HBO Max Reverts to Original Name: Why Brands Retreat to Their Roots

rd, the HBO brand continued to be the real draw for subscribers. The 2023 rebrand to “Max” had mainly caused confusion among both industry insiders and consumers. People wondered if HBO was being phased out or diminished, the opposite of what the company intended.

This reversal highlights a crucial lesson many brands learn the hard way: sometimes your established brand equity is more valuable than you realize.

Warner Bros. Discovery isn’t the first major company to retreat to a previous brand identity after a failed rebrand. In fact, they’re joining a distinguished club of brand “boomerangs” – companies that tried new names only to return to their roots.

For example, Coca-Cola famously abandoned its classic formula for “New Coke” in 1985, only to bring back the original as “Coca-Cola Classic” after customer backlash. The lesson? Don’t mess with a brand that’s deeply embedded in consumer hearts and memories.

Similarly, SurveyMonkey rebranded as “Momentive” in 2021, aiming for a more enterprise-ready image, but eventually reverted to SurveyMonkey in 2023 due to customer confusion.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s struggle to find the right identity for its streaming service reflects a larger challenge many traditional companies face: how to transition cherished legacy brands into the modern era without losing what made them special.

The HBO brand has exceptional value – it stands for quality, prestige, and innovation. Removing it from the service name diluted that value rather than expanding the service’s appeal. What Warner Bros. Discovery now seems to understand is that HBO isn’t just a content provider within their streaming service. Rather, it’s the primary reason people subscribe.

Marketing leaders can learn from this brand reversal by respecting brand equity, testing consumer reactions before making changes, listening to actual usage patterns, and admitting mistakes quickly when necessary.

Bloys summed up the challenge well, noting that transitioning to streaming has been tricky for many companies. He expressed hope that this reversion to HBO Max would be the last time they have to address naming concerns. Don’t we all.