Lisa Merriam

Dead Brand Graveyard: General Foods

dead-brand-general-foodsA new dead brand as another venerable name slips into the past.

The once great General Foods brand has been dropped from the last product Maxwell House Coffee (will that brand survive the decade?)  Once one of the biggest brands in the grocery store, General Foods died slowly through acquisition. The generic nature of the name (confused with General Mills from time to time0, it is no wonder that Kraft won the name competition in the merger.  Ad Age is reporting that fewer than 40% of people have any awareness of the General Foods Brand.

More on parent company names and product names, plus naming issues in mergers and acquisitions:

What is Brand Architecture
Approaches to Brand Architecture
Brand Architecture and Business Strategy
Merger Name Options
Spin-Off Naming
Naming Products, Services and Companies