regular clothing items, while a white logo is for sportswear.

Hermes

Hermé is a French design corporation that is directly associated with impeccable taste and first-class style. Designer Erme's logo depicts
a horse with a carriage, which is very symbolic for the brand - the history of the company began in 1837, when Thierry Hermes founded a private company producing harness for horses. Hermes is the surname of the founder.

The next five generations of this family constantly expanded production, creating a real Hermes empire. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Hermes production expanded to include leather goods and luggage bags. At the same time, a unique processing technology was used leather goods with a special “saddle” seam. This is how the Hermès style was born.

Burberry Prorsum

The company's success began with the invention of a waterproof material - gabardine - and its use in raincoats and long waterproof coats for soldiers. In 1901, Burberry already had a large order for these clothes. He marked the order with his new emblem - a horseman in armor and a spear in his hand was registered as a trademark of the brand. The knight's costume was a copy of the original.

The Latin word "Prorsum", used in heraldry as a motto meaning "Forward", reflects the company's desire for progressive innovation, and the spear is a symbol of the defense of tradition.

Versace

The Versace logo is symbolically associated with Greek mythology. The head of the Gorgon Medusa, according to the couturier’s idea, symbolizes the fact that he turns viewers into stone with his collections. The designer's logo was invented in 1978 by Gianni Versace himself, who was obsessed with classic themes. So, the jellyfish was the best option for him, since it was she who he considered “the embodiment of fatal attractiveness.”

Everything ingenious is simple. Collected in this material short stories The origins of the names of world-famous brands once again confirm this law of life.

Adidas

The founder of Adidas was named Adolf Dassler, Adi for short. His first company was called even more simply - Dassler, but by agreement with the co-founder of Dassler, brother Rudolf, with whom they had a strong quarrel 60 years ago, none of them had the right to use this name anymore.

Adobe Systems

In 1982, 40-year-old Xerox programmers John Warnock and Charles Geschke quit their jobs and started a software company. They named it Adobe, after the creek that ran behind Warnock's house.

Apple

Apple is the favorite fruit of company founder Steve Jobs. After three months of futile attempts to find a name for the new business, he gave his partners an ultimatum: “I will name the company Apple if you don’t come up with a better one by 5 o’clock.” Apple Macintosh is the name of a variety of apples sold in the United States.

Audi

Audi translates from Latin as “listen!” This is the Latin version of the surname of the company's founder - August Jorja

BMW

BMW stands for Bayerische Motoren Werke. English version - Bavarian Motor Works.

Canon

In 1930, in Japan, Goro Yoshida and his half-brother Saburo Uchida created a company with the name, which doesn’t tell us anything, Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory in Japan. Four years later, developments led to the creation of their first camera, which they named Kwanon, after the thousand-armed Buddhist deity of mercy.
To protect its trademark, the company registered a lot of words that sounded similar to Kwanon. One of them - the already known Canon - eventually replaced the original name due to disagreements with religious leaders. In English, Canon is translated as “Canon”, and in French as “Cannon”.

Casio

In honor of the company's founder, Kashio Tadao.

Cisco

Short for San Francisco.

Coca-Cola

The main ingredients of Coca-Cola, when the drink was opened, were as follows: three parts coca leaves (from the same leaves the drug cocaine was obtained) to one part tropical cola tree nuts.

Compaq

From Comp and paq (small integrated part).

Corel

In honor of company founder Dr. Michael Cowpland. Stands for COwpland REsearch Laboratory.

Daewoo

The company's founder, Kim Woo Chong, named the company modestly, “Big Universe,” which is exactly how it is translated from Korean.

FIAT

The company was founded in 1899. Fiat is an abbreviation for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (Turin Italian Automobile Plant). In addition, this abbreviation can be translated from Latin as an independent word, often used in church usage - “let it be.”

Fuji

Everything is very simple here, in honor of the highest and most famous mountain Japan, Fuji.

Google

This is the second name of the most famous search engine in the world, the first was BackRub. But it was soon replaced by Google. This is a slightly modified word “googol”, denoting the last number that has at least some meaning - a one followed by a hundred zeros.

Hallmark

One of the world's most famous companies in the greetings industry (cards, etc.). The word Hallmark refers to the mark that the masters of the English guilds put on their products, starting in the 14th century, as evidence that the guild vouches for quality.

Honda

The founder's name is Soichiro Honda.

Hotmail

Founder Jack Smith came up with the idea of ​​accessing email via the web from anywhere in the world. When Sabeer Bhatia showed up with a business plan of this service, he tried all the words ending in “mail” and finally settled on hotmail, since the letters HTML (web page markup language) were present in the name.

HP (Hewlett-Packard)

Founders Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard tossed a coin to decide whose name would come first. As you can imagine, Bill won.

Hyundai

In Korean, “present” (time).

IBM

IBM was founded in 1924 and its name stands for International Business Machines.

IKEA

Ingvar Kamprad (founding father) lmtaryd (home farm) A gunnaryd (home village in Småland in Sweden, where he was born and started his business mailing list pens of young Ingvar Kamprad).

Intel

Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore wanted to name the company Moore Noyce, but by that time there was already a chain of hotels with that name. So they decided to go with the acronym INTegrated ELectronics.

Kodak

K is the favorite letter of George Eastman, the company's founder. He looked for words that began and ended with this wonderful letter. Moreover, in all alphabets “K” is written the same way. In the end, Kodak was chosen, supposedly this is the sound the camera produces when shooting.

Lego

Derived from two Danish words: leg (“play”) and got (“good”). And translated from Latin, lego means “I read”, “I connect”.

LG

Initially, these were two separate organizations: the cosmetics company Lucky Chemical Industrial (since 1947) and the radio-electronic plant GoldStar (since 1958). After the merger, the company received the name Lucky Goldstar, and in 1995 changed it to LG Electronics, simply shortening the name to an abbreviation.

Microsoft

MICROcomputer SOFTware. Originally written as Micro-Soft. Then the line was removed.

Mitsubishi

Invented by company founder Yataro Iwasaki in 1870. translated from Japanese, mitsu means three, and hishi means diamond. The letter “b” turned out to be the sixth not because of an error, but because the Japanese usually pronounce “h” in the middle of a word as “b”. As for the logo, contrary to popular belief, it is the logo that is primary, and not the name. And it looks like this because the trefoil was the family coat of arms of the company’s founder.

Motorola

Founder Paul Galvin came up with the name when his company began producing radios for cars. The names of many audio component manufacturers at that time ended in “ola”, it was such a strange fashion.

NEC

Abbreviation for Nippon Electric Company, Ltd, which was abolished in 1983.

Nike

In 1978, Blue Ribbon Sports was officially renamed Nike, Inc. It is believed that the name is taken from the name of the goddess of victory Nike.

Nikon

Originally Nippon Kogaku, means "Japanese optics".

Nintendo

A composite of three Japanese characters "Nin-ten-do", which can be translated as "heaven bless hard work". Playing is so hard.

Nissan

Previously known as Nippon Sangio, which means "Japanese Industry".

Nokia

In 1865, Knut Fredrik Idestam founded a paper and pulp mill in southwestern Finland. The company began to bear the name Nokia after it moved to the bank of the Nokianvirta River in the city, actually, Nokia. The word "Nokia" itself in Finnish means a dark, very furry animal, something like an ermine.

Pepsi

First manufactured in the 1890s in New Bern, North Carolina by pharmacist Caleb Bradham. On August 28, 1898, Brad's drink was renamed Pepsi-Cola. The Pepsi-Cola trademark was registered on June 16, 1903. According to one version, Caleb Bradham derived the name “Pepsi” from the word pepsin (a digestive enzyme that helps break down protein). According to another version, Caleb Bradham borrowed the name “Pep Kola” from one of the local competitors, adjusted it a little and called his drink Pepsi-Cola.
According to another version, Caleb and his visitors simply liked the sound of this word, since it reflected the fact that the carbonated drink imparted some vivacity and energy (pep - pep, energy, liveliness).

Philips

The company was named after its founder, Friedrich Philips and his son Gerard, who founded it in 1891 in Eindhoven to produce light bulbs. They have not given up bringing light to the people to this day, but they have expanded their assortment with a couple of hundred more items.

Puma

This company belonged to the brother of the founder of Adidas, Rudolf Dassler. After the historical scandal at Dassler, the brothers moved to opposite sides of the river and each founded their own enterprise. Initially, Puma was called Ruda, in honor, as you understand, of Rudolph himself, but the name had to be changed in favor of euphony and memorability, leaving the basis - four letters, identical vowels, a similar first consonant.

Samsung

Translated from Korean, “samsung” means “three stars”.

Sanyo

In Chinese "Three Oceans".

Sharp

The origins of the etymology lie in the 10s of the last century, when Tokyo resident Tokuji Hayakawa began producing a signature product - an ever-sharp mechanical pencil that does not require sharpening. Sharp means "sharp" in English.

Siemens

Founded in 1847 by Werner von Siemens.

Sony

Original company name on Japanese sounded like “Tokyo tsushin koge kabushiki kaisa” and was translated into English language as Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Company. The company's founders, Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuki, spent a long time looking for a suitable word for a short name and came across the Latin word sonus (sound). In the 1950s, the American word sonny was popular in Japan, consonant with the word sonus and the word sunny (sunny). What could be better? But the word sonny, written in hieroglyphs, meant “unprofitable.” Then Akio Morita came up with the idea of ​​crossing out one letter “n” and calling the company “Sony.”

Subaru

After the name of the Pleiades constellation, which in Greek was also called “Seven Sisters”. And that’s just “Seven Sisters” in Japanese “Subaru”. Literally, brned-name is translated into Russian as “to unite into one.” The Pleiades constellation is displayed on the company logo.

Swatch

Abbreviation for Swiss Watch

Toshiba

It got its name as a result of the abbreviation in 1978 of the former name Tokyo Shibaura Elektric Co., Ltd, resulting from the merger of Tokyo Denki, which dealt with household electrical appliances, and Shibaura Seisaku-sho, which produced heavy electrical equipment.

Toyota

Named after the founder Sakichi Toyoda. Subsequently changed to the more harmonious Toyota. In Japanese it consisted of 8 letters (lucky number in Eastern culture).

Viagra

The first part of the word, "vi-", is taken from the words virility (potency), vitality ( life force), vigor (vigor). And the ending “-agra” means “catch”, “grasp”.

Xerox

Comes from the Greek “Xer”, which, contrary to the guesses of particularly witty comrades, is translated as “dry”. The fact is that at the time of writing the name for the future copying giant (late 40s), only wet copying existed, and the author wanted to emphasize the use of dry dye powder in the technology. In English-speaking countries, the brand name is not “copier”, but “zirox”.

Yahoo

The word was coined by Jonathan Swift in his book Gulliver's Travels. This was the name of one nasty tribe that Gulliver had to encounter on his travels. The founders of Yahoo! Jerry Yang and David Filo chose this name because they called themselves Yahoo. Besides, it's such a cry of joy.

3M

Mathematical notation for three-quarters of the acronym Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company.

What will happen if you translate the names of famous companies into Russian: verbatim, creatively, with humor, or all together.

What shapes do you see? It's just your imagination...

English graphic designer Graham Smith created the original Brand Reversioning series, in which he replaced the corporate style of one brand with the corporate style of another, often competing with it.

Facts about the origin of the names of famous world brands

Adobe- named after the Adobe Creek, which flowed behind the house of company founder John Warnock.

Adidas- in honor of one of the founders, Adi Dasler.

Apple- the favorite fruit of company founder Steve Jobs. After three months of futile attempts to find a name for the new business, he gave his partner an ultimatum: “I will name the company Apple if you don’t come up with a better one by 5 o’clock.” Apples Macintosh is the name of a variety of apples sold in the United States.

Canon- in honor of Kwanon, the Buddhist god of mercy. Changed to Canon to avoid protests from religious organizations.

Casio- in honor of the company's founder, Kashio Tadao.

Cisco- San Francisco for short.

Compaq- from Comp and paq (small integrated part).

Corel- in honor of the company's founder, Dr. Michael Cowpland. Stands for COwpland REsearch Laboratory.

Daewoo— the founder of the company, Kim Woo Chong, named the company modestly, “Big Universe,” which is exactly what it translates from Korean.

Fuji- in honor of the highest mountain in Japan, Fuji.

Google- the name comes from the word Googol, meaning one followed by 100 zeros. And Google was written on the check that the founders of this project (among whom, by the way, is a former Russian, Sergey Brin) received from the first investor. After that, they named the search engine exactly that.

HP(Hewlett-Packard) — Founders Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard tossed a coin to decide whose name would come first. As you can imagine, Bill won.

Hitachi- in Japanese, dawn.

Honda- the name of the founder of Soichiro Honda.

Honeywell— the name of the founder Mark Honeywell.

Hotmail— founder Jack Smith came up with the idea of ​​accessing email via the web from anywhere in the world. When Sabeer Bhatia came up with a business plan for this service, he tried all the words ending in “mail” and finally settled on hotmail, since the letters HTML (web page markup language) were present in the name.

Hyundai- “present” (time) in Korean.

IBM— International Business Machines.

Intel— Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore wanted to name the company Moore Noyce, but by that time there was already a chain of hotels with that name. So they decided to go with the acronym INTegrated ELectronics.

Kawasaki- in honor of the founder of Shozo Kawasaki.

Kodak— K is the favorite letter of George Eastman, the founder of the company. He looked for words that began and ended with this wonderful letter. Moreover, in all alphabets “K” is written the same way. In the end, Kodak was chosen, supposedly this is the sound the camera produces when shooting.

Konica- formerly known as Konishiroku Kogaku.

LG- the first letters of two Korean brands Lucky and Goldstar.

Lotus— Mitch Kapor, the company's founder, was a meditator. Hence the name (lotus position).

Microsoft— MICROcomputer SOFTware. Originally written as Micro-Soft. Then the line was removed.

Mitsubishi- was invented by the founder of the company, Yataro Iwasaki, in 1870. Means "Three Diamonds" in Japanese. The name is also displayed in the company logo.

Motorola— founder Paul Galvin came up with the name when his company began producing radios for cars. Many audio component manufacturers at the time ended in "ola".

Mozilla Foundation is the successor to the Netscape Navigator browser. When Marc Andreesen, the founder of Netscape, created a browser to replace Mosaic, inside the company it was called Mozilla (Mosaic-Killer, Godzilla).

Nabisco- originally "The NATional BISCuit COmpany", changed to Nabisco in 1971.

Nikon- originally Nippon Kogaku, means “Japanese optics”.

Nintendo- a composite of 3 Japanese characters “Nin-ten-do”, which can be translated as “heaven bless hard work.”

Nissan- formerly known as Nichon Sangio, which means "Japanese Industry".

Nokia— began as a woodworking factory and grew to produce rubber products in the Finnish city of Nokia.

Novell- the name was invented by the wife of co-founder George Canova. She mistakenly thought that "Novell" meant "new" in French.

Oracle- Company founders Larry Ellison and Bob Oats were working on a consulting project for the CIA, codenamed Oracle. The project was subsequently closed, but the name remained.

Sanyo- in Chinese “Three Oceans”.

SAP— “Systems, Applications, Products in Data Processing”, founded by 4 former employees IBM, who worked in the Systems/Applications/Projects group.

SCO- from Santa Cruz Operation.

Siemens- founded in 1847 by Werner von Siemens.

Sony- from the Latin “Sonus” (sound) and “sonny” (slang for a youngster).

Subaru- named after the constellation. It is also displayed on the company logo.

SUN- founded by 4 university friends, short for Stanford University Network.

Suzuki- named after the founder Michio Suzuki.

Toshiba- was founded after the merger of the consumer goods company Tokyo Denki (Tokyo Electric Co) and the electrical company Shibaura Seisaku-sho (Shibaura Engineering Works).

Toyota- named after the founder Sakichi Toyoda. Subsequently changed to a more benign Toyota. In Japanese it consisted of 8 letters (lucky number in Japan).

Xerox— Inventor Chestor Carlson wanted to reflect the word “dry” in the name (since at that time only wet copying existed). "Xer" is dry in Greek.

Yahoo- the word was coined by Jonathan Swift in the book Gulliver's Travels. That was the name of a repulsive, disgusting person. The founders of Yahoo! Jerry Yang and David Filo chose this name because they called themselves Yahoos. However, now the name stands for Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle.

3M—Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company