Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos has just released a long video in which he rhapsodizes about the history of Amazon.com – including early troubles with technology… and even elecricity. At 8 minutes plus, sale this DOESN’T qualify as an elevator pitch. Then he eventually gets around to announcing his company’s all-stock aquisition of online shoe retailer Zappos.com. The full TechCrunch Newsflash is here.
From the other side of the acquisition, Zappos.com CEO Tony Heish has posted this letter to employees explaining the aquisition. It’s a serious letter, but also manages to be light, breezy-but-informative piece that speaks to the corporate brand culture Hseih has built at Zappos. Just what you’d expect from a guy with a Zappos logo tatooed to his head.
But one thing that caught my attention was this:
We learned that they truly wanted us to continue to build the Zappos brand and continue to build the Zappos culture in our own unique way. I think “unique” was their way of saying “fun and a little weird.” 🙂
…
The Zappos brand will continue to be separate from the Amazon brand. Although we’ll have access to many of Amazon’s resources, we need to continue to build our brand and our culture just as we always have. Our mission remains the same: delivering happiness to all of our stakeholders, including our employees, our customers, and our vendors.
So what do you think?
Cynical DIFFERs, how long do you think this will last before Zappos.com is absorbed into Amazon?
Hopeful DIFFERs: is this the greatest thing you’ve ever heard?
So as I write this, illness the newly re-christened SciFi Channel is ringing the bell at the NASDAQ to celebrate their name change to “Syfy” (Siffy?) and the Twitter hash tag #syfy is alive with unanimous pans of the new name: “Worst. Re-branding. Ever.” That might be a stretch, mind but so is the new name.
Screen captures from http://www.syfy.com/imaginegreater/. A distorted disorienting funhouse with no discernable direction or exit. Welcome to "Siffy".
Variety, page noting the fan outrage and commenting on the trend of cable channels renaming themselves in search of wider audiences, said NBC Universal had tripped the light gooftastic. “Syfy … opens up new possibilities for confusion,” the trade publication wrote. “If the network is trying to expand beyond science-fiction programming, why go with a new name that’s still pronounced ‘Sci Fi,’ but with a goofy spelling?”
My take:
Captain, I’m a brander not a Cable programmer, but they’re trying to have it both ways here. They’re trying to 1) preserve brand equity by pretending that the word will be pronounced the same way, while 2) leaving themselves open to the possibility of expanding to non-science fiction programming, and 3) building a distinctive protectable trademark in the package.
All of which sounds great on paper but to ordinary earthlings, it seems like a big stretch. Which is the trade-off when you choose a plain-language descriptive name like “SciFi” in the first place. Instant category recognition, but you have to live with (and respect) the expectations you create.
Or maybe I’m wrong. Maybe this weekend’s Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest should rebrand as “Blewsfest” now that KISS, Styx, and Ice Cube are all on the same bill. Note to Bluesfest: gimme a call, ‘kay?
A quick word on the tag line:
Oh, and when you put the “Siffy” name together with the mostly opaque and totally illiterate tagline “Imagine Greater” one wonders if the marketing team has been abducted by aliens (and not by the smart ones).
Trident “Less Intense” – both a sign of changing times and a spectacular positioning error.
The Trident "More Flavour / Less Intense" positioning statement - along with the "Intense" tag used by competitor Dentyne.
All right brand geeks, viagra 60mg have a go at this one.
As a life-long gum addict, doctor (full disclosure – Excel is my brand) I’m always interested in the contortions gum-makers go to to get my attention in a crowded brandfield. But this one really jumped out as both a sign of changing times and a spectacular positioning error.
Changing Times:
It seems like the “Extreme” superlatives and the “Intense” flavour / fashion / lifestyle experiences pushed by advertisers in the mid 00’s are pulling back a bit under the weight of recession. I remeber being stumped a bit why my anti-perspirant Degree started pushing new scents like “EXTREME BLAST” a few years back — which seems to me to be the LAST thing you want eminating from your armpits…
But increasingly, the consumer branding pitch seems to be less about trying new things and getting back to fundamentals. Witness the sheepish positioning line “Less Intense”.
Positioning Errors:
1) Apologetic Subtext: Sorry everybody, we didn’t mean to offend you with our intense taste for the last few decades…
2) Confusing juxtaposition: of “Now more flavour…” and “LESS INTENSE!!!!!!!!” (puncuation added) Huh?!?! I’m a bit slow on my flavour-industry jargon, but isn’t that a bit like saying about a new painting “It’s more beautiful, BUT YOU WON’T BE OVERWHELMED BY THAT ANNNOYING BEAUTY LIKE BEFORE!!!!!!”
Okay, I’m done. Any thoughts? Join the converstation!
