Comments on Rob Frankel - Branding Expert: Landor Dumbs Down SciFi

Landor actually blogged about the incident, in wha...

2009-04-22T10:18:00.000-07:00

Landor actually blogged about the incident, in what I perceived to be a serious lapse in professional judgement, blaming their client.

It's here, if you'd like to read it:
http://www.landor.com/index.cfm?do=thinking.blog&post_id=18904&bhcp=1

Are they still going through with this?? This is r...

2009-04-22T09:50:00.000-07:00

Are they still going through with this?? This is ridiculously stupid. I HATE it when people intentionally misspell things to seem "cool." It's not cool; it's offensive and makes everyone seem more foolish for it. To glorify "IM" or "leet" speak is a tragedy. Everyone involved in this fiasco needs to go back to school. There's no "y" in science fiction.

As soon as I saw the name "Bonnie Hammer", I knew ...

2009-03-17T14:33:00.000-07:00

As soon as I saw the name "Bonnie Hammer", I knew it would be something incredibly stupid. Sci Fi fans have detested her for years.

J. Michael Straczynski has a real way with words; one of my favorite quotes of his, referring to a network programming executive decision:

"There's actually a kind of awe that sets in when you begin to really understand the extent of the stupidity involved...the same kind of stunned, silent reverence that comes when you finally see the Mona Lisa up close, or the first time you hear 'Ode to Joy' performed by a live orchestra. The sheer majestic perfection of it sends you to your knees with the realization that this is not just common stupidity, it's a Mount Everest rising into the clouds...a level of stupidity so monumental that it actually acquires horizontal perspective."

As soon as I saw "sy" I immediately thought "syphi...

2009-03-16T17:55:00.000-07:00

As soon as I saw "sy" I immediately thought "syphilis." It just happened, instantly, perhaps due to an embedded knowledge that "sy" in Latin is generally associated with Something Bad.

This is brilliantly done. Thanks for calling out b...

2009-03-16T17:53:00.000-07:00

This is brilliantly done. Thanks for calling out bad branding and utter clueless-ness about who your customers are.

Firstly I honestly think if I saw Syfy for the fir...

2009-03-16T16:21:00.000-07:00

Firstly I honestly think if I saw Syfy for the first time, with that fat font I'd bet it were a cartoon channel.

Secondly, as I said in my tweet, I'd probably pronounce it as seefee or sifi since it really doesn't connect with anything from the sci-fi world.

Thirdly, the logo looks very cheery and as any sci-fi fan out there knows, the future is anything but cheery, and most times, there's some fugly alien race trying to wipe us out for no apparent reason other than what weird faces we have.

Wow, I just realised I never made it to four before. Would it be fourthly? Anyway, moving on from this obviously bad idea of renaming a geek channel, I can see the point behind the new brand, opening up to audiences not wanting to be labeled as geeky or male but they could employ other means.

Destroying a great name is no way to attract new customers, but to lose your faithful evangelists.

Thanks for the great article Rob!

Well, it's a great thing that my husband and I can...

2009-03-16T15:10:00.000-07:00

Well, it's a great thing that my husband and I cancelled cable, then. As former SciFi junkies, I don't think we'd be able to stomach seeing SyFy.

Looks more like SeeFee to me, anyhow. But what a great coincidence! Now that we're not paying for cable we're not seeing that fee any longer!