“There is a delusion on our marketing side where literally everything has been renamed to have Copilot”: Microsoft didn’t rebrand Office as Microsoft 365 Copilot — but its branding strategy remains just as confusing

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Microsoft, under CEO Satya Nadella, is moving away from Bill Gates’ original focus on software and is now prioritizing artificial intelligence, seamless integration, and overall intelligence. The company has heavily invested in AI, incorporating it throughout all of its products and services.

In 2024, people within Microsoft expressed concerns that the company was overly focused on AI. One senior leader even described many of the Copilot AI features as superficial or more for show than practical use.

According to a Microsoft insider:

Our marketing team is really focused on Copilot right now—to the point where they’re trying to include the name in everything we do. It feels like nothing else is a priority, and they’re pushing for a Copilot connection for every project.

There were several online reports earlier this week suggesting Microsoft was changing the name of Office to Microsoft 365 Copilot. These reports caused some confusion, but they are inaccurate.

The issue seems to be related to Microsoft’s online services. Microsoft changed its Office website to Microsoft 365 in 2022, and then rebranded it again as Microsoft 365 Copilot in January 2025. Users can still use the platform to access familiar Office apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, in addition to the new Copilot features.

As our news writer, Sean Endicott, puts it:

The new name feels clunky and doesn’t quite capture what people think of when they think of Microsoft. Even though Microsoft 365 now offers Copilot and other features, most users still see it as being about the familiar Office apps like Word and Excel.

When you visit office.com, you’ll see a welcome message explaining that the Microsoft 365 Copilot app—previously known as Office—allows you to create, share, and work together in one convenient location, now with the added power of Copilot.

While speaking to The Verge’s Tom Warren, Microsoft 365’s senior director of marketing indicated:

As a researcher tracking Microsoft’s app naming, I want to clarify that Word, Excel, and PowerPoint haven’t been renamed recently. These core Office apps within Microsoft 365 remain the same. What *did* change was the central ‘hub’ app. Back in November 2022, we changed its name from ‘Office’ to ‘Microsoft 365’. Then, in January 2025, we updated it again to ‘Microsoft 365 Copilot’ to better represent its function as the single place to access Copilot features and our Microsoft 365 productivity tools.

However, Microsoft hasn’t changed the name of Office to Microsoft 365 Copilot. The apps are still part of the Microsoft 365 subscription, and that subscription hasn’t been updated since it was redesigned in 2022.

We’d love to hear your opinion on Microsoft’s Copilot name! Share your thoughts in the comments below, and don’t forget to vote in the poll!

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2026-01-07 23:40