Biggest marketing backfire since New Coke
“Siffy”? You’ve got to be frakking kidding me.
SCI FI Channel to become Syfy; “Imagine Greater” is new message
Building on 16 years of water-cooler programming and soaring ratings growth following its most-watched year ever, SCI FI Channel is evolving into Syfy, beginning this summer, Dave Howe, president, SCI FI, announced today.
By changing the name to Syfy, which remains phonetically identical, the new brand broadens perceptions and embraces a wider range of current and future imagination-based entertainment beyond just the traditional sci-fi genre, including fantasy, supernatural, paranormal, reality, mystery, action and adventure. It also positions the brand for future growth by creating an ownable trademark that can travel easily with consumers across new media and nonlinear digital platforms, new international channels and extend into new business ventures.
If you can get past the buzzword BS, it says, “We’ll be rerunning all of NBC’s shows that have failed to syndicate to TBS, TNT and A&E, and maybe Wife Swap. And we’re gonna license the fuck out of ‘em.”
“Imagine Greater” will become the new brand message and tagline, inviting both consumers and advertisers into a new era of unlimited imagination, exceptional experiences and greater entertainment.
What? That doesn’t even mean anything. It makes “Think Different” sound positively Shakespearean.
“Without abandoning our legacy or our core audience…”
Wanna bet?
Syfy—unlike the generic entertainment category “sci-fi”—firmly establishes a uniquely ownable trademark that is portable across all nonlinear digital platforms and beyond, from Hulu to iTunes. Syfy also creates an umbrella brand name that can extend into new adjacent businesses under the Syfy Ventures banner, including Syfy Games, Syfy Films and Syfy Kids.
Corporatespeak gobbledygook. Translation: We could care less about our audience so long as we can get kids to buy our logo-emblazoned shit.
We all understood that the Sci-Fi Channel as we knew it was dead the moment they inexplicably canceled “Farscape” and began airing pro wrestling. This only proves that the marketing droids have taken over completely and are burning the last vestiges of what once was a great channel.
I find this confusing b/cause the Century Theater chain used to be called Syufy. And as a former employee of the Century Theater chain, I won’t be able to keep this straight.
However: we have a far more grave and ominous rebranding crisis on our hands. Dora the Explorer: Tween Edition, in which the plucky, bilingual heroine ditches problem-solving, educational expeditions, and sensible shoes for miniskirts, Rapunzel hair, and strangely luminous jewelry.
Comment by Strikethru — March 17, 2009 @ 11:25 am
Yay! More time for “Anaconda 3″ on the weekends (ALL weekend, mind you.) Frankly, they’ve been teetering on the edge of credibility for a while, and this is just one last great push downwards. “Siffy” (*derisive snort*)
They’ve got a fine tradition of killing/maiming decent shows. See also MST3K. Oh, and don’t even get me and the wife started on the killing-off of Farscape. Grrrr. (My youngest’s middle name is Aeryn… uh, yeah, we were big nerds for the show.)
Comment by mpclemens — March 17, 2009 @ 11:26 am
Strikethru, I saw the “tween” Dora, and I have to say that I’m not that upset by it. The older Dora seems like a normal 10-year-old, and I think she can still be a wholesome, positive role model for girls who have moved beyond the pre-school Dora. I think it’s a smart marketing move. She isn’t replacing the original Dora, after all. That would have been stupid.
Mike, the killing of MST3K struck a deeply personal wound in my heart, as the show originated as a local access cable show up in the Cities. OTOH, Sci-Fi did save it–at least temporarily–when it was canceled by Comedy Central (which I think was still called Ha! back then).
And don’t feel nerdy about Aeryn (a name I love, btw). Our son Nick’s full name is Nickolai. We took it from “Forever Knight”. (Yes, son–if you’re reading this on the Internet Wayback Machine years from now–you were named after a vampire cop.)
Comment by olivander — March 17, 2009 @ 11:39 am
Yes, I know about the KTMA years, and the welcome spread to Ha!/Comedy Channel/Comedy Central. And CC did their own spot of maiming, including unleashing the transparent logo “bug” in the corner, usually smack over Crow’s head. Much rending of cloth and gnashing of teeth over that one.
Regarding names, we usually just mumble something about “it’s an Americanized version of ‘Erin’ which means ‘Ireland’” but that’s all just a smokescreen. She was named after a Peacekeeper, dang it.
Comment by mpclemens — March 17, 2009 @ 11:43 am
To make matters worse, word on the street has it that “Syfy” means something very unpleasant in Polish.
After working at several soulless big box stores, corporate jargon/marketspeak makes me feel doubleplus ungood.
Comment by Mike.Speegle — March 18, 2009 @ 10:31 am
Yes, it’s reportedly spelled (not pronounced) in a way that means “crap” in Polish.
I’ll pause for a moment to let the irony just wash over me.
Comment by mpclemens — March 18, 2009 @ 11:00 am