Bad Branding Hits Sci Fi, Er, I Mean Sy Fy

RLM PR CEO Richard Laermer takes apart the Sci Fi channel's hideous new monster: it's own rebranding to "Sy Fy":

On Tuesday morning, the Sci Fi channel became Sy Fy, which you can be assured will be back as Sci Fi not long after that. Just about everyone who has heard about this wondered "What branding company is sleeping with who over there?" You cannot pretend to like this moniker. There are reasons for this change--and none make sense. I don't know why they did it, but as one who's watched thousands of companies make change for no reason, here are some guesses:

[...]
4. A branding company sauntered in and told the suits it's time to grow with the times. That happens a lot, and quite needlessly. Slick branders speak a hi-toned language to make Senior VPs, all of whom are worried about their jobs, go "Man we gotta do this now!" I harken back to truTV, which has fared horribly since the change. You don't know this because no one watches it--tru is a trailer trash version of reality TV. Or, as they pointed out: it's "Not Reality. It's Actuality." Both of these networks think its audience is the lowest of common denominators. And oh yeah, the former Court TV laid off over 150 people last week. That, my friends, is tru(e).

5. Sy Sims is funding the rebrand. That explains Sy. As for the Fy suffix, one of the Sci Fi chiefs was in the military and doesn't know how to spell Semper Fi. That's all I got.

I told my closest pal about Sy Fy and he said he wished he could have been in the room when the decision was made. Since he's not in marketing, I wondered why. "So I could have seen the look on the faces of people who heard the top person say 'Great idea'."
Just because someone wants to do something 'different' or 'greater than' what existed before, you could in fact be the sane person at your company and step in with the loudest voice on record and suggest that aybe we should reconsider. Or better yet: "Do we need to change this much?" Even if the business isn't skyrocketing this second, there is that one reality: a brand that's known the world over!

Or remind the doofuses how far orange icon Tropicana fell after tossing a well-loved carton design away early this year, after which it lost valuable market share. When asked why 2009 was a downer, a spokesperson pointed to the change of carton: "Draw a line from there."

Once again, it doesn't take anyone's help to make you look stupid.

Hard to argue with him. I rather liked the old "Saturn" logo. It reminds me I've always been amazed at how many executives value "activity" over achievement:

'Look busy, dude, or you're outta here!'

'But I just won two Clio awards!'

'Then slap a coat of paint on 'em!'

Of course, your Bernays Sauce editor thought Sci Fi lost it when they canceled "Farscape."

Pizza Hut to Remain PIZZA Hut

AgencySpy reports that rumors of Pizza Hut changing its brand i.d. to the hip, trendy "The Hut" are unfounded:

Despite several reports over the past two weeks that Pizza Hut is slicing out the word "Pizza" and rebranding itself as "The Hut", the stalwart Yum Brands chain finally issued a statement to the contrary on Friday.

While our sister blog PRNewser offers a full report including the press release, we managed to snag a quick explanation regarding the rumors from Pizza Hut spokesman Chris Fuller, who says:

"We just started using [The Hut] more and more in our marketing. And with text and mobile ordering, it's just easier to type in 'The Hut'. From there, we went for a cleaner, more contemporary look to put on our pizza boxes, but there is no name change."

Bernays Sauce believes this is an immense relief to intergalactic pepperoni crime boss Pizza the Hutt, who now doesn't have to worry about his own brand status changing.



And yes, AgencySpy guys, I did pile on with a lame 'Spaceballs' joke. So sue me.