Only three months ago we wrote about rebranding. Just two months ago we wrote about
beloved brand nicknames. Then, last month, two
companies announced plans to rebrand to abbreviations of their
current marks. Coincidence? Probably, but we are going to take the
opportunity to revisit those topics anyway.
On September 25, 2018, Dunkin' Donuts announced that it
would be rebranding as DUNKIN' beginning January 2019:
"Dunkin'" sounds like "Duncan" and is
the first word in the existing two-word brand. This change sounds
like a friendly invitation to consumers to call the brand by its
first name. But apparently many of the company's loyal
customers had been abbreviating the mark to the first term (or
variations of it) already. As pointed out in the press release
announcing the rebrand, the company has "been on a first name
basis with its fans" for a long time. This is further
reinforced by the tag line, "Our friends call us
Dunkin'." In this rebranding, the company
