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What I find fascinating with Amazon's infrastructure push is the the successful 'homonymization' of their brand name Amazon. Amazon simultaneously stands for e

What I find fascinating with Amazon's infrastructure push is the the successful 'homonymization' of their brand name Amazon. Amazon simultaneously stands for ecommerce and web infrastructure depending on the context. e.g "Hey I want to host my server".. "Why don't you try Amazon". "Do you know where I can get a fair priced laptop?" "Check Amazon". Is there any other brand that has done this successfully? Edit: I should have specified internet brand.

nl 14y ago
GE (aka General Electric) is probably the archtype for this type of diversification. Virgin has been already mentioned, but is a really interesting example. It really is just a brand - there is no single controlling company.
masterzora 14y ago
This actually confused me when I saw the headline. I saw 'Amazon' and, despite having been working with AWS all night, thought ecommerce first and couldn't figure out what they could name 'Glacier'. I was kind-of-not-really hoping it was going to be a new shipping option guaranteed to take a long time. That said, the actual service looks solid.
- waterlesscloud 14y ago
  I'm completely amused that there's an internet service named "Glacier" in such a way that it is a positive connotation!
vidarh 14y ago
Virgin (200+ businesses operating or having operated, under the Virgin brand, ranging from infrastructures - trains, airlines - to records, banking, bridal saloons under the name Virgin Bride...). Mitsubishi and Samsung springs to mind as two of the best known ones internationally where their brands are known in multiple markets internationally, though many of their businesses are less known outside Asia (e.g. Mitsubishi's bank is Japans largest). Any number of other Asian conglomerates. ITT used to fall in that category back in the day: Fridges, PC's, hotels, insurance, schools,telecoms and lots more. I remember we at one point had both an ITT PC and fridge. The name was well known in many of its markets. The large, sprawling, unfocused conglomerate have fallen a bit out of favor in Europe and the US. ITT was often criticized for their lack of focus even back in the 80's, and have since broken itself into more and more pieces and renamed and/or sold off many of them (e.g. the hotel group is now owned by Starwood).
- tommoor 14y ago
  Like you say, many of the big Asian companies are prime examples - Yamaha manufactures Motorcycles and Synthesizers, seems like a good combination!
  - mjb 14y ago
    Musical instruments (especially wind instruments) and motorcycles share a lot of similar design principles. Ever compared a saxophone to a WWII-vintage motorcycle engine?
gingerjoos 14y ago
In India, the Tata and Birla groups come to mind. The Tatas[1] particularly so. Both are family owned conglomerates and have been around before India gained Independence from the British. The Japanese Keiretsu[2], from what I have read, is similar. The companies are somewhat loosely connected, but are connected nevertheless. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Group http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Group [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keiretsu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keiretsu

nl 14y ago

GE (aka General Electric) is probably the archtype for this type of diversification. Virgin has been already mentioned, but is a really interesting example. It really is just a brand - there is no single controlling company.

masterzora 14y ago

This actually confused me when I saw the headline. I saw 'Amazon' and, despite having been working with AWS all night, thought ecommerce first and couldn't figure out what they could name 'Glacier'. I was kind-of-not-really hoping it was going to be a new shipping option guaranteed to take a long time. That said, the actual service looks solid.

waterlesscloud 14y ago
I'm completely amused that there's an internet service named "Glacier" in such a way that it is a positive connotation!

vidarh 14y ago

Virgin (200+ businesses operating or having operated, under the Virgin brand, ranging from infrastructures - trains, airlines - to records, banking, bridal saloons under the name Virgin Bride...). Mitsubishi and Samsung springs to mind as two of the best known ones internationally where their brands are known in multiple markets internationally, though many of their businesses are less known outside Asia (e.g. Mitsubishi's bank is Japans largest). Any number of other Asian conglomerates. ITT used to fall in that category back in the day: Fridges, PC's, hotels, insurance, schools,telecoms and lots more. I remember we at one point had both an ITT PC and fridge. The name was well known in many of its markets. The large, sprawling, unfocused conglomerate have fallen a bit out of favor in Europe and the US. ITT was often criticized for their lack of focus even back in the 80's, and have since broken itself into more and more pieces and renamed and/or sold off many of them (e.g. the hotel group is now owned by Starwood).

tommoor 14y ago
Like you say, many of the big Asian companies are prime examples - Yamaha manufactures Motorcycles and Synthesizers, seems like a good combination!
- mjb 14y ago
  Musical instruments (especially wind instruments) and motorcycles share a lot of similar design principles. Ever compared a saxophone to a WWII-vintage motorcycle engine?

gingerjoos 14y ago

In India, the Tata and Birla groups come to mind. The Tatas[1] particularly so. Both are family owned conglomerates and have been around before India gained Independence from the British. The Japanese Keiretsu[2], from what I have read, is similar. The companies are somewhat loosely connected, but are connected nevertheless. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Group http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Group [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keiretsu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keiretsu