THEY are famous brands – but what are the fables behind the labels.
With supermarket hero Aldi hailed as Grocer of the Year at the recent Retail Week Awards, we wondered how many shoppers know what the discounter’s name stands for.
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And there are countless other brands that are all too familiar on first glance – but do you know how they earned their moniker?
Grab a pen and put your knowledge to the test in our fun quiz. . .
TECHNOLOGY
LG
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a) Life’s Good
b) Lo-Go
c) Live Green
d) Lucky Goldstar
HP
a) High Power
b) Hewlett-Packard
c) Henry Penville
d) Happy Processor
HTC
a) High Tech Computer
b) Hit The Cell
c) Hold The Call
d) Holden Tenby Company
EE
a) Energy Empire
b) Enjoy Everything
c) Everything Everywhere
d) Enter your Element
YAHOO!
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a) Yahoo!
b) You Are Here Only Once
c) Yes, A Helpful, Online Oracle
d) Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle
ON THE HIGH ST
HMV
a) Homemade Video
b) Hotel Motel Video
c) His Master’s Voice
d) Heavy Metal Vibes
DFS
a) Dead Fab Sofas
b) Decor For Seniors
c) Discount Furniture & Settees
d) Direct Furnishing Supplies
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B&Q
a) Block & Quayle
b) Bricks & Quick
c) Block & Quarry
d) Builders & Quakers
HSBC
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a) Hot Singles Banking Corp
b) Headstrong Bills & Cash
c) The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation
d) Helpful Savings Bank Company
ODEON
a) Oscar Deutsch Entertains Our Nation
b) Ode To Entertainers Anon
c) Overdoing Everything Once
d) Only Doughnut Eaters Overnight
FOOD AND DRINK
M&Ms
a) Moss & Miller
b) Melting Moments
c) Mess & Makers
d) Mars & Murrie
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PG TIPS
a) Pre-Gest-Tea
b) Peter George
c) Please Guests
d) Pleasant Greens
HP SAUCE
a) Harry Potter
b) Happy Plate
c) Houses of Parliament
d) Heinz Pairing
SPAM
a) Shoulder of Pork and Ham
b) Slimy Piece A Meat
c) Sandwich Pork Amore
d) Square Packed Animal Meat
KP NUTS
a) Kevin Pietersen
b) Kracking Packet
c) King Pin
d) Kenyon Produce
DELIVERY COMPANIES
DHL
a) Dalsey Hillblom Lynn
b) Delivering Home Lifestyle
c) Dean House Logistics
d) Derek’s Hot Lorries
DPD
a) Dave’s Parcels Direct
b) Drive Post Deliver
c) Dynamic Parcel Distribution
d) Do Post Differently
UPS
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a) Universal Post Service
b) United Parcel Service
c) United Parcel Senders
d) U Pick, We Send
FEDEX
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a) Fred’s Express Deliveries
b) Fast Driver Extraordinaire
c) Foreign Depot Exports
d) Federal Express
TNT
a) Thomas Nationwide Transport
b) Take No Time
c) To New Towns
d) Top Notch Trackers
PRODUCTS
NERF
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a) No Escape from Rapid Fire
b) Never-Ending Rough Fighter
c) Now Experience Real Fear
d) Non-Expanding Recreational Foam
LEGO
a) Let’s Go
b) League of Gift Officials
c) Leg Godt
d) Leggo of Me
MAC
a) Make-up Art Cosmetics
b) Main Avenue Cosmetics
c) Make It & Cake It
d) Men’s Acrylics
DUREX
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a) Durable Reliable Excellence
b) Do it, Use it, Roll it, Exit
c) Dumb Relationship Experts
d) Duration Expectations
WD40
a) Wild DIY for over 40s
b) Windows, Doors & Floors
c) Water Displacement, 40th Attempt
d) When in Doubt, Fork Out
FASHION
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DKNY
a) Denise Karen New York
b) Diamond Karat Noble Young
c) Donna Karan New York
d) Dress Keen, Never Young
D&G
a) Dolce & Gabbana
b) Dress & Guess
c) David & Goliath
d) Divide & Gonker
H&M
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a) Harry & Meghan
b) Hosiery & Menswear
c) Heather & Massimo
d) Hennes & Mauritz
ASOS
a) All Sold On Site
b) As Seen On Screen
c) Affordable Style Over Spend
d) Adams, Steele, Owens & Smith
QVC
a) Quality Value Convenience
b) Quincy, Vaughn & Connor
c) Quotes, Votes & Coats
d) Quality, Vision, Customer
SUPERSTORES
ASDA
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a) Asquith + Dairies
b) Ask Dad
c) Affleck & Davis
d) Aisle Be Damned
TESCO
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a) Towse, Ellis & Scott
b) Trolley Equipment & Service Company
c) TE Stockwell and Jack Cohen
d) Test Corp
ALDI
a) All Deals
b) Albrecht Discount
c) A Little Discount
d) Alan’s Dinners
IKEA
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a) Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd
b) Into Kitchens Electrics & All
c) Insane Kebab Eaters
d) Ivar Kassett Effektiv Askersund
B&M
a) Bargains & More
b) Bargain Madness
c) Billington & Mayman
d) Booze & Meals
CARS
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BMW
a) Bavarian Motor Works
b) Big Meaty Wheels
c) Bold Mower Ltd
d) British Motor Wholesale
SMART CAR
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a) Speed Made Right
b) Speed Makes Art
c) Smooth Arperator
d) Swatch Mercedes ART
FIAT
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a) Fast In A Task
b) Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino
c) Fine Auto
d) Fix It All Today
MG
a) Morris Garages
b) My Green Machine
c) Mega Gas
d) Move & Groove
ANSWERS: HOW LOGO CAN YOU GO?
DELIVERY COMPANIES
DHL a) Adrian Dalsey, Larry Hillblom and Robert Lynn founded the US firm in 1969.
DPD c) Set up by the French national postal service.
UPS b) Founded 1907 in the US.
FEDEX d) Begun by student Fred Smith at Yale University in 1971.
TNT a) Started by Ken Thomas in 1946 in Adelaide, Australia.
TECHNOLOGY
LG d) Lak Hui, pronounced “Lucky” was a South Korean firm making plastics. It later created GoldStar, to produce radios. Lucky and GoldStar merged in 1983.
HP b) Bill Hewlett and David Packard set up in a garage in 1939 – Silicon Valley’s birthplace.
HTC a) Taiwan electronics firm founded in 1997.
EE c) Formed 2010 by Deutsche Telekom and France Télecom.
YAHOO! d) US graduates Jerry Yang and David Filo started it in ’95.
FASHION
DKNY c) Fashion designer Donna Karan opened her New York store in 1984 and launched DKNY in 1989 for young women.
D&G a) Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana launched fashion house in 1985.
H&M d) In 1947 Swede Erling Persson opened his first shop Hennes (Swedish for “hers”) and 21 years later bought hunting clothes retailer Mauritz Widforss, renaming it Hennes & Mauritz.
ASOS b) Founded in 2000, this British firm had the tagline “Buy what you see on film and TV”.
QVC a) TV shopping channel has broadcast since 1993. It operates from a disused bus depot in London and a Liverpool warehouse.
ON THE HIGH STREET
HMV c) His Master’s Voice is the title of a painting by Francis Barraud of a dog listening to a phonograph cylinder.
DFS d) Founded in 1969 by Graham Kirkham with a single store near Doncaster.
B&Q a) Richard Block and David Quayle founded B&Q in 1969.
HSBC c) British bank opened in 1865 to improve financial business between Europe and Asia.
ODEON a) Oscar Deutsch opened his first Odeon cinema in Dudley, West Midlands, in 1928.
SUPERSTORES
ASDA a) In 1965, the Asquith brothers acquired Associated Dairies and formed a new company, Asda (Asquith + Dairies).
TESCO c) Name is the initials of TE Stockwell, who was a partner in a tea suppliers firm, and CO from founder Jack Cohen’s name.
ALDI b) Short for Albrecht-Diskont, which translates into English as “Albrecht Discount”.
IKEA a) Initials of founder Ingvar Kamprad, Elmtaryd, the family farm, and Agunnaryd, a village.
B&M c) Initials of founding members Billington & Mayman.
FOOD & DRINK
M&Ms d) From founders Forrest E. Mars and Bruce Murrie.
PG TIPS a) “Pre Gest-tea” was a nod to “pre-digestive” era of tea drinking. It was later abbreviated.
HP SAUCE c) Rumoured to be used in the Houses of Parliament restaurant in early 1900.
SPAM a) Popular rumours suggest it’s an acronym for Shoulder of Pork And Ham.
KP NUTS d) Charles Kenyon started KP in 1853.
CARS
BMW a) Bayerische Motoren Werke GmbH, roughly translates to the Bavarian Motor Works.
SMART CAR d) Swatch watch inventor Nicolas Hayek dreamed up this car, which is owned by Mercedes. Its name combines Swatch and Mercedes with “art”.
FIAT b) Italian firm began in 1899.
MG a) Founded by Cecil Kimber, a manager at William Morris.
PRODUCTS
NERF d) The Nerf ball was introduced as the “world’s first official indoor ball” in 1970.
LEGO c) Founded by Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Kristiansen. Its name comes from Danish words “leg godt”, meaning “play well”.
MAC a) Canadian brand founded in 1984 by make-up artist and photographer Frank Toskan and salon owner Frank Angelo.
DUREX a) The London Rubber Company was formed in 1915 to sell imported supplies but in 1932 began production.
WD40 c) Rocket Chemical Company took 40 attempts to create a degreaser for aerospace industry.
