Branding experts said Warner Bros. Discovery's decision to resurrect the HBO Max name was a tacit acknowledgement that it made a strategic error.

Wednesday's name change adds Warner Bros. Discovery to an infamous list of prominent companies that have made well-publicized pivots The post HBO Max Enters Hall of Fame of Corporate Brand Reversals Alongside Netflix,

Warner Bros Discovery is hitting rewind on Max's branding, bringing back the HBO name it dropped from the streaming service two years ago. The company will rebrand its streaming platform as HBO Max this summer,

The branding saga of the name of HBO Max offers a clear lesson for marketers: when a rename threatens familiarity, consistency and clear messaging, customers will push back.

A couple of years ago, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) made a change that was fairly widely mocked at the time, stripping the "HBO" from its streaming platform to rebrand it as purely "Max". The idea was, in theory, to help spotlight the fact that it had more to offer than just HBO content, although HBO remained the jewel in its crown.

In what may be a first in the modern streaming wars, Max is returning to the name it had when it launched in 2020, HBO Max.