SyFy: Corporate branding gone wrong

March 19, 1:15 PMDesign Trends ExaminerNeal Shaffer

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Branding is not an exact science. I can, therefore, forgive companies that make a mistake with it here and there (the recent Tropicana controversy being one highly visible example). Sometimes, though, an idea comes along that's so ridiculous, you have to wonder how it is than the people behind it got where they are.

Presenting the"SyFy" Channel. Which, in case you missed it, used to be the "Sci Fi" Channel.

Why the change? To quote from the Times article:

“We couldn’t own Sci Fi; it’s a genre,” said Bonnie Hammer, the former president of Sci Fi who became the president of NBC Universal Cable Entertainment and Universal Cable Productions. “But we can own Syfy.”

"We can own SyFy." She said that, and as far as I can tell she really believes it, too.

Therein lies the problem with large-scale branding initiatives. Everybody gets so wrapped up in marketing theory that they lose sight of the on-the-ground reality of their product or service. In this case, that means that they can't see that the name is silly. 

They do own it, though.