Food Industry Name Change Trend... "Considering Image Transformation for Business Diversification"

Food Industry Contemplating Company Name Change
Growing Need Due to Business Diversification
Challenges Include Costs and Perception Changes

Food companies are deliberating over changing their corporate names. They aim to find names that better reflect their diversified business categories, moving away from names focused on their past core businesses. For the same reason, cases of changing existing brand names are also increasing.

New CIs of 'Daesang Well Life' and 'Daesang Dives', which have changed their company names from 'Daesang Life Science' and 'Daesang F&B', respectively. Photo by Daesang

According to industry sources on the 6th, discussions about corporate name changes have been ongoing recently in the food industry. Notably, Lotte Confectionery, Maeil Dairies, and CJ CheilJedang have either discussed or are in the process of changing their corporate names. Lotte Confectionery has been reviewing a plan to change its name since July last year, coinciding with the absorption merger of Lotte Food, aiming to evolve into a comprehensive food company rather than just a confectionery business. As the company diversifies into confectionery, bakery, meat processing, and ready meals, the need for a corporate name that better represents its identity has grown. Lotte Confectionery is currently considering several names based on the premise of a name change and is expected to finalize a new name through a resolution within this year.

Maeil Dairies has also been engaged in similar discussions since last year. Initially, options such as dropping 'Dairies' from the name were considered, but no concrete review has been reached yet. Maeil Dairies is also pursuing diversification from its past dairy-centered business structure. It operates alternative milk products like 'Amazing Oat,' protein health functional foods under the 'Selex' brand, coffee shops like 'Paul Bassett,' and Chinese restaurants such as 'Crystal Jade.' For these reasons, the company has considered changing its name to better reflect its future direction but is still deliberating carefully. Since it may have to boldly abandon its long-standing corporate identity, it is proceeding with caution.

Changing a corporate name is not an easy task. The process involves numerous considerations, including product packaging, consumer perception, and costs. There is also the risk that the expected benefits may not be as significant as anticipated, and the corporate image built over time could be damaged. Therefore, companies must approach this decision very carefully.

New CI of 'hy', formerly known as 'Korea Yakult' until 2021. Photo by hy

CJ CheilJedang is an example of this. Although discussions about a name change took place at the operational level, they have currently been shelved. Similar to other companies, there were talks about changing the corporate name, but it was ultimately decided to retain the existing CJ CheilJedang name. Since the food brands that have expanded overseas are well known under their current brand names and the English corporate name 'CJ Food' does not pose recognition issues, the matter did not advance to a detailed review stage.

Even after a corporate name is decided, it usually takes a considerable amount of time to establish it. A recent example of a company undergoing this process is hy. hy changed its name from Korea Yakult in 2021, but many people still remember the company by the Korea Yakult name. As a result, it continues to work hard to change consumer perception. Dunkin' is another example; it rebranded from Dunkin' Donuts to Dunkin' in 2019, but the name Dunkin' Donuts is still commonly mentioned.

Alongside discussions about corporate name changes, brand renaming is also increasing. Last year, CJ CheilJedang changed the brand and packaging of 'Bibigo Juk' to 'Hetbahn Soft Mill,' and Daesang changed its kimchi brand 'Jongga Jip' to 'Jongga (JONGGA).' Daesang has also consecutively changed the names of its major affiliates. Last month, Daesang F&B, which owns the jam brand 'Bokumjari,' changed its name to 'Daesang Dives,' combining 'Daesang' and 'Dive.' Last year, Daesang Life Science, which operates in the health functional food business, was renamed Daesang Well Life.

An industry insider said, "As many food companies grow into comprehensive food enterprises, the need for corporate name changes has recently increased. However, since existing names are often well ingrained in consumers' minds and the cost burden of changing them is significant, it is not easy to change names based on necessity alone."

Meanwhile, the number of companies changing their corporate names is gradually increasing. According to data from the Korea Securities Depository, 66 listed companies changed their corporate names (trade names) in the first half of last year. In 2021, 122 companies changed their names, a 28.4% increase compared to the previous year (95 companies). The most common reason for changing corporate names was to enhance the company's image, accounting for 36.9% (59 companies).

The kimchi brand 'Jongga (JONGGA)' by Daesang, which was renamed from 'Jongga Jip'./Photo by Daesang