brand history

BMW : History

Posted by admin on Jun 15th, 2011 and filed under Brand History, Feature post. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Brand: BMW

What is BMW: Bayerische Motoren Werke (English:Bavarian Motor Works) is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company- best known for its performance and luxury vehicles, and is a global leader in premium car sales

FSE Ticker: BMW

Subsidiaries: It owns the Morris Mini-Minor/Mini brand that produces small range of cars. BMW is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands.

History: Aircraft engine manufacturer Rapp Motorenwerke became Bayerische Motorenwerke in 1916 when the board of directors fired founder Karl Rapp and changed the company name.

The company consequently shifted to motorcycle production in 1923 when BMW was forced to stop aircraft engine production by the terms of the Versailles Armistice Treaty

Trivia:

1) The circular blue and white BMW logo represents the movement of an aircraft propeller, that signifies the white blades cutting through the blue sky. Also, represents the Bavarian flag.

2) BMW began building motorcycle engines and then motorcycles after World War I. under the brand  now known as BMW Motorrad, with the first successful one being R32 after the failure of Helios and Flink.

3) A BMW New Class was used as the taxi for shuttling sportcaster Jim McKay to the Olympic Village during the terrorist attacks of the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich

4) BMW has been engaged in motorsports since the establishment of the first BMW motorcycle, the major one being Formula BMW (A Junior racing Formula category.) and Kumho BMW Championship (A BMW-exclusive championship run in the United Kingdom.).

5) The English slang terms Beemer, Bimmer and Bee-em are widely used for BMWs of all kinds, cars, and motorcycles.

6) The BMW film series, The Hire was a series of eight films starring Clive Owen as the “Driver”. The films highlighted the performance aspects of various BMW automobile

7) The BMW Headquarters in Munich (built in 1972) was declared historical in 1999

BMW is only one of the 3 companies in the world that create both bikes and cars. Do you know the other two??

Famous Ad Campaign:

BMW  - ‘Joy Is Impatient’, ‘Joy Is Maternal’, ‘Joy Is Youthful’, ‘The ultimate attraction’ are some of the famous ad campaign.

Brand: Godrej

What is Godrej: The Godrej Group is an Indian Conglomerate Headquartered in Mumbai, having interests in real estate, FMCG, industrial engineering, appliances, furniture, security and agri care.

Brands: Good Knight, Ezee, Jet, Hit, Genteel, Cinthol, Shikakai, Swastik, Godrej No 1, Crowning Glory, Protekt, Godrej Shaving Cream, Kesh Kala, Anoop Hair Oil, Kali Mehendi, Nupoor, Renew, Go Jiyo.

Founders: Ardeshir Godrej, Pirojsha Godrej.

History: After two of his ventures burst, Ardeshir Godrej established a Lock manufacturing company in 1897 at a tiny shed in Lalbaug, Mumbai, rented at Rs.20.He began by manufacturing hi-security ‘anchor’ lock on May 7. His brother Pirojsha Godrej joined in 1906, after completing engineering from Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute, Bombay.

Trivia:

1. In 1904, Godrej and Boyce gave the first public test of their fire resistant quality safes at Lalbaug which burned for three hours with paper inside. In 1905, they supplied a safe to her Royal Highness, The Princess Of Wales.
2. Godrej secured its first patent (patent # 15773) in 1909 for spring less lock under the seal of King Edward VII of England.
3. In 1919, godrej launched Soap No. 2. Ardeshir called it Soap No 2 as he hoped to better its quality and thereafter launch Godrej No 1 (1922).
4. In 1951, in the wake of India’s 1^st General Election, Godrej received an order from Election Commission to manufacture 9 Lac Ballot Boxes at Rs. 44 Lac within 3 months. These ballot boxes were dispatched from the railway sliding at Vikroli to different states.
5. Cinthol was launched on 15^th August, 1952 with the world-famous proven deodorant hexachlorophene (G-11). The name Cinthol is derived from Synthetic Phenol: Synth+ol.
6. In 1955, Godrej manufactured India’s first indigenous typewriter, the market for which was dominated by foreign brands like Remington, Halda and Facit.
7. In 1986, Sambhu Anubhawane, a job-typist from Bombay enters Guiness book of world records aftertyping continuously for 123 hours on a Godrej Prima Typewriter.
8. Godrej Washing machine were used on the highways by dhabas to churn Lassi.
9. The group’s original logo, red in color, depicts founder Ardeshir Godrej’s signature in a running hand. This was replaced with a bright rainbow colored cursive signature in 2008. The new corporate identity was created by Interbran

Brand: Walmart

What is Wal-mart: Wal-mart is an American multinational retail conglomerate that runs chains of large discount departmental stores, supermarkets and warehouse stores.

NYSE Ticker: WMT

Subsidiaries & Brands: Walmex (Mexico), Asda (U.K), Massmart (Africa), Sam’s Club(North America, Canada), Seiyu Group(Japan)

History: Sam Walton founded Wal-mart in the year 1962 after studying about discount retailing, incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc in the year 1969, and went public for trading in 1972.  Walton opened its first Wal-Mart Discount City store at 719 Walnut Ave. in Rogers, Arkansas. Entered Fortune 500 in the year 2002

Trivia :

1) Walmart’s initial logo was a hyphenated name with a star and then unveiled a new logo featuring the non-hyphenated name “Walmart” and a symbol resembling a sunburst or flower.

2) Change in Walmart’s slogan to “Save Money Live Better,” replacing the “Always Low Prices, Always” slogan is one of its recent initiatives.

3) Walmart currently has 8,500 stores in 15 countries, under 55 different names making it the largest retailing corp.

4) A joint venture with Bharti Enterprises lead by Sunil Mittal have been signed to open its retail stores in India.

5) Equate is the brand name for consumable pharmacy, health & cosmetics items, such as shaving cream, skin lotion, over-the-counter medications, and pregnancy tests while Ol’ Roy is Walmart’s store brand of dog food.

6) Other Walmart’s in-house brands include, White Stag for Women’s clothing, footwear; George for formal wear; Canopy; @the office…

7) Walmart in association with Procter and Gamble produced family movies such as Secrets of the Mountain and The Jensen Project and featured characters using Walmart and P&G products.

Famous Ad Campaign:

All Walmart’s ad campaign bears the message “Low Prices. Every Day. On Everything” One such ad is the clown commercial www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsvAj6qfmFQ

Brand: Phillips-Van Heusen

What is PVH: Philip-Van Heusen is an American apparel company, and the world’s largest shirt company.

Brands: Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Van Heusen, Izod, Arrow, Bass.

Founder(s): John M. Van Heusen, Isaac Phillips.

History: The history of Phillips-Van Heusen can be traced back to 1876, when G. H. Bass began his shoe manufacturing company in Maine. Separately, John M. Van Heusen and Isaac Phillips met and formed the Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation. In 1881, Moses Phillips and his wife Endel began sewing shirts by hand and selling them from pushcarts to local Pottsville, Pennsylvania anthracite coal miners. This grew into a shirt business in New York City.

Trivia:

1. PVH placed one of the first ever shirt ads in the Saturday Evening Post.
2. The Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation received a patent for a self-folding collar in 1919, which was released to the public in 1921 and was successful. The first collar attached shirt was introduced in 1929.
3. In 1927, Charles Lindbergh wears Bass Aviation Boots on his historic transatlantic flight from New York to Paris.
4. In 1952, Legendary tennis player René Lacoste partners with the David Crystal company, owner of the IZOD brand, to market a new pique knit. The company’s popularity soars, as an increasing number of celebrities are spotted in these shirts.
5. In 1982, PVH launches Geoffrey Beene shirts, one of America’s top selling designer dress shirts.
6. Vin Draddy acquired the rights to the Izod name in the early 1900s. PVH acquired the brand in 1995. It was followed by the Arrow brand in 2000 and the Calvin Klein Company in 2002.
7. In 2004, PVH Dress Shirt Group expands it license agreements to include MICHAEL Michael Kors, BCBG Max Azria, BCBG Attitude, Sean John and Donald H. Trump Signature.
8. The corporation began making men’s apparel under the Timberland name in 2008
9. On 15th March 2010, Phillips-Van Heusen acquired Tommy Hilfiger for $3 Billion
10. PVH has licensing agreement with brands like Chaps, DKNY, Michael Kors, Donald Trump’s Signature Collection, Joe, Kenneth Cole, Nautica,  Ted Baker.

·         Brand utch Boy Paint

What is Dutch Boy: The Dutch Boy Group is a world renowned paint manufacturing company.

History: The company was founded in 1907 as the National Lead Company, Dutch Boy is currently a subsidiary of, and is owned and operated by, the Diversified Brands Division of the Sherwin-Williams Company.

Trivia:

1. The company was named after “The Dutch Process” which helped perfect paint quality in 16th century Holland.
2. The boy in the Dutch Boy logo was painted by artist Lawrence Carmichael Earle.
3. Ironically, Michael E. Brady, the nine-year-old boy who became the inspiration for the famous Dutch Boy® trademark, was not Dutch at all, but an Irish-American who lived near the artist commissioned to create the logo.
4. Dutch Boy paint has been used for some very prestigious jobs including: The Hollywood Sign, The White House, The Golden Gate Bridge, Disney World, US Naval Battleships and aircraft carriers.
5. Since 1907, the Dutch Boy logo has changed seven different times: 1917 1947 1957 1967 1977 2000.

Brand: ITC

What is ITC: ITC is an FMCG major, headquartered in Kolkata ,India. The company’s business interests spans Cigarettes & Tobacco, Hotels, Information Technology, Packaging, Paperboards & Specialty Papers, Agri-business, Foods, Lifestyle Retailing, Education & Stationery and Personal Care.

Brands:

Cigarettes: W. D. & H. O. Wills, Gold Flake Kings, Gold Flake Premium, Navy Cut, Insignia, India Kings, Classic (Verve, Menthol, Menthol Rush, Regular, Mild & Ultra Mild), 555, Benson & Hedges, Silk Cut, Scissors, Capstan, Berkeley, Bristol, Lucky Strike, Players and Flake

Foods: Kitchens Of India, Aashirvaad, Minto, Sunfeast, Candyman, Bingo,

Apparel: Wills Lifestyle, John Players.

Personal Care: Fiama Di Wills, Vivel, Superia,

Stationary: Paperkraft, Classmate

Matches: iKno, Mangaldeep, Aim, Aim Mega and Aim Metro.

Agarbattis: Spriha, Mangaldeep.

History: The Company traces its origin to Wills, Watkins & Co. founded by Henry Overton Wills I and his partner Watkins, who opened a shop in Castle Street, Bristol in 1786. After the retirement of his partner in 1789, it became Wills & Co. The company pioneered canteens for the workers, free medical care, sports facilities and paid holidays. In 1830, the company was renamed W.D. & H.O. Wills. In 1901 Sir William Henry Wills formed the Imperial Tobacco Company from a merger of W.D. & H.O. Wills with seven other British tobacco companies.

ITC was incorporated on August 24, 1910 under the name Imperial Tobacco Company of India Limited. As the Company’s ownership progressively Indianised, the name of the Company was changed from Imperial Tobacco Company of India Limited to India Tobacco Company Limited in 1970 and then to I.T.C. Limited in 1974.

Trivia:

1. The company’s corporate HQ ‘Virginia House’ is located on the plot of land at 37, Chowringhee (now renamed JL Nehru Road), which it purchased on August 24, 1926 to mark its 16^th anniversary.
2. In recognition of the Company’s multi-business portfolio encompassing a wide range of businesses, the full stops in the Company’s name were removed effective September 18, 2001. The Company now stands rechristened ‘ITC Limited’.
3. The Company’s ‘e-Choupal’ initiative is enabling Indian agriculture significantly enhance its competitiveness by empowering Indian farmers through the power of the Internet. It has been chosen as a case study by Harvard Business School
4. In 1975 the Company launched its Hotels business with the acquisition of a hotel in Chennai which was rechristened ‘ITC-Welcomgroup Hotel Chola’.
5. In 1985, ITC set up Surya Tobacco Co. in Nepal as an Indo-Nepal and British joint venture. Since inception, its shares have been held by ITC, British American Tobacco and various independent shareholders in Nepal.
6. In 1979, ITC entered the Paperboards business by promoting ITC Bhadrachalam Paperboards Limited, which today has become the market leader in India. Bhadrachalam Paperboards amalgamated with the Company effective March 13, 2

Brand: Dell

What is Dell: Dell, Inc. is one of the largest technological corporations in the world, employing more than 103,300 people worldwide that develops, sells and supports computers and related products and services.

Founded by: Michael Dell on November 4, 1994 in Austin, Texas.

Trivia

• The company originally started as PCs Limited in Michael’s dorm room in Austin

• From its early beginnings, Dell operated as a pioneer in the “configure to order” approach to manufacturing—delivering individual   PCs configured to customer specifications. In contrast, most PC manufacturers in those times delivered large orders to intermediaries on a quarterly basis. As a pioneer in e-commerce, Dell.com sold $1 million per day just seven months after its launch. In 2007 Dell.com was the fourth largest U.S. e-commerce site, with $4.2 billion in sales.

• Siegel+Gale developed the Dell logo. The slanted E represents Michael Dell’s wish to “turn the world on its ear”

• The company was started with $1000. Four years later, shares of Dell stock were sold for $8.50, and the IPO raised $30 million.

• Dell now does business with every Fortune 100 company.

• Michael Dell became the youngest CEO to head a Fortune 500 company when the company was first included on the list in 1992.

• In 2003, the company changed its name to Dell, Inc (from Dell Computers) to reflect its expansion into other products like televisions, digital audio players and computer printers.

Share on Facebook

Brand: Amazon.com

What is Amazon – is a Fortune 500 American e-commerce company which is the largest online electronic retailer in America

Founder: Jeff Bezos in 1994

Brand History – Amazon began as an online bookstore. This gave it the advantage of having more titles than the traditional brick-and-mortar stores. The company was originally named Cadabra, Inc., but the name was changed when it was discovered that people sometimes heard the name as “Cadaver”.

The name Amazon.com was chosen because the Amazon River is one of the largest rivers in the world and so the name suggests large size, and also in part because it starts with “A” and therefore would appear near the beginning of alphabetical lists.

Brand Logo: The Amazon logo represents the very same message that they sell everything from A to Z and the arrow below the logo represents the smile that customers would experience by shopping on the Amazon.com website.

Trivia

• The company began service in July 1995, and sold its first book on amazon.com – Douglas Hofstadter’s Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought.

• Amazon.com powers and operates retail web sites for Target, Sears Canada, Benefit Cosmetics, bebe Stores, Timex, Marks & Spencer, Mothercare, and Lacoste. For a growing number of enterprise clients, currently including the UK merchants Marks & Spencer, Benefit Cosmetics’ UK entity, edeals.com, and Mothercare, Amazon provides a unified multichannel platform where a customer can seamlessly interact with some people that they call the retail website, standalone in-store terminals, or phone-based customer service agents.

• In 2001, “Amazon spent 7 dollars to acquire a new customer” and the average “customer spending was 123 dollars.”

• In 1999 Time Magazine named Bezos its 1999 Person of the Year. This was largely in recognition of the company’s success in popularizing online shopping.

• Amazon suffered a lot criticism for terminating the hosting of Wikileaks the controversial website. Despite accusations of political pressure, Amazon maintained that the termination was a consequence of a violation of their terms and conditions by Wikileaks.

• Today, Amazon.com has also launched an extremely popular e-reader called Kindle and a popular cloud computing service called EC2

Brand: Adobe Systems

Brand History : Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company focusing upon the creation of multimedia and creativity software products, with a more-recent foray towards rich Internet application software development.

Founded by John Warnock and Charles Geschke in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States.

Founders: John Warnock and Charles Geschke

Brand Name Origin: The company name Adobe comes from Adobe Creek in Los Altos, California, which ran behind the house of one of the company’s founders.

Trivia

• Adobe is the company which created the PDF format and now owns Macromedia, which created the Flash Player.

• Before founding Adobe Systems, Inc. in 1982, both men worked at the prominent Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in the late 1970’s. The inspiration to create Adobe came from the research they conducted on device-independent graphic systems and printers.

• In the beginning on 2010, Adobe entered into a major controversy with its long term partner Apple. The  issue was sparked by Apple’s announcement that it would stop using Adobe’s Flash technology in the newer versions of its iPad. Apple blamed the software for most of the crashes and called it ‘buggy’. This resulted in a major war of words between the two giants.

Adobe stopped the funding of iPad applications and joined hands with rivals Google to develop the Android system.

Adobe went so far as to launch an ad campaign criticizing Apple’s decision to stop the usage of Flash.

Share on Facebook

Brand: Pillsbury

What is Pillsbury: Pillsbury is a range of refrigerated and baking products from General Mills

Founder: Charles Alfred Pillsbury, John Sargent Pillsbury.

History: The C.A. Pillsbury and Company was founded in 1872 by John Pillsbury and his uncle John on the bank of river Mississippi. In 1923, the Pillsbury company regained the lost control of Pillsbury-Washburn Flour Mills Company, Ltd. which subsequently was incorporated in 1935 as Pillsbury Flour Mills Company.

Trivia:

1. Charles Pillsbury painted his name on the top of the 196-pound flour barrel, with ail heads around the circumference. As packaging evolved the barrelhead remained, looking much as it does today: a blue and white circle with the Pillsbury name and nail heads in white
2. The Pillsbury Company acquired Burger King, Steak & Ale, Bennigans, Godfather Pizza, Haazen Dazs and Green Giant in the second half of 20^th century.
3. The Pillsbury Doughboy, Poppin’ Fresh, was created by the Leo Burnett advertising agency’s copy writer, Rudy Perz, as he was sitting in his kitchen in 1965, under pressure to create an advertising campaign. It was originally drawn by Martin Nodell (creator of Green Lantern) and brought to life using stop motion clay animation.
4. In 1970s, a Pillsbury Doughboy family was created and sold as dolls. They include—Poppie Fresh (Mrs. Pillsbury), GrandPopper and GrandMommer, Biscuit (Cat), Flapjack (Dog), Popper (Son), Bun-Bun (daughter), Rollie (Uncle).
5. Pillsbury Atta was one of the first brandS in India to offer a toll free number. It was branded Namaste Pillsbury and was operational from 9am to 9pm from Monday through Saturdays.
6. The company was purchased by Diageo in 1989 and in 2001, it merged with its old rival General Mills.
7. The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in the Ghostbusters movie is inspired by the Pillsbury Doughboy

Brand : Nivea

What is Nivea: Nivea is a global skin- and body-care brand, owned by the German company Beiersdorf.

History: The Company Beiersdorf was founded on March 28 1882 in Hamburg, Germany by pharmacist Carl Paul Beiersdorf. In 1890 it was acquired by pharmacist Dr. Oscar Troplowitz who had, till then, successfully developed and produced the first technical adhesive tapes along with medical plasters and the first adhesive rubber. NIVEA Creme required the work of three extremely resourceful men – Dr. Oscar Tropowitz, Prof. Paul Gerson Unna and Dr. Isaac Lifschutz - for its development.

Trivia:

1. NIVEA is of polish origin, bought by German investors.
2. In 1909, Beiersdorf had launched Labello. It is the first lip care product in sliding tube packaging. The term Labello is derived from the Latin for “beautiful lip” (labeo = lip; bello = beautiful).
3. After decades of research, Dr Isaac Lifschutz invented Eucerit, which meant that a product was now available which could combine an active substance, fat, with water to give a stable base for ointments. Dr Oscar Troplowitz used this as the base for his new innovation: NIVEA.
4. In accordance with the custom of giving Latin names to pharmaceutical products, Dr. Troplowitz called his snow-white cream “NIVEA”, derived from the Latin adjective “niveus/nivea/niveum”, meaning snow white.
5. Just after invention, NIVEA Cream was sold in a yellow tin. The fanciful decoration of green tendrils reflected a popular artistic trend of the period, Art Nouveau (French for “new art”).
6. The now popular blue packaging was introduced in 1925.
7. The first advertisement of NIVEA was created by the famous poster artist Hans Rudi Erdt who designed the poster “With the Likeness of a Lady” in 1912.

Brand: Samsonite:

What is Samsonite: Samsonite is a US Corporation known for its products ranging from large suitcases to small toiletries bags and briefcases.

Founder: Jesse Shwayder

Brands: Samsonite, American Tourister, Lark.

History: Samsonite was founded by Jesse Shwayder, as the Shwayder Trunk Manufacturing Company in Denver, Colorado, USA in 1910.

Brand Name Origin: Shwayder named one of his initial cases “Samson”, after the Biblical strongman, and began using the trademark Samsonite in 1941. The company changed its name to Samsonite in 1966.

Trivia:

1. Jesse Shwayder worked as a luggage salesman, selling suitcases made by the Seward Trunk & Bag Company, until he used his life savings of $3,500 to establish his own Shwayder Trunk Manufacturing Company, on 10 March 1910.
2. The business initially made folding card tables and furniture under the “Samson” brand
3. Shwayder, who was devoutly religious, also named his son King David and required all company executives to carry the Golden Rule engraved on a golden band.
4. In 1973, The Shwayder family sold the company to Beatrice Foods, which later sold it to PE firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts in 1987.  Samsonite is currently owned jointly by Citi Venture Capital (CVC) and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).
5. In 1993, Samsonite acquired ‘American Tourister’, whose most memorable ad campaign featured a gorilla (actually a man called Don McLeod in a costume).
6. Samsonite’s early tagline was “Strong Enough to Stand On.“, which later changed to ‘Tough Luggage for a tough world’. Its current tagline is ‘Life is a journey’.
7. The brand is endorsed by Kareena Kapoor in India.
8. Samsonite also got world renowned businessmen including Richard Branson, to endorse their brand

Brand: Britannia:

What is Britannia: Britannia is India’s leading biscuit manufacturer with an estimated 38% market share.

Brands: Tiger, Marie Gold, Nutri Choice, Time Pass, Milk Bikis, 50-50, Good day, Bourbon, Treat.

History: Britannia was founded in 1892 with an investment of Rs. 295. Initially biscuits were manufactured in a small house in central Kolkata. Later, the business was acquired by the Gupta brothers and operated under the name of V.S. Brothers.

In 1918, C H Holmes, an English businessman in Kolkata was taken as a partner and ‘The Britannia Biscuit Company Limited (BBCo)’ was launched. The Mumbai factory was setup in 1924 and Peak Freans, UK acquired a controlling interest in BBCo.

Corporate History: Kerala businessman K. Rajan Pillai secured control of the group in the late 1980s, becoming known in India as the ‘Biscuit King’. In 1993, the Wadia Group acquired a stake in ABIL, UK and became an equal partner with Groupe Danone in Britannia Industries Limited.

Trivia:

1. In 1921 it Britannia becomes the first company east of the Suez to use gas ovens.
2. The company name was changed to the current Britannia Industries Limited in 1979.
3. In 1989, it moved it corporate HQ to Bangalore.
4. In 1997 BIL adopted a new corporate identity ‘Eat Healthy, Think Better’ and a new mission: ‘Make every third Indian a Britannia consumer’.
5. In 2009, Britannia takes full control of Daily Bread; buys out New Zealand’s Fonterra from existing dairy joint venture— Britannia New Zealand Foods (BNZF)
6. The  Wadia Group acquired stake holdings from Group Danone and becomes the single largest shareholder in BIL.

Brand: Adidas

What is Adidas: Adidas is a sports apparel manufacturer based out of Germany. Adidas also produces products like shirts, watches, eye gear, bags and other sports and clothing-related merchandise.

FWB Ticker: ADS

Subsidiaries: Reebok, Rockport, Ashworth golf co., Salomon-AG.

History: Adidas was founded in 1924 by bothers Adolf ‘Adi’ Dassler. His brother,Rudolph later joined the business. The company was first named ‘Dassler shoes’ and later named Adidas after the split. ‘Horst Dassler’ took over the company from 1978.

Trivia :

1. Did you know? After the brothers Adolph and Rudolph split, Rudolph ‘Rudi’ Dassler went on to start leading shoe maker PUMA.

2. The 3 parallel bars in the Adidas logo were created to keep the foot stable, however ended up being the logo and the name is actually a portmanteau formed from “Adi” (a nickname for Adolf) and “Das” (from “Dassler”).

3. The brand is further divided into 3 trademark ranges- Adidas Performance, Adidas Originals, and Style Essentials.

4. “Impossible is Nothing” is the current mainstream marketing slogan for Adidas.

5. Adidas took over ‘Reebok’ in January 2006 and acquisition allowed Adidas to compete with its American rival ‘Nike’ by bringing the business sales closer.

6. Sachin Tendulkar being the brand ambassador, Adidas ushered a cricket bat, ‘Adidas Master Blaster’, personalized for him.

7. The logo of Adidas is called Trefoil

8. Adidas acquired Salomon group in 1997, specialized in skiwear and functioned as ‘Adidas Salomon AG’. The logo incorporated three shapes to look like a diamond.

Famous Ad Campaign:

The “All Adidas” ad campaign is tipped to be the largest campaign ever. created by Montreal agency Sid Lee.

Brand: Chevrolet

What is Chevrolet: Also known as, Chevy is a brand of vehicles produced by General Motors Company (GM).

Brands: Chevrolet is the wholly subsidiary of General motors Co. that was acquired to sell mainstream vehicles to compete with Ford’s T Model.

Corvette- Sports cars, Malibu- Mid size cars, Chevelle are the major brands of Chevrolet.

History: Founded by Louis Chevrolet and expelled GM founder William C. Durant in 1911 as Chevrolet Motor Car Company. Later acquired by General Motors Company. Chevrolet Classic Six (Series C) was the first ever Chevrolet designed by Etienne Planche.

Trivia :

1. Chevrolet first used its “Bowtie emblem” logo in 1913 designed from wallpaper Durant once saw in a French hotel; Later stylized the Swiss cross, in honor of the homeland of Chevrolet’s parents.

2. Chevrolet brands in India was launched by GM’s India operations- Originally a joint venture with Hindustan Motors.

3. Chevrolet is the sole Engine supplier for the Formula Rolon single seater series in India.

4. “Excellence for Everyone” is the present tagline of Chevrolet (2011)

5. William Durrant assembled these three companys to form Chevrolet: The Little Motor Car Company; The Mason Motor

Company; The Republic Motor Company.

6. Saif ali Khan and Rani Mukerjee are the brand ambassadors of mid size Chevrolet Aveo, in India.

7. General Motors permitted AJS-Production, South Africa to register under Louis Chevrolet trademark for its line of premium quality Swiss Watches in order to pay tribute to Louis Chevrolet, the founder.

Louis Chevrolet: Louis Chevrolet , founder of Chevrolet General Motors best selling brand, was born in 1878. He won his place in the International Motorsport Hall of Fame and the national Sprint car Hall of Fame as well as Motorsports Hall Of Fame in America. He later died in 1941.

Famous Ad Campaign:

Chevrolet has many ad campaigns under its banner, The Chevrolet Spark; Chevrolet Super bowl commercial “Ain’t  we got one” being the famous one.

Brand: GUCCI

What is GUCCI: Gucci is a high fashion and leather goods label from Italy, known for its luxury handbags, shoes and small leather goods for men and women

Euronext Ticker: PP -after the parent company-  Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (PPR)

History: The House of Gucci, or Gucci , an Italian haute couture establishment was founded by Guccio Gucci in Florence in 1921. Gucci later expanded the company to include stores in Milan and Rome as well as additional shops in Florence from 1953.

Trivia :

1.  Gucci logo is “facing double interlocking Gs”, actually featuring Guccio Gucci’s initials.

2. In 1998, Guinness World Records cited the Gucci “Genius Jeans” as the most expensive pair of Jeans in existence. These distressed, ripped jeans were offered for sale for US$3,134 in Milan.

3. GUCCI is the first high end leather label to design leather accessories for pets.

4. Jakie Onassis, Sophia Loren, Rock Hudson, Duchess of Windsor, Sidney Poitier, Andrey Hepburn, Andrew Peacock, Kim Novak, Elizabeth Taylor, Clark Gable, John Wayne, Jack Nicholson, Madonna, Elizabeth Hurley, Gwen Steffani, Jessica Simpson, Lars Ulrich – Metallica, Mark Wahlberg are the faces of Gucci and have been associated with the brand strappingly.

5. Gucci designed handbags of cotton canvas rather than leather during World War II because of material shortages.

6. Gucci is one of the brands mentioned in Bryan Adams’ popular song – ‘The only thing that looks good on me is You!!’

Guccio Gucci

Famous Ad Campaign:

Gucci has launched various ad campaigns for different products.

Brand: Domino’s Pizza

What is Domino’s Pizza: Domino’s is an international pizza delivery corporation headquartered in Michigan, United States.

NYSE: DPZ

Founders: Tom Monaghan

History of Domino’s : n 1960, Tom Monaghan and his brother, James, purchased DomiNick’s, a small pizza store in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Eight months later, James traded his half of the business to Tom for a used Volkswagen Beetle.

Trivia:

1) Tom bought 50% of Domino’s from his brother in return for a used Volkswagen Beetle.

2) The three dots in the Domino’s Pizza logo represents the first three stores of DPZ that had opened

3) The company logo was originally planned to add a new dot with the addition of every new store, but this idea quickly faded as Domino’s experienced rapid growth

4)  Domino’s faced a lawsuit by Amstar Corporation, maker of Domino Sugar for trademark infringement

5) A Domino’s employee rang the opening bell at NYSE when the shares started trading in 2004.

6) Domino’s had a 30-slice, yard long pizza called ‘The Dominator’

7) Famous for their 30-minute guarantee, Domino’s stopped the offer in the 1990s because of the “public perception of reckless driving and irresponsibility”, according to Monaghan but was reinstated in 2007 with a new slogan - ‘You Got 30 Minutes’

The Noid was an advertising character for Domino’s Pizza, created in 1986. He was a villainous red-suited character with red rabbit ears who attempted to ruin Domino’s pizza but was constantly thwarted.

9) The Noid was created  by advertising agency Group 243 and was animated by Will Vinton Studios

10) Commercial used slogans ‘Avoid the Noid!’ . Even a computer game with the same name was released in 1989!

Brand : American Express

What is American Express: American Express, popularly known as AmEx is a global financial services company headquartered in New York. They are best known for their credit cards and traveler’s cheques.

NYSE: AXP

Founders:  Henry Wells , William Fargo , John Warren Butterfield

History of AmEx : American Express was started as an express mail business in Albany, New York, in 1850. It was founded as a joint stock corporation by the merger of the express companies owned by Henry Wells (Wells & Company), William Fargo (Livingston, Fargo & Company), and John Warren Butterfield (Wells, Butterfield & Company, the successor earlier in 1850 of Butterfield, Wasson & Company)

Trivia:

1) AmEx’s mascot, adopted in 1958, is a Roman gladiator whose image appears on the company’s travelers’ cheques and charge cards.

2) The founers of the company also started Wells, Fargo & Co

3) Amex started as an express mail service (faster delivery postal service) before becoming a financial conglomerate.

4) History of Traveler’s Cheque: Between 1888 and 1890, J. C. Fargo took a trip to Europe and returned frustrated and infuriated. Despite the fact that he was president of American Express and that he carried with him traditional letters of credit, he found it difficult to obtain cash anywhere except in major cities. Fargo went to Marcellus Flemming Berry and asked him to create a better solution than the traditional letter of credit. Berry introduced the American Express Traveler’s Cheque which was launched in 1891 in denominations of $10, $20, $50, and $10

5) Expressing grief over the high merchant fees that Amex used to charge, some merchants revolted and the revolt was called ‘The Boston Fee Party’

6) American Express formed a joint venture with Warner Communications in 1979 called Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, which created MTV, Nickelodeon, Star Plus, Aaj Tak, Sony, Max, IBN-7, Star News and The Movie Channel. The partnership only lasted until 1984. The properties were sold to Viacom soon after.

7) Amex publishes the Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine, Executive Travel, and Departures magazines.

Famous Advertising:

In 1975, David Ogilvy of Ogilvy & Mather developed the highly successful Don’t Leave Home Without Them ad campaign for American Express Traveler’s Cheques, featuring Oscar-award-winning actor Karl Malden.

Brand: Durex

What is Durex: Durex is one of the most popular condom brands in the world

History: The story of Durex began in 1915 when L.A Jackson founded London Rubber Company. He established the company in a small room in London . The Durex trademark was registered in 1929.

The company changed its name to London International Group. It merged with Seton Scholl in 1999 to form SSL International. Durex was sold to Reckitt Benckiser in July 2010 from SSL.

Brand Name : Durex is a portmanteau of “Durability, Reliability, and Excellence”

Trivia:

1) Durex stands for  ”Durability, Reliability, and Excellence” and not Durable Latex as is guessed by most people.

2) Durex condoms account for a quarter of a latex products sold in the world!!

3) Their most popular brands are: Play, Avanti, Performa , Colors & Scents, Extra Sensitive and Rainbow Colors.

4) The Durex website – www.durex.com is one of the largest in the world with 46 country sites making it as large as Yahoo.

5) A Durex Condom can hold over 40 litres of air and lift over 7 kilos of weight!!

Famous Ads:

Their most famous ad is the one they launched on Father’s Day, shown below:

Brand: McDonald’s

What is McDonalds: McDonald’s is the world’s largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving millions of customers daily.

NYSE Ticker: MCD

Subsidiaries: McDonald’s Corporation held a minority interest in Pret A Manger until 2008, was a major investor in the Chipotle Mexican Grill until 2006 and owned the restaurant chain Boston Market until 2007.

History: McDonalds began in 1940, with a restaurant opened by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald in San Bernardino, California. Although the present corporation dates its founding to the opening of a franchised restaurant by Ray Kroc in 1955.

Trivia :

1) The McDonalds brothers started the “Speedee Service System” in 1948 which established the principles of the modern fast-food restaurant.

2) Speedee was the mascot of McDonalds before Ronald McDonalds

3) Ronald McDonald is modelled to be the Chief Happiness Officer of McD… His creation is beleived to revolve around Willard Scott.

4) Ronald McDonald is the second most recognizable character in the world, only after Santa Claus.

5) The word McJob – is considered a derogatory term and used to describe a low-skill, low pay job.

6) The Economist newspaper uses the “Big Mac Index”: the comparison of a Big Mac’s cost in various world currencies can be used to informally judge these currencies’ purchasing power parity.

7) Thomas Friedman once said that no country with a McDonald’s had gone to war with another and called it ‘The Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention’. However, this theory is not strictly true. Exceptions are the 1989 United States invasion of Panama, NATO’s bombing of Serbia in 1999, the 2006 Lebanon War, and the 2008 South Ossetia war.

Famous Ad Campaign:

The ‘I’m loving it’ campaign is called ‘ich liebe es’ in Germany , c’est tout ce que j’aime in French, me encanta in Spanish. This can be noted on the Coke cups provided at McDonalds.

Brand: Nike

What is Nike: Nike is a sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. THey are most famous for their running shoes.

NYSE Ticker: NKE

Brand Name: The company takes its name from Nike – the Greek Goddess of Victory

Subsidiaries : Cole Haan, Umbro, Hurley, Converse

History: Nike was founded in1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports by University of Oregon track athlete Philip Knight and his coach Bill Bowerman and officially became Nike in 1978. The company initially operated as a distributor for Japanese shoe maker Onitsuka Tiger

Trivia :

1) The ‘Swoosh’ logo and the ‘Just Do It’ taglines are recognized trademarks of Nike

2) The Swoosh was designed by Carolyn Davidson, a graphic design student at Portland State University for which she was paid $35 (she was later given Nike stock in 1983)

3) One of Nike’s 1970s ad claimed their growth was largely due to ‘Word-of-Foot’ advertising.

4) Dan Weiden of Weiden and Kennedy came up with the ‘Just Do It’ tagline. Wieden credits the inspiration for the slogan to “Let’s do it”, the last words spoken by Gary Gilmore before he was executed.

5)Nike’s first professional athlete endorser was Romanian tennis player Ilie Năstase, and the company’s first track endorser was distance running legend Steve Prefontaine.

6) Nike was the focus of criticism for its use of the Beatles song “Revolution” in a 1987 commercial, against the wishes of Apple Records, the Beatles’ recording company. Nike discontinued airing ads featuring “Revolution” in March 1988. Yoko Ono later gave permission to Nike to use John Lennon’s “Instant Karma” in another advertisement.

Brand: Marlboro

Brand Owner: Philip Morris (Altria)

What is Marlboro: Marlboro is the largest selling brand of cigarettes in the world. It is made by Philip Morris USA (a branch of Altria) within the US, and by Philip Morris International (now separate from Altria) outside the US. It is famous for its billboard advertisements and magazine ads of the Marlboro Man.

Brand Name: The brand is named after Great Marlborough Street, the location of its original London factory. Richmond, Virginia is now the location of the largest Marlboro cigarette manufacturing plant.

History: Philip Morris launched the Marlboro brand in 1924 as a woman’s cigarette, based on the slogan “Mild As May”.

Trivia:

1) Marlboro was launched as a woman’s cigarette

2) Their earlier marketing campaign was so woman-centric that the filter had a printed red band around it to hide lipstick stains, calling it “Beauty Tips to Keep the Paper from Your Lips”

3) In the 1950s after a report linked lung cancer with smoking , Philip Morris repositioned the cigarette as a man’s brand.

4) The repositioning of Marlboro as a men’s cigarette was handled by advertiser Leo Burnett.

5) Leo Burnett conceived the Marlboro Man in 1954. The image involves a rugged cowboy or cowboys, in nature with only a cigarette.

6) William Thourlby is believed to have been the first Marlboro Man

7) Three men who appeared in Marlboro advertisements – Wayne McLaren, David McLean and Dick Hammer – died of lung cancer, thus earning Marlboro cigarettes, specifically Marlboro Reds, the nickname “Cowboy killers”

A movie was created in 1991 called Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man

9) James Blake Miller an American Iraq War veteran, served in the United States Marine Corps and was dubbed “The Marlboro Man” / “Marlboro Marine“, after an iconic, close-up photograph of his dirt-smeared, battle-weary face, with a cigarette planted in his mouth, was published on the front page of more than 150 American newspapers in 2004

Brand: Coca Cola

Founder: John Pemberton

History: Originally intended as a patent medicine when it was invented in the late 19th century by John Pemberton, Coca-Cola was bought out by businessman Asa Griggs Candler, whose marketing tactics led Coke to its dominance of the world soft-drink market throughout the 20th century.

Trivia:

1) Coke was created as a response to Prohibition in Atlanta in 1886

2) The first sales were at Jacob’s pharmacy in Atlanta

3) When launched Coca-Cola’s two key ingredients were cocaine (benzoylmethyl ecgonine) and caffeine. The cocaine was derived from the coca leaf and the caffeine from kola nut, leading to the name Coca-Cola (the “K” in Kola was replaced with a “C” for marketing purposes)

4) The exact formula of Coca-Cola’s natural flavorings is a trade secret. The original copy of the formula is held in SunTrust Bank’s main vault in Atlanta. Its predecessor, the Trust Company, was the underwriter for the Coca-Cola Company’s initial public offering in 1919.

5) On February 11, 2011 Ira Glass revealed on his PRI radio show, This American Life, that the secret formula to Coca-Cola had been uncovered in a 1979 newspaper. The formula found basically matched the formula found in Pemberton’s diary

6) The famous Coca-Cola logo was created by John Pemberton’s bookkeeper, Frank Mason Robinson, in 1885.  The typeface used is known as Spencerian script,

7) The Shape of the Coke Bottle is believed to be inspired by the Hobble Skirt as shown below: