This post is one in a series on prominent company nicknames. See all 25, and share your thoughts and memories about Big Brown below in the comments.

The simplicity of a brand name or symbol confers status on a company. Decades ago, the symbol might literally have been a stock symbol: the oldest companies got one letter ticker symbols from the New York Stock Exchange. United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) now gets that status by taking an entire color: brown. (Granted, it's not a primary color like IBM's Big Blue, but it still shows the company's clout.)

The company first started using its trademark brown trucks in the 1920s when it delivered appliances and other goods for department stores, says Mike Brewster, author of Driving Change: The UPS Approach to Business. Pullman brown was a good choice because "their department store clients wanted the company to be more under-stated, because the stores didn't want the fact that they no longer had their own trucks highlighted." That, and the dark trucks were easier to keep looking clean.

Brown is much more than a truck color now. It's the uniform. It's the logo. It's what the company calls itself in commercials. UPS employees bragging about their loyalty will say they "bleed brown." This year the company sponsored a horse named Big Brown, which won two-thirds of the Triple Crown.

But, hard as it is to believe now, UPS almost gave up its trademark color. "The company almost changed the color in the '90s during one of several re-brandings, but decided to stick with brown, much to the disappointment of many in the company," says Brewster. "But the 'What can Brown do for You?' campaign has given the color new life at the company."

Our correspondent, Mike Brewster, is a freelance writer and sports enthusiast. We asked him to begin contributing pieces on the business of sports.

Following the shortest drive of his career (about 10 feet of stage while behind the wheel of the newly introduced Buick Enclave last week at the L.A. Auto Show), world number one golfer Tiger Woods is back making business news, re-upping with NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) Tuesday for a third successive multi-year contract.
While terms weren't announced, this pact is bound to exceed the two previous five-year agreements, which at $40 million and $100 million were relative bargains for the Oregon sporting goods giant.

Interestingly, Nike's stock price took a tumble on the news, thereby temporarily disproving my "As-Tiger-Goes-So-Goes-Nike" theory. Ever since Tiger regained his form over the summer and posted six consecutive PGA Tour wins, Nike's stock has risen from a 52-week-low of $75.52 on August 10 to a high of $99.30 on November 30. But today, the stock fell nearly a full percentage point. Maybe Tiger's deal is for a little more scratch than we thought?