Confusing combined corporate brand names

Conglomerates and mergers

Why do the biggest companies often come up with new names for their merged companies that are less strong than the existing brand names?

This is something I’ve thought about over the years, and one recent example came up mid-2021 that led me to share:

Warner Bros. Discovery

That’s the new proposed name for the combined WarnerMedia and Discovery merger, which are coming together as AT&T spins off its Time Warner investment.

I believe the existing names are better and stand stronger separately, keeping both in-tact – or that they’d merge under a new brand that captures everything well.

Keep in mind that it’s much more than those 2 names coming together. This merger brings together over 100 of popular and trusted brands including: HBO, Warner Bros., Discovery, DC, CNN, OWN, Turner Sports, Cartoon Network, HGTV, Food Network, TNT, TBS, Magnolia, TLC, Animal Planet, ID and many more.

Of course, the companies have expressed excitement about their new name, including the head of Discovery:

“We love the new company’s name because it represents the combination of Warner Bros.’ fabled hundred year legacy of creative, authentic storytelling and taking bold risks to bring the most amazing stories to life, with Discovery’s global brand that has always stood brightly for integrity, innovation and inspiration.”

Yes, that’s what the individual brand represent. The name name, not as much. But it could always be worse.

Interesting to see late night TV host John Oliver react to the merger announcement (he’s technically an employee of theirs).

And now for a classic.

Keurig Dr Pepper

Beyond this recent announcement from Warner and co, there’s a more extreme example I learned of a few years ago.

The company name that always sounded odd to me was “Dr Pepper Snapple Group” which included many brand names and subsidiaries like “Canada Dry Motts”, another combined name. Formerly known as “Cadbury Schweppes”, around 3 years ago it became part of conglomerate “Keurig Dr Pepper”.

These parent company logos (which have evolved each time there’s a merger involved a name change) don’t make it any easier.

To be clear, the consumer-facing brand for Dr. Pepper (the drink products) still keeps its existing logo despite all of this, same with Snapple and Keurig – and the dozens of other brands owned by “Keurig Dr Pepper”.

With all of the resources – internal staff, boards, external consultants, agencies – you may think that someone would develop a better parent brand name in these situations, particularly for companies that are worth billions and where brand is paramount.

Let’s strive for names that are not simply multiple company names thrown together.