rebadging

Meanings

1. 1verbtransitivebusiness

   Selling a product made by one company under another company's brand name, often with few real changes.

   Grammar: Takes an object: rebadging a car.

   Patterns

   • rebadging something as something

   The carmaker was rebadging a rival's van and selling it as its own model.

   Critics accused the firm of simply rebadging old laptops.

   Rebadging cheap imports saved the shop the cost of designing its own range.

2. 2verbtransitivebusiness

   Giving a company, team or service a new name or logo, usually after a merger or change in image.

   Grammar: Often used in news: rebadging the airline.

   Patterns

   • rebadging something as something

   The bank is rebadging all its branches after the merger.

   Rebadging the football club was part of the new owners' plan.

   They spent a month rebadging the vehicles with the new logo.

Word forms

Common combinations

rebadging a model

The company was rebadging a model from another maker.

rebadging exercise

Reviewers called the update a mere rebadging exercise.

rebadging deal

The two firms signed a rebadging deal.

rebadging cars

Rebadging cars is common in the industry.

Synonyms and how they differ

rebranding

Rebranding usually means changing a whole image or identity, while rebadging often only changes the badge or name.

relabeling

Relabeling is more general and applies to any product.

renaming

Renaming changes only the name and says nothing about making money from another's product.

repackaging

Repackaging changes the packaging, but rebadging changes the brand identification.

Word family

rebadge verb

to put a new brand on a product

rebadged adjective

carrying a new brand

badge noun

an emblem or logo

rebadging noun

the practice of relabeling

Commonly confused: rebadging or rebranding?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “rebadging”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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