The Scifi channel’s re-branding to become “Syfy” has stirred quite a bit of controversy since its announcement in March. Beginning July 7th, the brand evolves to become Syfy “Imagine Greater”.
The network will still carry the same programming, but is this makeover worth it?
From a logo perspective, the logo changes from:
To this:
Hmmmmm… to me it looks like it’s going from something otherworldly, to something made of marshmallow-y fondant. Is Syfy now a food group? Actually, there is some truth to that. The purpose of this re-branding is to develop an umbrella brand name from which the network can brand and expand on other forms of entertainment such as: SYFY Films, SYFY Games, and SYFY Kids.
The president of SciFi, David Howe, explains how they chose ‘Syfy’, “When we tested this new name [after 300 possibilities], the thing that we got back from our 18-to-34 techno-savvy crowd, which is quite a lot of our audience, is actually this is how you’d text it. It made us feel much cooler, much more cutting-edge, much more hip, which was kind of bang-on what we wanted to achieve communication-wise.”
SciFi, owned by NBC Universal, owned by parent company GE, has been doing quite well despite the recession, ending the most watched year in the channel’s 16- year history with gains in the last quarter of 2008. This re-branding is their strategy to establish and grow their network brand.
From the “imagine greater” music vid they’ve put together it seems like they’re opening a whole new bag of imagination on us. All I’m saying is, just don’t get skewered by the origami unicorn, ok?
So, what do you think of this re-branding? This Forum is open to your thoughts!
[Source] TVWeek
