You may have seen the phrase, “Our friends call us The Shack℠.” Electronics retailer Radio Shack’s new branding experts—California’s Butler, Shine, Stern and Partners, hired April 2009—added the service mark symbol to their clever phrase as a wink and a nod that you are now in the cool club, in anticipation that “The Shack” will gain traction amongst consumers, employees and investors. Some years ago Radio Shack began updating its image by creating the circle-R logotype, and by dropping the space between “Radio” and “Shack.”
The corporate identity nip and tuck continues as Radio Shack joins an expanding list of shorthand names whose companies either wish to appear friendly, to obscure their original identity or to clear up confusion over the original name. The names Chuck (Charles Schwab—”Talk to Chuck!”), KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken—so much more than fried chicken!), The Hut (Pizza Hut—so much more than pizza!), and The City (Circuit City—so much more than… erm, circuits?) are similarly victims of hipster hucksterism. Burger giant McDonald’s has acquired many friendly-sounding nicknames around the world, such as The Golden Arches, Mickey-D’s (Mackey-D’s in Britain), and Makku or Makudo in Japan, to name but a few. FedEx (Federal Express) and Coke (Coca-Cola) are other successful examples.
Will a name change improve the flagging electronics brand? It did not help Circuit City, which declared bankruptcy January 2009. Founded more than 80 years ago, Radio Shack was known as the place to buy soldering irons, capacitors and cheap car speakers. Today the company’s focus is on capturing a share of the small electronics market–particularly T-Mobile’s phones.
As of this writing Radio Shack Corporation has no future plans to officially change its corporate name but will market “The Shack” in its advertising. However, branding expert Drew Neisser of Renegade cautions, “Radio Shack is in a desperate battle to remain relevant.” Neisser believes making a half-hearted name change may backfire. “The whole thing could come across as forced at best and confusing at worst,” Neisser said.