RadioShack – A Case Study In Half Assed Branding
RadioShack has been out of touch with consumers for about 15 years. I just recently visited a store, one of their flagships in Braintree Massachusetts. They’ve remolded but nothing has changed. Except their name…sort of.
In an obvious effort to become more relevant they’ve dropped the “Radio” from their advertising and communications but left the name “RadioShack“. I can already see the board meeting that took place.
Some smooth talking, wanna be hip CMO says hey, we need to get rid of radio in our name because no one uses radios anymore. Then the President says, but what about all the brand equity we have in the name? The CMO wobbles and says how about we keep the name but call ourselves something hip, like The Shack. Presto, case solved. Brilliant.
No guts no glory folks. First off I’m pretty sure any brand equity RadioShack had is long gone now. So changing the name to The Shack would have been a better move. But just changing a name really doesn’t mean anything. What is RadioShack’s brand identity? What makes them better and different than say Best Buy? How does RadioShack stand out? The answer is they don’t.
So the half assed attempt to look cool really isn’t going to work. Soon they will fade off into oblivion, like Circuit City.
![[del.icio.us]](http://images.del.icio.us/static/img/delicious.small.gif){kind=small}
August 23rd, 2009 at 6:04 pm
RS’s branding problem is a lot older than 15 years. There’s only one way they’ve managed to survive against Best Buy. They’re IN the Mall as opposed to across the Parking lot. You can shop there WHILE the Wife is at JC Penny’s. At Best Buy, it’s necessary to drag her with you for the particular ‘Toy Store’ stop.
August 24th, 2009 at 2:45 am
It seems the branding world has caught a bout of ‘generitis’ . From ‘The Shack’ to ‘The Hut’ ? Although Pizza Hut have denied they are about to change their name. But hey, there’s always next year’s new Marketing Director. Can you imagine Taco Bell as ‘The Bell’.
And as you pointed out Circuit City (The City) has sadly blown a fuse.
But here in the UK, The Carphone Warehouse will never go generic to ‘The Warehouse’ if I have any influence left.
August 24th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
They have a ton of brand equity in the name, so changing it is ridiculous.
Name changes have a lof free PR value though, so maybe that’s it.
RadioShack has seemed to evolve with the times to me. Try buying a couple year old camcorder or cellphone battery…. RadioShack seems one of the few around to stock them. And if not, a very capable sales associate will happily give you a link to their site to order one. They’re also handy for adapters and weird stuff we always seem to need. Stuff that’s outside the realm of what the nationwide Walgreen’s/Eckerd’s/Target/Kmart chains normally carry.
We need to keep and celebrat places like this for people who want to keep older things and get them repaired. Instead jumping on the disposable culture bandwagon and just throwing it out and buying the brand-newest/latest every time.
August 25th, 2009 at 12:27 am
Well they did change it, sort of. They now go by “The Shack”, again they still keep the name RadioShack. Personally I think they’re doomed and will be out of business soon enough. But you may have hit on something….hard to find stuff. Now that’s an interesting way to position. Instead of being afraid of the name “RadioShack” they could embrace it. I can see a tagline now “The place you find old stuff” or something to that effect (good thing I don’t write taglines).
August 30th, 2009 at 7:32 am
When I saw this story, I thought, great! They are getting rid of SHACK which has a falling down, temporary connotation. Can’t believe that they dropped Radio to keep Shack. Actually, Radio isn’t that great either.
Why not abbreviate it to something like RS or Shack. Wonder if they did any research at all?
September 2nd, 2009 at 6:48 pm
James, so where can I find this “very capable sales associate” at Radio Shack (or Shadio Rack, as we used to call it back in the day)? They’re as bad as Fry’s, and know nothing about anything. They finally stopped selling overpriced (and useless) electronic components – you will not “repair” anything by buying parts at Shadio Rack – and now there’s just about no reason to go into the store at all. They have tried to “keep up” but I see absolutely nothing differentiating about them. I can do much better on the web or at my local computer store for the items I need. I completely agree with the post; this is a terrible “rebranding” of a brand that needs to be completely rethought. Since they’re not dead yet, this will ensure that happens.
September 7th, 2009 at 8:34 am
I totally agree with you. Radio Shack is where the do it yourself-ers go. It’s kind of old school but there are tools you can get there, that you wont find at Best Buy. Why drop the Radio? What are they doing. The same crappy thing as the HUT???
They need to just explain to the new generation what they have to offer.
Dr. Letitia Wright
The Wright Place TV Show
http://wrightplacetv.com
http://www.twitter.com/drwright1