Quiz template · Corporate
Brand origins quiz questions and answers
20 questions on how famous brands began: Nokia's pulp mill, Samsung's dried fish, Lamborghini's tractors, Shell's seashells and the Dassler brothers.
Medium 20 questions 30 s each · about 16 min Checked against two sources
A quiz for a team meeting, a sales kick-off or an induction day, built on companies everyone knows and facts almost nobody does. Nokia made paper, Samsung sold dried fish, Lamborghini built tractors and Sony made its name from a Latin word. Each answer comes with the short version of the story, so you can read it out between questions. Twenty questions take about 16 minutes.
How to run it
- Run it as the warm-up before a strategy session or a sales kick-off. Every answer is a story about a company that changed its business, which is a better opener than a slide about change.
- After question 3, the Dassler brothers, ask the room which rival they would least like to share a small town with. It gets people talking before the scores matter.
- Questions 16 to 20 are app only. Question 20, the Tiffany shop, is your tie-breaker, and almost nobody guesses stationery.
Questions and answers
1Nokia dates its founding to 1865. What did it start as?Easy
- AA rubber boot maker
- BA wood pulp mill
- CA telephone exchange
- DA fishing net weaver
Reveal answer
B. A wood pulp mill
Fredrik Idestam got his permit for a groundwood pulp mill on the Tammerkoski rapids on 12 May 1865, and Nokia still counts that as its birthday. Rubber boots and cables came later, phones last of all.
2Adidas is named after its founder. What was his name?Easy
- AAdolf Dassler
- BAdrian Dassault
- CAdam Dawson
- DAndreas Dessler
Reveal answer
A. Adolf Dassler
Adolf went by Adi, and Adi plus Dassler gave Adidas. He registered the company in Herzogenaurach, Germany, in August 1949 after years of making sports shoes in the family business.
3Adi Dassler's brother Rudolf fell out with him and started a rival sportswear firm. Which one?Easy
- AReebok
- BFila
- CUmbro
- DPuma
Reveal answer
D. Puma
The brothers split in 1948, and Rudolf set up on the other side of the river Aurach in the same small town, Herzogenaurach. Puma and Adidas have been rivals ever since.
4When Netflix launched in 1998, what did it offer?Easy
- AA cable TV channel
- BA chain of video rental shops
- CDVD rental by post
- DFilm streaming
Reveal answer
C. DVD rental by post
Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings founded Netflix in 1997 and launched the DVD by post service on 14 April 1998. Streaming came almost a decade later.
5Toyota grew out of a family firm that made which machines?Medium
- ASewing machines
- BBicycles
- CAutomatic looms
- DTypewriters
Reveal answer
C. Automatic looms
Sakichi Toyoda invented an automatic loom, and Toyoda Automatic Loom Works opened a car division in 1933. His son Kiichiro founded Toyota Motor in 1937 with money the looms had earned.
6Before he built sports cars, Ferruccio Lamborghini made his fortune with what?Easy
- AMotorcycles
- BTractors
- CHelicopters
- DSpeedboats
Reveal answer
B. Tractors
Lamborghini Trattori started in 1948 and made him a wealthy industrialist. The car company, Automobili Lamborghini, followed in 1963.
7The name Volkswagen is German for what?Medium
- AFast car
- BFamily van
- CStrong engine
- DPeople's car
Reveal answer
D. People's car
Volk means people and Wagen means car or wagon. The company was founded in 1937 to build an affordable car for ordinary families, which became the Beetle.
8The company 3M was founded in 1902 under what name?Medium
- AMinnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
- BMichigan Machine Makers
- CModern Materials and Machines
- DMidwest Metal Manufacturing
Reveal answer
A. Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
Five men from Two Harbors, Minnesota, started it in 1902. The company moved to Duluth in 1905 and to St Paul in 1907, and only made 3M its official name in 2002.
9Samsung started in Korea in 1938 as what kind of business?Easy
- AAn electronics repair shop
- BA shipyard
- CA trading company
- DA bank
Reveal answer
C. A trading company
Lee Byung-chul's Samsung Trading Company had about forty staff and dealt in dried fish, local groceries and noodles. Electronics came decades later.
10Which toy company began in 1923 as Hassenfeld Brothers, selling leftover cloth?Medium
- AHasbro
- BMattel
- CPlaymobil
- DBandai
Reveal answer
A. Hasbro
Three brothers from Poland set up in Providence, Rhode Island, and sold textile remnants before moving to pencil boxes, pencils and then toys. Hasbro is simply Hassenfeld Brothers shortened.
11The Mercedes car name honours whom?Medium
- AA Spanish racing driver
- BA businessman's daughter
- CA Greek goddess
- DThe engineer's wife
Reveal answer
B. A businessman's daughter
Emil Jellinek sold Daimler cars and named the 1901 Mercedes 35 hp after his daughter Mercedes Jellinek. He registered the name as a trademark in 1902.
12The oil company Shell takes its name from an older family trade in what?Hard
- ASeashells
- BShellfish
- CShell casings
- DEggs
Reveal answer
A. Seashells
Marcus Samuel's father ran an import business in London that from 1833 sold seashells to collectors. The son moved into oil, and the company kept the shell name and logo.
13Yamaha, now known for pianos and motorbikes, began in 1887 making what?Medium
- ABicycles
- BRadios
- CFishing boats
- DReed organs
Reveal answer
D. Reed organs
Torakusu Yamaha and a colleague built the first Japanese-made reed organ in 1887, and he founded Nippon Gakki the same year. The company took his name in 1987, a century later.
14Pepsi was first sold in 1893 under which name?Easy
- ABrad's Drink
- BCaleb's Cola
- CCarolina Fizz
- DPep Tonic
Reveal answer
A. Brad's Drink
Pharmacist Caleb Bradham mixed it in New Bern, North Carolina. He renamed it Pepsi-Cola in 1898.
15Canon took its name from Kwanon. Who or what is Kwanon?Hard
- AA Japanese mountain
- BA Buddhist bodhisattva of mercy
- CA kind of camera lens
- DThe founder's home town
Reveal answer
B. A Buddhist bodhisattva of mercy
The 1934 prototype camera was called the Kwanon, after Kannon, the Buddhist bodhisattva of compassion. The spelling later became Canon.
5 more questions in the full pack. Play all 20 live, free.
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Are the brand stories accurate?
Every answer is checked against two sources, and each question links to both so you can read the full story. Where a company tells its own founding story differently from the record, the question sticks to what the sources agree on.
Can I run it in a meeting or on a video call?
Yes. Press Go live, share the PIN or QR code on screen and people answer on their phones. The leaderboard shows after each question, and the free plan covers 100 players in a session.
Do players have to install anything?
No. They open the link or scan the code in any browser, enter the PIN and a name, and play. Only the host needs a RiLiFi account.
Can I add a question about our own company?
Yes. Use this template to make a copy, then add a question about how your own company started and drop any brand that does not fit your room.
Sources
Every answer shown here was checked against two sources, listed below. Links last checked 29 October 2026.
- Nokia - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Fredrik Idestam - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Adidas - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Adolf Dassler - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Puma (brand) - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Netflix - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Marc Randolph - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Toyota - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Toyota Industries - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Lamborghini - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Ferruccio Lamborghini - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Volkswagen - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Volkswagen Beetle - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- 3M - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Two Harbors, Minnesota - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Samsung - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Lee Byung-chul - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Hasbro - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Hasbro Inc | Encyclopedia.comencyclopedia.com
- Mercedes-Benz - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Mercédès Jellinek - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Shell plc - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Marcus Samuel, 1st Viscount Bearsted - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Yamaha Corporation - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Torakusu Yamaha - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Pepsi - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Caleb Bradham - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Canon Inc. - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
- Guanyin - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
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