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.

How'd You Like to Have Any of These Marketing Challenges?

Think your job is tough? What would you do if you were the top marketing person responsible for any of the following - all of which would be contenders for "toughest marketing jobs of 2009- 2010."

1. Chinese Hummers

Not only are Hummers suffering from the double whammy of being gas guzzlers (swimming upstream against both the Green Movement AND higher gas prices) and being built by now bankrupt General Motors, but Hummer is now owned by a Chinese company that has never built cars and that nobody in our country has ever heard of.

2. Un-fried Chicken at Kentucky Fried Chicken

Here's a brand that's been selling "Fried" to America for about the last 50 years. Now they're trying to get people to overlook that and drop in for grilled chicken. You know things are bad when you have to ask consumers to ignore your name as part of your ad message.

3. General Motors Cars

Bankrupt company being run by the government asking consumers to trust them and still buy their cars. My hunch is that most of us are taking a wait and see attitude about GM and its cars right now. They've got a big opportunity to re-invent the company, but will they? And even if they do, will we believe that they have? How can they convince us?

4. Playboy Magazine

Hugh Hefner is now like 100 years old and is no longer an icon for the brand. He's a joke. The Internet has completely filled the "need" for the cheesecake that once drove the brand. Magazines, in general, are in trouble. What was once "cutting edge" and "cool" (at least to guys) is now hopelessly "old fashioned" and very "uncool."

5. Arnold Schwarzenegger

California's economy and state budget are a disaster. The former Mr. Universe is looking more like Mr. Whimpy. He's a Republican in an Obama Democratic dominated political landscape. The Terminator is almost certainly going to get terminated when he's up for re-election. He's too old to go back to being a movie hunk. Senator Schwarzenegger? Not likely. Talk show host? Who can understand that accent?

6. Blockbuster

Going to a brick and mortar store to rent a movie or video game is now completely unnecessary. Technology and the Internet and NetFlix have made the movie rental retail store concept obsolete. Blockbusters customers are gradually deserting them for these more convenient and more immediate options. What can they do to reverse this trend? How can they re-invent themselves?


Every job has its challenges, but these are a few of the marketing challenges that may all border on the impossible. But it's going to be fun to see what happens. It will take some very shrewd marketing (and probably some good old fashioned luck) to turn these lemons into lemonade.