Right before Circuit City went out of business they re-named themselves The City. It did not help their relevance. Radio Shack has a good, solid heritage, but a long outdated business model and product offering. So, the name change to the Shack is dubious at best. But making matters worse, there are simply too many other things Shack related that make the name the opposite of unique (i.e. The Shack book, Shaq the basketball player, etc.). Plus, the shack as a stand-alone name has negative connotations. Buckle-up for a long life of pot-shots!

Radio Shack should have focused on fully repositioning themselves as a new digital brand. Their history is analog. Radio is not necessarily the problem. It’s not going anywhere: There’s digital radio, radio station streaming on the web, Sirius satellite radio, Pandora, Slacker, etc. Radio is still rocking. But having an analog anchor on your brand in a digital word is a problem. But, one that can be fixed.

The Shack is not the way to fix it. The way to fix it is to re-tool your value proposition, update your business model to support it, and reinforce your brand name in a way that makes it crystal clear what you offer and what you stand for.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111341712

I rarely use the store, but they’re apparently doing something right.

A bit off topic, but its an interesting case study in itself in how decent ideas get off track.

Like the way Dove (from two separate companies) can coexist as both a soap and a chocolate. No single company would use one brand for two such disparate entities, but here are two mega players, powering two brands with radically different benefits at the same target: Women. In one case, women who like the bodies just the way they are; in the other, women who like their indulgent chocolate with affirmations included.

So now comes Radio Shack, rebranding itself The Shack at the same time that there’s a mega-best seller out there, called The Shack. How cool is that?

Imagine the search moments, when you’re looking for the closest Radio Shack and instead come up with inspiration from a self-published (initially) tome? And, vice versa, of course.

That’s the time when those knowledgable sales associates are going to particularly challenged. But hey! Could it be that The Shack contemporizes the “radio” part? And in a self-helpy kind of way?

So far, I’m likin’ it.

Radio Shack has more column inches and mentions in the last week than they could have gotten with Super Bowl ad money. Every third story is about Radio Shack, and I think Harry you have published at least 3 or 4. Amazing. I bet they have a huge spike in traffic on their website with us geeks checking to see when the name will change. Maybe they sell the odd adapter or wire at the same time too.

If the new ‘brand platform’ catches on, the signs will change, as money becomes available. If the new thing sinks, the signs will not change and this will all be an embarrassing moment in a fired CEO’s career.