Farewell to Lilt: a famous brand bows out

If there's one thing the British food and drink consumer doesn't like, it's change. Amidst howls of protest on social media, Coca-Cola is rebranding the long-established soft drink Lilt, to bring it in to the Fanta group of brand names.

Some older brands persist in memory. I think most over-45s in the UK could tell you what a Marathon is, or Opal Fruits. Their original names are part of our childhood. (Younger millennials, Gen Z, these are now Snickers and Starburst respectively.) Mars Wrigley have recognised the remaining goodwill in these names and have chosen to maintain their corresponding trade mark registrations.

There is less nostalgia around more functional products. Reckitt Benckiser have lapsed their trade mark registrations of Immac depilatory cream (now Veet) and Unilever have dropped JIF for cleaning products (now Cif).

Rebranding like this often happens for reasons of international consistency, through expansion or acquisition. A brand chosen decades ago for a particular market may well have been perfect at the time, but could be harder to pronounce or just less catchy in other languages. When goods are being sold internationally it makes sense to standardise and streamline some of the packaging and labelling decisions. 

It's not a bad idea, when choosing a brand name, to "think big". Where would you like to to take it in future and will the brand work there? Even if you aren't ready to take the plunge with international registrations, checking it's not socially unacceptable in other languages is all part of future-proofing your branding strategy.