A minor irrelevant consumer announcement

[chipotle]

I’ve seen many people refer to RadioShack changing their name to “The Shack” and how monumentally stupid this is, following the lead of Pizza Hut changing their name to “The Hut.” I did something kind of wild and crazy and actually, y’know, went to the company web site to read the press release from August 3:

RadioShack Corporation (NYSE: RSH) will unveil its new brand creative platform, “THE SHACK,” on August 6, supported by an integrated television, print and digital media schedule, as well as a high-profile, three-day launch event taking place in New York City and San Francisco.

“Trust is a critical attribute of any successful retailer, and the reality is that most people trust friends, not corporations. When a brand becomes a friend, it often gets a nickname — take FedEx or Coke, for example. Our customers, associates and even the investor community have long referred to RadioShack as ‘THE SHACK,’ so we decided to embrace that fact and share it with the world,” said Lee Applbaum, RadioShack’s Chief Marketing Officer. “This creative is not about changing our name. Rather, we’re contemporizing the way we want people to think about our brand.”

In other words, they aren’t changing their name. This is a marketing campaign.

I also went to Pizza Hut’s web site, and found a somewhat curt and, dare I say, vaguely exasperated-sounding press release from June 20:

“Pizza Hut is not changing its name. We are proud of our name and heritage and will continue to be Pizza Hut. We do use ‘The Hut’ in some of our marketing efforts,” said Brian Niccol, CMO, Pizza Hut, Inc.

In other words, they aren’t changing their name. This is a marketing campaign.

That we’re so quick to believe that these companies would throw away decades of brand equity for Google-hostile generics says something, surely, but I’m not sure exactly what it says, nor whom it says it about. But don’t be looking for them to be changing their signs any time soon.

Jack in the Box, though? “The Box.” Next month. You heard it here first.

Comments

[chipotle.livejournal.com]

Thinking about it, they may just be 25 years too late. In the '70s and '80s, Radio Shack was pretty much the de facto HQ for ham and CB radio enthusiasts and electronic hobbyists, and of course, TRS-80 computer owners. (People these days forget that the "Trash-80" was actually the best-selling computer on the market for a few years.) Back then, it had a pretty strong brand equity among electronics and computer nerds, but those days are long past, even among those of us who were actually TRS-80 owners. I still think of going down to a Radio Shack specifically when I'm looking for cables, but that's about it.

[raventail2.livejournal.com]

Ahhh...the good ol' TRS-80. One of the first computers my high school got was a Model 1 Level 2. Spent many an hour before school hacking away on that thing. Had a CoCo w/ a floppy drive at home, too. Later on I ended up getting a Model 4 which I still have. Still works, too.

[prickvixen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Radio Shack is kind of a curiosity these days. Do they still have their 'Realistic' house brand? Lackluster home electronics which cost far more than anyone else's, and a few walls of parts. Kind of a weird hybrid of a neighborhood electronics store which hasn't heard about the big-box phenomenon yet, and electronics hobby shop. I don't know how they stay afloat... do they do it on the strength of cables and three-position switches alone?

[chipotle.livejournal.com]

I don't follow RadioShack much anymore -- I used to really love those stores, back when they did more hobbyist electronics and computers, but now I'm only likely to go into them once in a blue moon for cables, as they still seem to have a wider selection than anybody else.

As far as I know, though, back when they lost the space in "RadioShack" they changed a lot of small things about the stores: they lost a lot of the hobbyist stuff and they dropped all of their house brands; either stuff is just labelled "RadioShack Brand" or it's being sold under the actual manufacturer's name. (A lot of the Realistic stereo components were made by Pioneer; the speakers were mostly made by RCA; etc.) They also became a pretty big cell phone reseller, and I believe a satellite TV reseller.

Realistically (no pun intended) whatever strategy they have seems to be working for them. They apparently made a conscious effort not to try to go head-to-head with the big box stores; that might prevent them from ever being a Best Buy, but it may also be preventing them from being a Circuit City.