Corporate Acronyms and Products Quiz

Answer: Root beer

It all started when Roy W. Allen bought a formula from a pharmacist and opened a root beer stand in Lodi, California in 1919. It did so well he opened several more stands in other cities, e.g. Stockton and Sacramento. The following year, Allen partnered with Frank Wright, and they called their product A&W root beer.

In 1924, Allen bought out Wright, got a trademark and started selling restaurant franchises. By 1933 there were over 170 A&W franchised outlets.

Answer: Underwear

Founded in 1876, BVD was a brand of men's underwear named after the New York City firm of Bradley, Voorhees and Day. While the brand was originally produced for both men and women, including women's bustles, it has gone through a number of buyouts over the years, thereby changing its inventory.

In 1930, e.g., they offered swimsuits; in 1951, they began packaging underwear in plastic bags for mass marketing. In 1976, the brand was purchased by Fruit of the Loom, while Fruit of the Loom was, in turn, purchased by Berkshire Hathaway in 2002.

Answer: TV programs

CBS stands for Columbia Broadcasting System which was originally a radio network established in 1927 by Arthur Judson. In 1941, it was expanded into a broadcast television network, headquartered in New York City. Because of its logo which first appeared in 1951, CBS has been called the "Eye Network".

It has also been referred to as the "Tiffany Network" because of its high quality programming and/or because it first exhibited color television in a former Tiffany and Company building in NYC.

Answer: Shoes

Formerly called Shonac, Designer Show Warehouse or DSW, Inc. opened its first retail store in Dublin, Ohio in 1991. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, the company issued an initial public offering of its shares in 2005, the same year they experienced hacking and a massive theft of their data, resulting in a loss of almost 1 1/2 million credit card transactions. By 2008, DSW initiated their e-commerce website and, in 2011, merged with Retail Ventures.

Answer: Car insurance

We've all seen the ubiquitous GEICO commercials on television, beginning with those offensive 'caveman' ads, continuing with the little, green, talking gecko with the Australian accent. GEICO is actually an acronym for Government Employee Insurance Company which began selling car insurance in 1936.

Its headquarters are in Chevy Chase, Maryland. After State Farm, GEICO is the second largest car insurer in the United States.

Answer: Clothing

H&M (Hennes & Mauritz) is a Swedish clothing retailer which produces clothes for men, women, children and teenagers. The company was founded in 1947 by Erling Persson in Vasteras, Sweden. In the first shop, only women's clothing was sold; 'Hennes' is Swedish for 'hers'.

In 1968, Persson acquired men's apparel retailer Mauritz Widforss, and H&M was born. Headquarters for H&M are located in Stockholm, Sweden. They have over 4,000 stores in 62 countries, and are the second largest global clothing retailer, right behind Spain's Inditex.

Answer: Financial services

The Dutch banking and financial corporation, the ING Group (International Netherlands Group) was founded in 1991, with headquarters located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It has an orange lion as its logo which relates to its origins under "the House of Orange-Nassau".

In 2012, it was listed, by "Fortune Global 500", as the world's largest banking and financial services consortium by revenue, with over $150 billion in gross receipts per year.

Answer: Pharmaceuticals

J&J stands for the pharmaceutical company Johnson and Johnson. It was founded in 1886 by brothers Robert Wood Johnson I, James Wood Johnson and Edward Mead Johnson. After hearing a speech by Joseph Lister advocating antiseptic procedures, the Johnson brothers decided to create ready-to-use surgical dressings. By 1887, the company was incorporated, with Robert Wood Johnson as President. One of the goals was to improve the sanitary practices of the times. With headquarters in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the company expanded into medical devices and consumer health care products.

Answer: Airplane services

Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij (translated as 'Royal Aviation Society'), is more commonly known as KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. The airline has its headquarters in Amstelveen, a municipality in the Netherlands. Its hub is at nearby Schiphol Airport. KLM was founded in 1919, and is the oldest airline in the world still using its original name.

The first KLM flight was in May 1920, with scheduled services the following year. On October 1, 1924, the first intercontinental flight took off for Jakarta (which was Batavia at that time). By 1926, they had added six countries to their flight schedule.

In 2003, KLM merged with Air France.

Answer: Candy

Did you know that NECCO was an acronym for New England Confectionery Company? In 1901 several small candy companies in Boston, Massachusetts merged to form what became the "oldest continuously operating candy company in the United States". The company's original roots can be traced back to Oliver and Silas Chase in 1887, when the brothers patented the very first American candy machine. NECCO wafers were the mainstay of the company, but they also offered Sweethearts, Clark Bars and Haviland Thin Mints. Located in Revere, Massachusetts, in 2010 they sold their one trillionth NECCO wafer.

Answer: Natural gas

PG&E is an acronym for the Pacific Gas and Electric Company. PG&E is an investor- owned utility located in San Francisco, California. The company supplies natural gas and electricity for areas in Northern California from Bakersfield to Oregon. George Roe founded the company in 1905. PG&E resulted from the merger of the San Francisco Gas and Electric Company with the California Gas and Electric Company.

In 1930 the company began delivering natural gas to Northern California through the longest pipeline in the world.

Unfortunately, the timing of the original company's founding preceded the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, but the company was able to survive.

Answer: Student loans

SLM initially stood for Student Loan Marketing when it was founded, in 1972, as a GSE or government-sponsored enterprise. At that time, the organization dealt with federal education loans. In 1997 the company began to privatize its functions by issuing private loans, and became commonly known as Sallie Mae.

Although all ties to the government ended by 2004, the company is still the "largest originator of federally insured student loans". In 2011, they moved their headquarters from Reston, Virginia to Newark, Delaware (yes, New Jersey, Delaware has one too).

Answer: Yogurt

Founded in Little Rock, Arkansas, TCBY is a chain of frozen yogurt retail shops. Frank Hickingbotham opened his first store in 1981. Just three years later, there were over 100 franchises. Initially, the acronym stood for "This Can't be Yogurt" until the lawsuit.

The slogan was then changed to the current "The Country's Best Yogurt", with its headquarters in Broomfield, Colorado. In early 2000, the company became a subsidiary of Mrs. Fields Famous Brands. In 2010, they began a prototype of 'self-service' in their Salt Lake City Utah store.

Answer: Package delivery

"What can brown do for you?" They can deliver your packages. UPS stands for United Parcel Service; it is the world's largest package delivery company. It was founded by James Casey in Seattle, Washington in 1907. Headquartered in Sandy Springs, Georgia, the company has brown trucks and the drivers wear brown uniforms, leading to the business' nickname, "Brown". On an average day, UPS delivers more than 15 million packages worldwide.

Answer: Zippers

YKK, a Japanese company, was founded in 1934 by Tadao Yoshida, under the name San-es Shokai. The company manufactured fastening products. In 1938, the name was changed to Yoshida Kogyo Kabushiki (Yoshida Manufacturing Corporation), with the acronym YKK.

In 1946, the YKK trademark was registered. YKK grew to become a worldwide conglomerate, and the world's largest supplier of zippers. Located in Tokyo, Japan, they also manufacture hook and loop products, plastic parts (e.g. clips and buckles) and snaps and buttons.