This is a feature on origins of some of the most popular business brands we know. Published on blog.ngcareers.com;

MAGGI

Maggi named after the Founder Julius Maggi.
Maggi is a Nestlé brand of instant soups, stocks, bouillon cubes, ketchups, sauces, seasonings and instant noodles.
The original company came into existence in 1872 in Switzerland, when Julius Maggi took over his father’s mill. He quickly became a pioneer of industrial food production, aiming to improve the nutritional intake of worker families. Maggi was the first to bring protein-rich legume meal to the market, and followed up with a ready-made soup based on legume

In 1947, following several changes in ownership and corporate structure, Maggi’s holding company merged with the Nestlé company to form Nestlé-Alimentana S.A., currently known in its francophone homebase as Nestlé S.A.. meal in 1886. In 1897, Julius Maggi founded the company Maggi GmbH in the German town of Singen, where it is still based today.

Today, Maggi is known throughout the world for its dry soups, seasoning sauce and instant noodle dishes. In New Zealand, Maggi Onion Soup mix is often combined with reduced cream to create an onion dip for potato chips that has come to be generally accepted as a Kiwi favorite.
In India, Maggi instant noodles are a favorite for an anytime meal, from dorm rooms of colleges to late-night cooking in home kitchens. It is so popular that many people in India call noodles ‘Maggi’.
In Nigeria Maggi cube is used widely as seasoning. It is so popular that most people call seasoning cubes ‘Maggi’.

SUZUKI

Suzuki is a brand name of Suzuki Motor Corporation, named after the founder Michio Suzuki.
Suzuki Motor Corporation is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Minami-ku, Hamamatsu, Japan, which specializes in manufacturing automobiles, 4×4 vehicles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a variety of other small internal combustion engines.
In 2011, Suzuki was the tenth biggest automaker by production worldwide. Suzuki employs over 45,000 and has 35 main production facilities in 23 countries and 133 distributors in 192 countries.

In 1909, Michio Suzuki (1887–1982) founded the Suzuki Loom Works in the small seacoast village of Hamamatsu, Japan. Business boomed as Suzuki built weaving looms for Japan’s giant silk industry. In 1929, Michio Suzuki invented a new type of weaving machine, which was exported overseas. Suzuki filed as many as 120 patents and utility model rights. The company’s first 30 years focused on the development and production of these exceptionally complex machines.

In 1953, Suzuki scored the first of many racing victories when the tiny 60 cc “Diamond Free” won its class in the Mount Fuji Hill Climb.

By 1954, Suzuki was producing 6,000 motorcycles per month and had officially changed its name to Suzuki Motor Co., Ltd. Following the success of its first motorcycles, Suzuki created an even more successful automobile: the 1955 Suzuki Suzulight. Suzuki showcased its penchant for innovation from the beginning. The Suzulight included front-wheel drive, four-wheel independent suspension and rack-and-pinion steering—features not common on cars until three decades later.

Volkswagen AG completed the purchase of 19.9% of Suzuki Motor Corporation’s issued shares on 15 January 2010, Volkswagen AG is the biggest shareholder in Suzuki.

COCA-COLA (Coke)

Coca-Cola is brand name for Coca-Cola Company, name suggested by Frank M. Robinson partner to the founder John S. Pemberton
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in every country except Cuba and North Korea. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke (a registered trademark of The Coca-Cola Company in the United States since March 27, 1944). Originally intended as a patent medicine when it was invented in the late 19th century by John Pemberton, Coca-Cola was bought out by businessman Asa Griggs Candler, whose marketing tactics led Coke to its dominance of the world soft-drink market throughout the 20th century.

When John S. Pemberton created the formula for his new drink in 1886, his partner and bookkeeper, Frank M. Robinson, suggested the name Coca-Cola, thinking that ‘the two Cs would look well in advertising’. He wanted to create a unique logo to go with it, and experimented writing the company’s name in elaborate Spencerian script, a form of penmanship characteristic of the time.

The prototype Coca-Cola recipe was formulated at the Eagle Drug and Chemical Company, a drugstore in Columbus, Georgia, by John Pemberton, originally as a coca wine called Pemberton’s French Wine Coca. He may have been inspired by the formidable success of Vin Mariani, a European coca wine.
In 1886, when Atlanta and Fulton County passed prohibition legislation, Pemberton responded by developing Coca-Cola, essentially a nonalcoholic version of French Wine Coca. The first sales were at Jacob’s Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 8, 1886. It was initially sold as a patent medicine for five cents a glass at soda fountains, which were popular in the United States at the time due to the belief that carbonated water was good for the health. Pemberton claimed Coca-Cola cured many diseases, including morphine addiction, dyspepsia, neurasthenia, headache, and impotence. Pemberton ran the first advertisement for the beverage on May 29 of the same year in the Atlanta Journal.

The famous Coca-Cola logo was created by John Pemberton’s bookkeeper, Frank Mason Robinson, in 1885. Robinson came up with the name and chose the logo’s distinctive cursive script. The typeface used, known as Spencerian script, was developed in the mid-19th century and was the dominant form of formal handwriting in the United States during that period.
Robinson also played a significant role in early Coca-Cola advertising. His promotional suggestions to Pemberton included giving away thousands of free drink coupons and plastering the city of Atlanta with publicity banners and streetcar signs.

Source: http://blog.ngcareers.com/1053/top-5-brands-and-their-origin-coca-cola-maggi-adidas-suzuki-total/

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