Acronymization

Acronymization is the changing of the official name of a corporation, advocacy group or any organization to an acronym or initialism. Formed like any other acronym, the initial letters of the previous name are used. Such names changes are often connected to the continuous process of brand invigorartion within government agencies and the corporate community. It may not be clear to those unaware of the previous name where the new name came from, if it is a person's proper name or relates to place or culture.

Examples:
*Kentucky Fried Chicken - needed to get the "Fried" and "Chicken" out of its name so it could start selling salads and compete with companies such as McDonalds. They are using Acronymization to change their name to KFC.
*Archer Daniels Midland became ADM.
*Union Bank of Switzerland, the second largest bank in Europe, is now rebranding itself as UBS to conquer the US market. The words Union and Switzerland limit our perception of what the bank does, while UBS becomes its own word and is an empty vessel waiting to be filled with meaning, through advertising.
*KBR (formerly Kellogg Brown & Root)
*NARAL (formerly the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws)
*BP (formerly British Petroleum) has been rigourously branding itself in recent years as a research-focused alternative energy lab, uniquely qualified to lead the way into the future of energy independence.

ee also

*Acronym and initialism
*Backronym