031 From "Backrub" to "Google": The Hilarious Origins of Famous Brands

Truth N Trends

The names and mascots of some of the world's biggest brands have surprisingly bizarre and funny backstories. Charles and Sophia uncover the hilarious origins of Google (it was almost called "Backrub"), Amazon (it was nearly "Cadabra"), and the L.L. Bean boot (the first batch was almost completely defective).

Transcript

00:00Welcome to Truth and Trends.

00:09Today, Charles and I are taking a look at a fun topic.

00:12The hilarious origins of some of the world's biggest brands.

00:15We're going to start with a company that you use every single day, Google.

00:18That's a great name, isn't it? Short, catchy, and it's even a verb now.

00:23But I heard that it wasn't always called Google.

00:25That's right. The original name was Backrub.

00:28The founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, chose the name because the search engine analyzed backlinks

00:34to figure out the importance of a page.

00:36But they wisely changed it to Google, which is a misspelling of Google,

00:39a number with a one followed by 100 zeros.

00:42Thank goodness for that. Backrub is not a good brand name.

00:45I agree. And speaking of names that almost were, Amazon's original name was Kadabra.

00:50No way. Like, Abracadabra?

00:52Yes, but their lawyer misheard it as Kadabra.

00:55So Jeff Bezos went back to the dictionary, and he found Amazon.

00:58He liked it because it was exotic, and it started with an A,

01:01which would put it at the top of an alphabetical list.

01:03I have a limited knowledge of this, but it's a good example of how a small detail can change everything.

01:08It is.

01:09What about the LL Bean boot? That's a classic.

01:12A total classic. The founder, Leon Leon Wood Bean, created the boot to solve a problem, wet feet.

01:19But the first batch he mailed out was 90% effective.

01:2290%? He must have been a little worried.

01:25He was. He had to refund all of the customer's money. But he persevered, and he created the boot that we all know and love today.

01:32So, a brand that's known for its quality started with a hilariously failed first batch. That's a great story.

01:37It is. And it's a reminder that a lot of success stories start with a lot of failure.

01:41So we've covered the bizarre and the hilarious. It's a great reminder that a lot of things we take for granted have a very surprising history.

01:47It sure is. So thank you for being with us today.

01:49Our pleasure. We'll see you next time.

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