Yesterday, Landor distanced itself from the notion that they came up with the new SyFy name:
As reported in last week’s New York Times, the Sci Fi Channel, a division of NBC Universal, introduced its new name and identity, Syfy, at upfront presentations in New York. The announcement got a lot of attention, and although the New York Times story seemingly gave Landor credit for the work—we can’t take it—because we didn’t do it.
We had hoped the name SyFy was another in a series of mysterious incidents in which Landor seemingly takes pity on a client by doing as little harm as possible (except the financial bit).
For example, Landor was actually payed to perform the following name “changes”:
US Air –> US Airways
Federal Express –> FedEx
SciFi –> SyFy (or so it seemed)
Missing from the mea non-culpa on Landor’s blog is any mention of Landor’s involvement in SyFy’s new unimaginative, lesser tagline, “Imagine Greater”. That has to be the work of the beast.
Yes, the really funny part is that Landor now has a blog; kicking, hissing and spitting their way into the year 2009. Hey, maybe they just heard “that blogs are all the buzz these days”. Information flows slowly through those clogged arteries…
Let’s see how long they can keep it up. Should be gripping stuff.
The “Landor blog deathwatch” has begun.
UPDATE: MARCH 29:. The tale was propelled this weekend by outlets as disparate as The New York Post and The Huffington Post. Instead of just letting this story fade, Landor used its new found blogging power to keep the story alive. All they are accomplishing is driving home the fact that they were paid to rename the channel, but the client didn’t care for any of their ideas.
This sort of tin-eared-ham-handedness is exactly why we figured Landor never had a blog, and why it won’t last. Perhaps they should get a firm with communication skills to supervise their blog.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Jake // Mar 26, 2009 at 10:53 pm
If you think that’s interesting news on the channel naming front, take a look. I heard a UK channel is being rebranded as “Really”. Uh huh! Woo! Take a look, I think this is worth a Snark Hunting Post all on it’s own.
http://dennytu.wordpress.com/2009/03/27/uktv-gardens-rebranding-as-really-style-becomes-home/
2 Karl S. // May 1, 2009 at 9:06 am
Great post. The SciFi Channel renaming is one of the worst re-naming jobs in recent history and it’s funny that Landor claims it’s not behind it and is using this for continued PR.
I can’t help but look at SyFy and read ‘SEE-FEE’ which sounds like venereal disease.
At the very least, I give mad props to the people who sold the gig and convinced the network this bogus name and its rationale would help them move beyond the association with science fiction and expand their programming.
3 Rob // Jul 14, 2009 at 3:10 pm
I’ve been following this one too (http://www.semanticargument.com/?p=175) and am mostly shocked by Landor’s decision to blame the client, which is how I interpret their actions. I think this name change is terrible, but let’s agree that creative work–names, logos, etc.–is highly subjective, and it’s usually easier to criticize than praise.
On the other hand, I think I can say fairly objectively that blaming the client is a bad idea. It might help protect their ego, but it won’t make anyone in need of a name anxious to do business with them. If it goes well you owe them $50k. If it goes poorly you owe them $50k and they tell the media it was your idea.
4 Todd // Jul 14, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Convincing any half-witted client that syfy is a bad idea would be easy. Better explanation: they didn’t try to convince the client it was a bad idea.
5 nj // Mar 15, 2010 at 4:26 pm
Landor was actually payed to perform the following name “changes”:
payed? please tell me you were being ironic
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