The Worst Marketing Decision Ever?

[Rand{CLR}]

Someone explain this. Anyone? Please?

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0515328620100209

Comcast is rebranding its public services (TV, voice, internet) to Xfinity. WTF? I found out via a message on my box because I'm in one of the lucky 11 test markets. Yay.

This is destined to be one of the top 10 stupidest marketing decisions in history, and already has a good chance to be number 1.

-Rand

[ch33s3r]

lol @ thinking changing the name will make people forget about bad service

[K PhaNTOM]

Fine, from now on I'll hate Xfinity and not Comcast.

[Caddys83]

Xfinity remind me of the audio brand; Infinity

[Hammy]

So here is the deal- Comcast is rebranding itself because it's marketplace is going to expand. In some marketplaces, people still remember the Comcast of 1997-2001, where their customer services were so horrible, that you often waited on hold for 30 min or more, and the Cust Svc Reps often yelled at you, called you names or hung up on you.

Also- their customer service group was only available 8am - 5pm CST, until 3pm on SAT, and closed on Sundays, which curiously coincided with the highest rate of outages.

Some markets still regard Comcast as a pretender, and in many way they are. Their broadband offering is the best residential offering in the US. However, their HD Quality is less than perfect in comparison to that of Direct TV.

Anyways, I digress. Part of the acquisition of NBC requires a new identity and so, in order to take part in certain benefits in business, they are rebranding to save money and take advantage of new positioning. It will also allow them to continue certain services as Subsidiary businesses which will keep them from having to address certain compliance laws.

This is how I understand it today, though that understanding will probably change as more information becomes available.

Terrible name though- by the way. CNN ran a story on top 10 worst rebrandings of all time, and this was in the top 3 I believe.

[Skud]

I saw the CNN article, Hammy, and I believe you're right in that it was in the top three, if not number one for worst corporate name changes.

[Duke{CLR}]

Maybe it's because I'm tired but I don't see what's wrong with Xfinity.

[Skud]

Maybe it's because I'm tired but I don't see what's wrong with Xfinity.

Maybe it's not that bad of a name, but if you changed your name from Duke to Scott or something, I'd say "what's up, man?" Of course, I'm tired now.

Or, maybe this will stir you: how about Barack Obama Changes his name to Tommy Wilson, so that you forget about his past policies and think he's a newer, better president?

[Duke{CLR}]

Bringing up past policies could be why this doesn't phase me. I am a new customer with Comcast and I have had no complaints. I'm very happy with my twenty something ping and the DSL that I was using was SLOW so they could call themselves whatever they want and it wouldn't bother me.

[Rand{CLR}]

I think it's a stupid name in general. I don't like names that have origin as much in AOL-speak and bad grammar as in latin or another real origin. But it's much, much worse when a long-time established company changes its name to something moronic thinking it's somehow going to solve something.

-Rand