Brand Descriptions

Here you will find the descriptions of some of the brands used in the videos and readings. If you
want to add another brand that we missed, please suggest it in the forums. If you need to find the
description of some words and phrases that pertain to the Marketing concepts in the course, see
the Glossary page.

A
Abercrombie & Fitch (A & F)

An American retailer that focuses on casual wear for young consumers. It has over 400 locations
in the United States and is expanding internationally.[1]

Adidas

A German multinational corporation that designs and manufactures sports shoes, clothing, and
accessories.

Amazon.com

The largest Internet-based retailer in the United States. Amazon.com started as an online
bookstore but soon diversified, selling DVDs, VHSs, CDs, video and MP3 downloads/streaming,
software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, toys, and jewelry. The company also
produces consumer electronics – notably, Amazon Kindle e-book readers, Fire tablets, Fire TVs
and Fire Phones – and is a major provider of cloud computing services. Amazon also sells
certain low-end products like USB cables under its in-house brand AmazonBasics.[2]

American Apparel

An American clothing manufacturer, distributor, and retailer.

American Eagle Outfitters

An American clothing and accessories retailer founded in 1977.

Apple Inc.

Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Cupertino, California, that

designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software, online services, and
personal computers.[3]

Apache
A freely available Web server that is distributed under an "open source" license. Version 2.0 runs
on most UNIX-based operating systems, on other UNIX/POSIX-derived systems, on AmigaOS,
and on Windows 2000. According to a Netcraft Web server survey, 60% of all Web sites on the
Internet are using Apache (62% including Apache derivatives), making Apache more widely used
than all other Web servers combined.[4]

AT&T

An American multinational telecommunications corporation.

B
Best Buy

An American multinational consumer electronics corporation.

Birchbox

A New York City-based online monthly subscription service that sends its subscribers a box of
four to five carefully selected samples of makeup or other beauty related products on a monthly
basis.

Blendtec

A company that sells professional and home blenders.

Brandwatch

Social media monitoring system Brandwatch reads and summarizes web discussions about
brands, people, and products. The company parses through these huge amounts of data by
finding and analyzing relevant information. Its online application lets users define keywords,
which it tracks continually. Users can access and respond to every keyword mention and analyze
the bigger picture of trends, campaigns, and competitors.[5]

b8ta:

b8ta is a retail-as-a-service company with a chain of 22 stand alone retail stores which serve as
presentation centers for consumer electronics and home goods. The company was founded in
2015 by Vibhu Norby, William Mintun, Phillip Raub, and Nicholas Mann. Its first location opened
in Palo Alto during December 2015. [32]

BMW:

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, translated in English as Bavarian Motor Works, commonly
referred to as BMW (German pronunciation is a German multinational company which
produces automobiles and motorcycles. The company was founded in 1916 as a manufacturer of
aircraft engines, which it produced from 1917 until 1918 and again from 1933 to 1945. [33]

C
C&A

An international Dutch chain of fashion retail clothing store.

Calvin Klein

The world's most well-known fashion designer and has created many recognizable brands.

Chobani

An American brand of strained yogurt produced by Chobani, LLC.

Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation and manufacturer,

retailer, and marketer of nonalcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, which is headquartered
in Atlanta, Georgia.[6] They have produced many products, including:

• Classic Coke: Prior to New Coke, Coca-Cola's flagship product was bottled and
canned under a label of "Coca-Cola." After its reintroduction, the soda's labels read
"Classic Coke."[7]
• New Coke: New Coke was the reformulation of Coca-Cola introduced in 1985 by
The Coca-Cola Company to replace the original formula of its flagship soft drink,
Coca-Cola (also called Coke).[8]
• Coke Zero: Coca-Cola Zero or Coke Zero is a product of the Coca-Cola Company.
It is a low-calorie variation of Coca-Cola specifically marketed to men, who were
shown to associate diet drinks with women.[9]
• Diet Coke: Diet Coke, (and similar Coca-Cola light available in some countries), is a
sugar-free soft drink produced and distributed by the Coca-Cola Company.[10]
• Cherry Coke: Coca-Cola Cherry, originally introduced (and still known in some
countries) as Cherry Coke, is a cherry-flavored version of Coca-Cola.

Coco-Mat

The New York furniture store which lets tired shoppers take a nap on its mattresses.

Casper

Casper Sleep (also known as Casper) is a public, U.S.-based, e-commerce company that sells
sleep products online and in retail locations. Headquartered in New York City, the company has
showrooms in New York City, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Massachusetts,
Washington state, Oregon, Connecticut, Arizona, Texas, Colorado and California and mattresses
are manufactured in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Vietnam.

Coursera

Coursera is an American online learning platform founded in 2012 by Stanford

professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller that offers massive open online courses (MOOC),
specializations, and degrees. [33]

Chevy Camaro: The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured

by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car and some versions also as a muscle car. It went on sale
on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed as a competing model to
the Ford Mustang. The car shared its platform and major components with the Pontiac Firebird,
also introduced for 1967. [34]

D
DealTime

A price comparison service owned by eBay

Dell

An American computer technology company that develops, sells, repairs, and supports
computers and related products and services.

DHL

The German logistics company Deutsche Post DHL providing international mail services.

Domino’s Pizza

An American restaurant chain and international franchise pizza delivery corporation.

Dove

A personal care brand owned by Unilever.

• The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty is a worldwide marketing campaign launched
by Unilever in 2004 that includes advertisements, videos, workshops, sleepover
events, and the publication of a book and a play. The aim of the campaign is to
celebrate the natural physical variation embodied by all women and inspire them to
have the confidence to be comfortable with themselves.[11]

Dubai Mall
The world's largest shopping mall based on total area and fourteenth largest by gross leasable
area. It is located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).[12]

Dunkin' Donuts

An American global doughnut company and coffeehouse chain based in Canton, Massachusetts.

Dropbox: Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by the American company Dropbox, Inc.,
headquartered in San Francisco, California, that offers cloud storage, file
synchronization, personal cloud, and client software. Dropbox was founded in 2007
by MIT students Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi as a startup company, with initial funding
from seed accelerator Y Combinator. [35]

Dropbox Plus

Dropbox Plus users are given two terabytes of storage space, as well as additional features,
including advanced sharing controls, remote wipe, and an optional Extended Version History
add-on. [35]

E
Economist

An English-language weekly newspaper that offers authoritative insight and opinion on

international news, politics, business, finance, science, technology, and the connection between
them.

Ebay

eBay Inc. is an American multinational e-commerce corporation based in San Jose, California,
that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay
was founded by Pierre Omidyar in the autumn of 1995, and became a notable success story of
the dot-com bubble. [36]

F
Facebook

An online social networking service whose website was launched on February 4, 2004, by Mark
Zuckerberg with his college roommates and fellow Harvard University students.

G
Gap

An American multinational clothing and accessories retailer.

General Motors

General Motors Company, commonly referred to as General Motors, is an American

multinational corporation headquartered in Detroit that designs, manufactures, markets, and
distributes vehicles and vehicle parts, and sells financial services, with global headquarters in
Detroit's Renaissance Center. [37]

Google

Google is an American multinational corporation specializing in Internet-related services and

products. These include online advertising technologies, search, cloud computing, and
software.[13]

Google Alerts

A content change detection and notification service, offered by the search engine company
Google. The service sends emails to the user when it finds new results – such as web pages,
newspaper articles, or blogs –that match the user's search term.[14]

Google Shopping

This is the world’s largest and most comprehensive price comparison tool. Users just type in the
name of a product, and a list of competing retailers appears.

Google Sketchup

A 3D modeling computer program for applications such as architecture, interior design, civil and
mechanical engineering, film, and video game design.

GoPro

A California company that develops and sells high-definition video cameras.

H
Head & Shoulders:

Head & Shoulders (H&S) is an American brand of anti-dandruff and non-

dandruff shampoo produced by parent company Procter & Gamble that was introduced in 1961.
[38]
Headsets.com

The online headset retailer which has experimented with a Pay-What-You-Want (PWYW)
strategy as a means of rewarding customer loyalty. Nearly all of its customers paid the
suggested price (or close to it).

Heart Attack Grill

A medical-themed restaurant located in Las Vegas that is a controversial but intriguing example
of authentic marketing. Its menu is full of a variety of unhealthy options, including its famous
Quadruple Bypass Burger, which consists of four 8-ounce beef patties, 20 slices of bacon, and 8
slices of cheese, and contains nearly 10,000 calories.

I
iTunes

A media player, media library, online radio broadcaster, and mobile device management
application developed by Apple Inc.

J
Joe Chemo

An Internet campaign created by an organization called Adbusters was successful in creating a

doppelgänger image against a Camel cigarette character known as Joe Camel, which was one of
the most widespread adverting campaigns in the US cigarette industry in the 1990s.

Jones Soda

Jones Soda Co. is a beverage company which bottles and distributes soft drinks, non-carbonated
beverages, energy drinks, and candy. Its soft drink has many unusual flavors that are not offered
by other soft drink makers.

L
Levi Strauss & Co

A privately held American clothing company founded in 1853 known worldwide for its Levi's
brand of denim jeans.
Little Big Planet

LittleBigPlanet, commonly abbreviated LBP, is a puzzle platform video game series created by
Media Molecule and published by Sony Computer Entertainment on multiple PlayStation
platforms.[15]

Local Motors

A new start-up vehicle manufacturer. It was founded in 2007 by Jay Rogers, who came up with
the idea while he was an MBA student at Harvard Business School. The company is currently
selling a variety of motorized vehicles, including an automobile called the “Rally Fighter.” This
vehicle has both normal driving and off-road capabilities and sells for about $100,000.

L’Oreal

A French cosmetics and beauty company. It has developed activities in the field of cosmetics,
concentrating on hair color, skin care, sun protection, make-up, perfumes, and hair care. The
company is active in the dermatology, toxicology, tissue engineering, and biopharmaceutical
research fields and is the top nanotechnology patent-holder in the United States.[16]

Louis Vuitton

Louis Vuitton Malletier, commonly referred to Louis Vuitton or shortened to LV, sells luxury goods
ranging from luxury trunks and leather goods to ready-to-wear, shoes, watches, jewelry,
accessories, sunglasses, and books.

Lululemon

A self-described yoga-inspired athletic apparel company, which produces a clothing line and runs
international clothing stores from its company base in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.[17]

Land Rover

Land Rover is a British brand of four-wheel drive cars, that exclusively offers premium and luxury
sport utility vehicles. [39]

Linked In

LinkedIn is an American business and employment-oriented service that operates via websites
and mobile apps. Founded on December 28, 2002, and launched on May 5, 2003, it is mainly
used for professional networking, including employers posting jobs and job seekers posting their
CVs. [40]

Lipton
Lipton is a British brand of tea, owned by Unilever. Lipton was also a supermarket chain in the
United Kingdom before it was sold to Argyll Foods, to allow the company to focus solely on tea.
The company is named after its founder Thomas Lipton. [41]

Lending Club

LendingClub is an American peer-to-peer lending company, headquartered in San Francisco,

California.[3] It was the first peer-to-peer lender to register its offerings as securities with
the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and to offer loan trading on a secondary
market. LendingClub is the world's largest peer-to-peer lending platform.[4] The company claims
that $15.98 billion in loans had been originated through its platform up to December 31, 2015.
[42]

Legos

LEGO A/S, doing business as The LEGO Group, is a Danish toy production company based in
Billund. It is best known for the manufacture of LEGO-brand toys, consisting mostly of
interlocking plastic bricks. [43]

Lexus

Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota. The Lexus brand is
marketed in more than 70 countries and territories worldwide and has become Japan's largest-
selling make of premium cars. It has ranked among the 10 largest Japanese global brands in
market value. [44]

M
Mayonnaise

Mayonnaise, informally mayo, is a thick cold condiment or dressing commonly used in

sandwiches and composed salads or on French fries. It is also a base in sauces such as Tartar
sauce. It is a stable emulsion of oil, egg yolk, and an acid, either vinegar or lemon juice. [45]

McDonald’s

The world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 68 million
customers daily in 119 countries across 35,000 outlets.[18]

Miller Beer

An American beer produced by the Miller Brewing Company.

N
NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the United States agency that is
responsible for civilian space programs as well as aeronautics and aerospace research.

Netflix

Netflix, Inc. is a provider of on-demand Internet streaming media available to viewers in all of
North America (including Cuba), South America, and parts of Europe, and of flat rate DVD-by-
mail in the United States, where mailed DVDs are sent via Permit Reply Mail.[19]

New York Times

The New York Times (NYT) is an American daily newspaper. It has won 114 Pulitzer Prizes,
more than any other news organization.[20]

Nokia

A Finnish multinational communications and information technology company.

Nanohack:

NanoHack was conceived as an active/antimicrobial 3D printed face mask manufactured with

active materials. We will use active filters of non-woven polypropylene (3 layers) embedded in
nanocopper to get an extra protection against microorganisms. [46]

Nissan

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., usually shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational automobile
manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama. The company sells its cars under the
Nissan, Infiniti, and Datsun brands with in-house performance tuning products labelled Nismo.
[47]

O
Old Milwaukee

A brand of American dry beer produced by the Pabst Brewing Company.

P
Patagonia
A Ventura, California-based clothing company, focusing mainly with high-end outdoor clothing.
The company is a member of several environmental movements and is a certified B-Corporation,
meaning the company is beholden to public-benefit concerns (in this case environmental)
alongside its profit motive. It was founded by Yvon Chouinard in 1973.[21]

Panera Bread

Panera Bread Company is an American chain store of bakery-café fast casual restaurants with
over 2,000 locations, all of which are in the United States and Canada. Its headquarters are in
Sunset Hills, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. [48]

Plymouth

Plymouth was a brand of automobiles produced by Chrysler Corporation and its successor
DaimlerChrysler. The brand was launched in 1928 to compete in what was then described as the
"low-priced" market segment that was dominated by Chevrolet and Ford. [49]

Pontiac

Pontiac was a car brand owned, made, and sold by General Motors. Introduced as a companion
make for GM's more expensive line of Oakland automobiles, Pontiac overtook Oakland in
popularity and supplanted its parent brand entirely by 1933. [50]

Q
Quirky

A New York City company that allows inventors to submit their ideas, while also assisting them in
the development process. The company's website lets people sell their inventions in an online
shop or several retail stores including Home Depot and Best Buy, with whom they have
partnered.[22]

R
Redbox

A subsidiary of Outerwall, Inc. specializing in DVD, Blu-ray Disc, and video game rentals via
automated retail kiosks.

Rent the Runway

Rent the Runway is an online service that provides designer dress and accessory rentals. It was
started by Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Fleiss, who launched the company in November 2009.
[50]
S
SolidWorks

Solid modeling CAD (computer-aided design) software that runs on Microsoft Windows.

Starbucks

Starbucks Corporation, doing business as Starbucks Coffee, is an American global coffee

company and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. It is also the largest coffeehouse
company in the world.

Stella Artois

Informally called Stella, is a pilsner beer of between 4.8 and 5.2% ABV. It has been brewed in
Leuven, Belgium, since 1926, although it is brewed in other locations as well. A lower alcohol
content (4% ABV) version is also sold in the UK, Republic of Ireland, Canada, and New Zealand.
Stella Artois is one of the prominent brands of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest
brewer.[23]

Swiffer

A line of cleaning products introduced in 1999 by Procter & Gamble.

Sony

Sony Corporation is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in

Kōnan, Minato, Tokyo. Its diversified business includes consumer and professional electronics,
gaming, entertainment and financial services. [51]

Subaru

Subaru is the automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate

Subaru Corporation, the twenty-second largest automaker by production worldwide in 2012.
Subaru cars are known for their use of a boxer engine layout in most vehicles above 1500 cc.
[52]

Saturn

The Saturn Corporation, also known as Saturn LLC, was an American automobile manufacturer,
a registered trademark established on January 7, 1985, as a subsidiary of General Motors. [53]

Saabs
Saab Automobile was a manufacturer that was founded in Sweden in 1945 when its parent
company, SAAB AB, began a project to design a small automobile. The first production model,
the Saab 92, was launched in 1949. [54]

V
Volvos

The Volvo Group is a Swedish multinational manufacturing company headquartered in

Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distribution and sale of trucks, buses and
construction equipment, Volvo also supplies marine and industrial drive systems and financial
services. [55]

T
Taco Bell

An American chain of fast-food restaurants based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Yum!

Brands, Inc., they serve a variety of Tex-Mex foods including tacos, burritos, quesadillas, nachos,
other specialty items, and a variety of "value menu" items. Taco Bell serves more than 2 billion
customers each year in more than 6,500 restaurants mostly in the U.S., more than 80 percent of
which are owned and operated by independent franchisees.[24]

Target

Target Corporation is an American retailing company, founded in 1902 and headquartered in

Minneapolis, Minnesota.[25]

TESCO

A British grocery and general merchandise retailer. It has stores in 12 countries across Asia and
Europe and is the grocery market leader in the UK.

Thermos

The leading manufacturer worldwide of insulated food and beverage containers and other
consumer products.

Thingiverse

Thingiverse was launched in 2008 by MakerBot to help develop the 3D printing community by
creating a library of digital files that could be 3D printed. Essentially, it is like the Apple iTunes
store, except it contains objects rather than songs. Also, all of these files can be downloaded for
free. Nearly all of these files are created and uploaded by individual makers rather than firms.
Currently, Thingiverse has files for over 700,000 objects across a wide range of different
categories, including artistic creations, household objects, and toys and games. So, you are sure
to find something that fits your needs.

Threadless

Threadless is an innovative clothing manufacturer located in Chicago. Specifically, this company

specializes in making and selling unique t-shirts. The company was founded in 2000 by Jake
Nickell and uses customer co-creation to design the shirts.

TinkerCad

An easy-to-use 3D CAD design tool.

T-Mobile

T-Mobile International AG was a German holding company for Deutsche Telekom AG's various
mobile communications subsidiaries outside Germany. Based in Bonn, Germany, its subsidiaries
operated GSM, UMTS, and LTE-based cellular networks in Europe, the United States, Puerto
Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The company had financial stakes in mobile operators in both
Central and Eastern Europe.[26]

Twitter

An online social networking service that enables users to send and read short 140-character
messages called "tweets."[27]

Tesla

Tesla, Inc., is an American electric vehicle and clean energy company based in Palo Alto,
California. The company specializes in electric vehicle manufacturing, battery energy storage
from home to grid scale and, through its acquisition of SolarCity, solar panel and solar roof tile
manufacturing. [56]

U
United Airlines

United Airlines (commonly referred to simply as "United") is an American major airline.

UPS

United Parcel Service of North America, Inc., typically referred to and branded as UPS, is one of
the largest shipment and logistics companies in the world.
V
Verizon

An American broadband and tele-communication company, the largest U.S. wireless

communications service provider as of September, 2014.[28]

W
Wall Drug Store

Often called simply "Wall Drug," is a tourist attraction located in the city of Wall, South Dakota. It
is a shopping mall consisting of a drug store, gift shop, restaurants, and various other stores.
Unlike a traditional shopping mall, all the stores at Wall Drug operate under a single entity
instead of being individually run stores.

Walmart

An American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of discount department stores
and warehouse stores. It has over 11,000 stores in 27 countries, under a total 71 banners.[29]

Warby Parker

An American brand of prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses founded in 2010. Warby Parker
sells online and has a limited number of showrooms in the United States. By designing glasses
in-house and selling only directly to consumers, the company lowers the cost of its glasses by a
significant amount.[30]

Wired Magazine

A full-color monthly American magazine, published in both print and online editions, that reports
on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia, created and edited by volunteers around the world and
hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation. [57]

Wired Magazine

Wired is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on
how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is
headquartered in San Francisco, California, and has been in publication since March/April 1993.
[58]
X
Xiaomi

Xiaomi Corporation is a Chinese electronics company founded in April 2010 and headquartered
in Beijing. Xiaomi makes and invests in smartphones, mobile apps, laptops, bags, earphones,
shoes, fitness bands, and many other products. [59]

Y
YouTube

A video-sharing website, allowing users to upload, view, and share videos,