According to Gizmodo, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is seriously considering a massive corporate rebrand, potentially changing the company’s entire name to “Agentforce.” The idea, reportedly raised in jest, was taken seriously by Benioff, who told Business Insider that such a change “would not shock me.” He apparently favors the name Agentforce, which is already used for several of the company’s AI services like Agentforce Sales and Agentforce Service. This comes amid Benioff’s relentless push to position Salesforce as a dominant AI platform, driven by a concern that the market doesn’t yet strongly associate the CRM giant with artificial intelligence. The report draws a parallel to the crypto craze, where companies saw wild stock surges by simply adding “blockchain” to their names.
The ghost of rebrands past
Look, this isn’t a new play. Tech loves a big, symbolic name change when it wants to signal a pivot. We’ve seen it before. Google became Alphabet, Square became Block, and of course, Facebook became Meta. Here’s the thing: in most people’s minds, they’re still Google, Square, and Facebook. The new names just didn’t stick in the public consciousness, except as a topic for tech pundits. But the Meta comparison is the most telling—and maybe the most cautionary for Benioff.
A Meta mistake in the making?
Mark Zuckerberg bet the company’s identity on the metaverse, a vision that has largely fizzled as a mainstream concept. Now Meta is laying off in its Reality Labs division and pivoting hard to… you guessed it, AI. And yet, the company is stuck with the name Meta, a permanent, slightly awkward monument to a hype cycle that peaked and then deflated. That’s the real risk Benioff might not be considering. If you tie your entire corporate identity to a single, buzzy technology trend, you’re making a bet that the trend has permanent, foundational staying power. AI might seem like a sure thing now, but so did the metaverse a few years ago. What happens if the “agent” paradigm shifts or becomes just another feature? You’re left with a name that feels dated and desperate, a bit like Long Blockchain Corp.
Desperation or vision?
So, is this a visionary move or a sign of panic? On one hand, “Salesforce Agentforce Sales” is objectively silly and redundant, so streamlining the branding has some logic. But changing the name of a multi-billion dollar, decades-old software institution feels different. It feels like Benioff is shouting, “SEE? WE DO AI TOO!” at the top of his lungs because the market isn’t listening to the quieter, sustained drumbeat of product announcements. It’s the corporate equivalent of putting a giant spoiler on a sedan to prove it’s fast.
The verdict
I think it’s a risky, potentially ego-driven move that misunderstands how branding works. Salesforce has immense brand equity; it is the CRM category for many businesses. Diluting that to chase a trend seems short-sighted. Building great AI products *within* the Salesforce ecosystem is how you own the category. Changing your name to Agentforce feels like you’re trying to invent a new category because you’re worried about losing the old one. Basically, it reeks of the same short-term thinking that drives those blockchain stock pumps. And we all remember how those ended.
