Fixing The Unbroken

Today we bring you a report from the What Were They Thinking? department.

The Sci Fi Channel is now the SyFy Channel.

Umm, why?

Here's Dave Howe, the channel's president---who from now on will be known as one of the dumbest people on the planet. A move this boneheaded needs to be described in the words of the moron who signed off on it.

"We needed a unique and distinct brand name that we can own for the future, that works in the multiplatform, on-demand world," Howe told CNN.com, adding that "Sci Fi" isn't a brand name, it's "a genre name."

Well, "Chiller" is a genre, too, and that's a network name. So is "comedy", and Comedy Central seems to work just fine. I'm full of 'em.

"Syfy," Howe said, "gives us a unique brand name."

Oh, it's unique, Dave---uniquely brainless.

The Sci Fi Channel, as all networks do from time to time, has evolved. It's true that their programming doesn't only include science fiction-like content. But I don't think viewers of Sci Fi feel button-holed into thinking that they're watching strictly science fiction programming anyway.

They watch because they like the shows---just like any person watches any other network/channel.

The new name just looks stupid, to boot.

My wife enjoys "Ghost Hunters" on Sci Fi (no, I will NOT use the new name except to mock and deride it) and when we watch now, that new "SyFy" logo looks like we're watching Sci Fi for kids.

You know---kids, who spell things out phonetically, and who have things spelled for them phonetically at times, as clever marketing ploys.

SyFy.

That change has dumbed down the network, as far as I'm concerned.

I'm not alone in this belief.

"Perhaps the most ill-advised branding move since New Coke," wrote CNet's "Digital City" blogger Dan Ackerman.

Even some of Sci Fi's own SciFi.com commenters were dismissive.

"This is a terrible idea," Grateful Josh wrote.

"You mean the announcement wasn't an April Fool's joke?" Sue Lee asked.

Some critics have taken to pronouncing the new name "Siffy."

Howe says he "isn't worried" about the backlash.

"The last thing we want to do is alienate our core audience," he added, as he explained a change that has done exactly that. "With the new name, shows such as 'Galactica' can be exposed to a wider audience, one not scared away by all that 'Sci Fi' connotes."

Scared away, Dave?

"Space and aliens and the future," in Howe's words.

Yeah, that scares the hell out of me. Scares me enough to not watch anything on any network called "Sci Fi."


Imagine if they had left the name alone


Marketing expert Rachel C. Weingarten, who was part of the team that helped turn TNN (The Nashville Network) into Spike, says Spike's old name wasn't attracting the key male demographic or the advertiser dollars that came with it.

"With the way it was, nobody was excited," she recalled. Changing the name to Spike, she said, gave the network visibility and---thanks to more programming of action movies and combat-oriented shows---more appeal to men.

However, Weingarten's not convinced that changing Sci Fi into Syfy is a good idea.

"I think they're trying too hard," she said. "Also, the timing's unfortunate." With the struggling economy, advertisers are taking more of a wait-and-see approach to buying spots, she said, and so the changeover may not get the marketing support it should.

Yet Howe's got his feet dug into the ground---or should I say, "growned"?

The new name, he says, needed to be usable all over the world in Internet URLs, brand extensions and merchandising, and "the only way to do that is to create an empty name."

Empty? Mission accomplished.

"We wanted a word that was uniquely ours," Howe says, "while not straying too far from the sound of 'Sci Fi'."

My goodness, what else was considered, then?

SighFigh?

PsiPhi, to please the Greek people? And the college fraternity kids?

In fairness to the boob Howe, he does have at least one supporter.

Seton Hall advertising professor Walt Guarino thinks the network is making a good move.

"I do not think that the SciFi Channel will lose an ounce of equity by changing to Syfy," he told CNN via e-mail. "I think the name change is a reason to create new awareness to the brand. However, given their appeal to such a defined audience, I don't see many new people 'entering their tent' as a result of this name change."

You see, Howe is convinced that "Sci Fi" was a barrier to possible viewers. But as a result of the change, SyFy is so foreign, so perplexing, that I'd wager some folks won't tune in simply because they don't know what the hell "SyFy" connotates.

Frankly, it looks like a chemical company or a chemical equation.

Sigh.

Fie---on SyFy.