Rebranding
Rebranding is the process by which a finished or near-finished product or service developed with one brand or company or product line affiliation is marketed or distributed with a different identity. This can be done purposefully or out of necessity.
Often, rebranding is necessary when one company acquires another, along with its products. For example, Norton CleanSweep, now a part of the Norton SystemWorks product was originally Quarterdeck CleanSweep prior to Symantec's acquisition of Quarterdeck in November 1998. Much of Microsoft's product line consists of rebranded products, including MS-DOS, FoxPro and Visio.
Rebranding can also be used for market segmentation purposes. Dexxa computer mice are rebranded Logitech devices sold at a lower price by Logitech in the low-end market segment without undercutting their mid-range products. Rebranding in this manner allows one set of engineering and QA to be used to create multiple products with minimal modifications and additional expense.
New Coke and British Airways ethnic liveries are both attempts at rebranding that had to be aborted due to a poor reception from the public. BA's world art tailfins were well received abroad, but failed to please the carrier's key customers, British and North American travellers.