Do you know what was the first name of Best Buy? Hint: It wasn’t Best Buy. Actually the company was named after one of the popular movies of the 60s. Have you ever watched The Sound of Music? Yeah, the same movie that was awarded with Oscar 50 years ago. Sound of Music was the first name of Best Buy.
In 1966, 1 year after the premiere of the movie, an electronic store for high fidelity stereos with the name Sound of Music was founded. The company marketed itself pretty good, because they pulled about $58 000 in profits the first year. We don’t know if the name contributed to the fast growth of the company but one thing is sure: 7 years later they changed their name to Best Buy. It’s logical to suppose that the growing fame of the movie made it easy for a company that sells stereo products to break on the surface.
During a four-day sale promotion the company pulled a record of sales. The name of the campaign was “Best Buys on Everything”. This 4-days promotion is the point from where the incubation of the new name began. In 1983 the store was officially renamed to “Best Buy” and has since retained that name. If the brand hadn’t changed its name maybe some other company would have taken its place – who knows?
In all cases the lesson this story holds is that som e names have an expiration date and you should be aware if you need a name with an expiration date or a timeless naming choice. Usually when a brand is named after some trending cultural happening, we should be careful if the sales are rising while the trend is on and if they are falling when the trend fades out. If you find yourself in such case, a renaming of brand might be needed. Highnames could help you with that.
