Reuben Mattus coined the name “Häagen-Dazs” to make the (American) brand sound more Danish. Interestingly letters like “ä” and digraphs like “zs” do not actually exist in Danish.
Business & Brands
Halo Top was started by an ex-laywer who, in his own words, “just wanted to eat an entire pint of ice cream and not hate himself for it.”
They were the most successful industrialists of the 20th century, but their philosophies were poles apart. For Ford the car was everything: a means of improving welfare and achieving global peace. For Sloan it was merely a product: “the primary object of the General Motors corporation is to make money, not just to make motor cars.”
Originally positioned as a meal replacement solution for time pressed gymgoers, Huel has increased revenue by extending its range; it now includes hot and savoury meals, such as pasta bolognese and curries, and snack bars. According to CEO James McMaster, “it widens our ability in the future to go into more markets, where maybe it’s less about the pace of life and more about a need for great nutrition.”
At Ikea, you have to walk through the entire maze-like store to get to the checkout, and if you buy something, you have to assemble it all yourself. Hardly easy, but nowadays how many other stores are people genuinely excited to visit?
Although we think of Ikea as a furniture seller, it’s mission is much broader: to create a better everyday life for the many. Need a helping hand with odd jobs round the house? Ikea acquired TaskRabbit in 2017. Need affordable financial services? Ikea acquired Ikano Bank in 2024.
The food delivery business is slowly becoming an advertising business: a quarter of its revenue comes from brands promoting on its website.
Iphone CHECK PIC IS OK
Itsu started out as a sushi restaurant, but it’s morphing into a supermarket range: close to half of its revenue now comes from grocery products.
Reframing location
JC penney fiasco
Booking site Kayak shows customers each airline it searches for. It takes more time, but it signals the effort that is going into the search.
In America KFC is a fast food chain, but in Japan it represents a sacred Christmas tradition. Restaurant sales are 10x higher than normal on Christmas Eve, any many customers now pre-order their chicken dinners months in advance to avoid hours of waiting in line.
KFC, the beloved American brand, generates 85% of its revenue from outside the US One third of it comes from China.
Since the 1930s, English toymaker Hilary Fisher Page had been selling a system of ‘self-locking building bricks’ called Kiddicraft – which was the main inspiration for Lego (as the company will readily admit).