Radio Shack Becoming "The Shack"

A few weeks ago I blogged on Kentucky FRIED Chicken spending millions to reposition the brand as the place for UNFRIED chicken.

It's always sad to see a brand come to the realization that their name is WRONG. Clearly. "Fried" has not been exactly a desirable food attribute for about the last ten years or so. So what else was KFC to do? They first tried to get us used to calling it "KFC" instead of" Kentucky Fried Chicken." They spent years on that. Now, they've actually changed the product offering, too. I haven't been to a KFC in years, and I doubt that the allure of their now unfried chicken is going to get me in the door. If I do get the urge to visit a KFC, it's going to be because I have a craving for their good old fried chicken. I guess they must have data that convinces them that new customers will come in now that they are offering unfried chicken. Seems to me that it will just be the same customers who simply end up cannibalizing fried chicken sales in order to try/buy the unfried chicken. Time will tell.

Now, in today's news there is another retailer who has finally realized that their name is part of their problem. It's Radio Shack. They are about to launch a massive marketing effort to get us to think of them as "The Shack." But according to what I've read, they are not officially changing their name. They are still "Radio Shack."

OK. I agree that the "Radio" in "Radio Shack" is a big problem. Not contemporary and no longer relevant. It's all about cool wireless gizmos now. I just don't understand this half-pregnant move they are making. Why not go all the way? If the name is wrong, bite the bullet and change it. I suspect they are being overly cautious and that an actual name change is probably being planned as Part II of this effort. Name changes are expensive propositions. It's probably hundreds of millions of dollars just in signage alone. But the fact remains. If the name is wrong (and clearly the Radio Shack name is now definitely wrong), you have to face up to that fact and change it. Why fool around with this "half-change?" My message to Radio Shack is to have the courage to do what's needed. And if it's needed, it's needed right now. Timidity is not a winning strategy.