Elephant Memory Systems was a popular brand of floppy disk

Floppy disk

A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles...

 media produced by Leading Edge

Leading Edge (company)

Leading Edge Hardware Products, Inc., was a computer manufacturer in the 1980s and the 1990s. It was based in Westborough, Massachusetts.-History:...

 in the 1980s. The name for the product was suggested by Ray Welch to company owner Michael Shane because of the common folk wisdom that an elephant never forgets.

The brand was originally devised as an inexpensive, mass-market product. Its imposing pachyderm logo, designed by Rollin Binzer was often paired with bright orange or yellow and black packaging, which was in stark contrast of the more conservative silvers and blues used by competitors like IBM

IBM

International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...

. Shane's advisers feared this would undermine the credibility of the product. However, Elephant eventually became viewed as a premium product, eventually becoming one of the highest-margin floppies on the market and one of the best-selling media brands in history.

Leading Edge sold the computer aftermarket division to Dennison Computer Supplies, a division of Dennison Manufacturing (now Avery Dennison) and retained the computer hardware division. The EMS market was primarily students and home enthusiasts. EMS was not typically utilized in business settings. Competitors Dysan and Verbatim dominated this end of the market. Dennison tried to compete in the corporate market by developing a brand of the Elephant diskette called "Silver." A television commercial was filmed in New York City featuring stampeding elephants to announce this new premium line.

Leading Edge was acquired in 1989 by Daewoo

Daewoo

Daewoo or the Daewoo Group was a major South Korean chaebol . It was founded on 22 March 1967 as Daewoo Industrial and was dismantled by the Korean government in 1999...

, one of its hardware suppliers, after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

External links

• Excerpts from Ray Welch's book
• Promotional booklet from Elephant Memory Systems
• Gallery of graphics from Elephant Memory Systems
• Tribute Page
• Logo Artist