RSSRadioShack calls itself 'The Shack' in attempt to modernize image
By Tim Conneally | Published August 3, 2009, 11:36 AM
Long-running electronics retailer RadioShack is updating its image by referring to itself as "The Shack" in a new campaign.
"This creative is not about changing our name," said Chief Marketing Officer Lee Applbaum, Rather, we're contemporizing the way we want people to think about our brand. THE SHACK speaks to consumers in a fresh, new voice and distinctive creative look that reinforces RadioShack's authority in innovative products, leading brands and knowledgeable, helpful associates."
The company filed for a trademark of "The Shack" earlier this month, listing it as "retail store services featuring consumer electronics, communication devices, and communication service plans."
"We have tremendous equity in consumers' minds around cables, parts and batteries, but it's critically important that we help them to understand the role that we play in keeping people connected in this highly mobile world," Applbaum continued in a statement today. "You will see a real focus on mobility and wireless products from leading brands in our new advertising."
In its last year of existence, Circuit City attempted a nearly identical rebranding scheme, calling all of its last stores "The City" before it dissolved.
"When a brand becomes a friend, it often gets a nickname -- take FedEx or Coke, for example," Applbaum said. "Our customers, associates and even the investor community have long referred to RadioShack as 'THE SHACK,' so we decided to embrace that fact and share it with the world."
When news of this campaign leaked earlier today, the theory was that "The Shack" was actually going to be the new name for RadioShack. It was being supported with a screenshot of an in-house terminal that leaked yesterday showing the name on a store computer, and a highly detailed update to the RadioShack Wikipedia entry.
To inaugurate "The Shack," RadioShack is hosting Netogether, a three-day event beginning on August 6th where two 17-foot high laptops --one in New York City and one in San Francisco-- will be connected together.
New name should be, "The Crap Shack."
Score: 0
|can someone tell me what they're trying to accomplish here? are they running away from themselves? reinventing themselves? seems like they're very confused. here's the best article i've seen so far on the subject: http://onthebutton.wordp...om/2009/08/03/the-shack/
Score: 0
|most things that the shack sells can be bought in a local computer store or over the internet.
my recent visit in over 10 years was a surprise and disappointing.
cell phone resellers, some laptops, tv's, etc... most of which can be found in walmart or target.
the electronics and components were meager and dismal.
Score: 0
|I wonder if they will call on Shaquille O'Neal to be their spokesperson!
Score: 0
|Radio Shack has not been Radio Shack for over two decades.
Get ready for the closeouts as a once great company finally dies.
Score: 0
|You are, of course, right, but the problem is, people will take the path of least resistance. In many areas, Radio Shack is that path.
Actually, as a short time employee in the early '80s, and a store manager in the late '90s to 2003, I saw the worst reduction in relevance and customer usefulness around midyear 2000. As I recall, that is when the stock tanked, as Len Roberts started his massive selloff, and soon after things like the decision to stop the partnership with Verizon, yet keep the one with Sprint, were made. When the move away from DirecTV was made, it was another one of simple greed, because Dish Network would pay Radio Shack more, with no money tied up in stock. Great for RS, bad for the customers.
By the time Dave Edmondson had taken over as CEO, and was then outed as a college dropout, instead of graduate, I was gone, along with many long time managers, in a purge that allowed RS to bring in young people, with no experience (esp in electronics) and pay them much less.
By then, the store became the accessory place, because it doesn't take any brainpower to sell a cable, or an adapter.
Now it is simply that path of least resistance, because they have so many stores - they win many times due to the cost of gas.
Score: 0
|Radio Shack is irrelvant... staff useless (for the most part) products twice the price of the competition.
Reminds me of "The Shack" my great grandpa had out back.
This is company that should go BK - by any one's measure.
Score: 0
|Given the absolute lack of knowledgeable employees and terrible customer service Radio Shack has to have been in the longest coma in history. This is a company that once had no less than two dozen company owned factories pumping out product. Today Radio Shack is little more than a satellite tv / cell phone reseller. The innovation that built this company is long gone. It is just a matter of months before the last customer out the door will shut off the lights.
Score: 1
|I like the old name better. How many movies can you remember referring to Radio Shack for parts.
It's a well know and establish name. Truthfully, I cannot ever recall Radio Shack being called "The Shack". We've always called it Radio Shack.
The problem isn't their name, it's all of their overprice, expensive crap, they try to sell. They need to lower their prices.
The few CompUSA stores that are still open are actually pretty descent. They have a good selection of hardware and prices that are comparable to what you see online.
If a company wants to make money in the consumer business, it needs to sell a product that people want for a fair price.
Score: 0
|Odd. When Tandy owned the Computer City chain, I doubt a handful of consumers knew it. Maybe because of this ignorance, the place was often packed, unlike the Radio Shack stores. Still, they went away.
I can't imagine that these stores will last long, even trying to be hip. I've known a number of stores known as "the shack" and I don't think Radio Shack will stick in anyone's mind without the Radio.
Score: 0
|The problem with RadioShack isn't their name. The problem is that nobody knows what the hell the brand stands for these days. What is it that RadioShack actually specializes in? Nothing.
You walk into their store and they have a small inventory of known-brand products in a variety of categories: Home networking, Home theater, Electronic toys, Cell phones, and a variety of batteries. None of these ranges are extensive, they're not necessarily experts across all of them, and I don't see much price differentiation.
Why would I shop there? I wouldn't, and I don't.
On the few occasions I've actually gone into their stores looking for something specific that I'd expect them to carry I'd say a third of the time they haven't carried it or they've been out of stock.
"When a brand becomes a friend"? That would imply me knowing what your brand represents and having a positive experience around that.
Score: 1
|maybe radio was the highest techonolgical achievement at that time, but radio is so last millenium 9_9
Score: 0
|Check out where www.theshack.com takes you
Score: 0
|"This creative"... Say what? I know marketing people tend to be ignorant, but this guy should go back to school. Clues for Marketing Folks 101.
Score: 1
|Yet another marketing team completely without a clue...
Why would any board of directors consider spending good money to throw away 88 years of history and brand-awareness?! Radio Shack is still arguably one of the best-known chains in the entire country, up there with Sears and JC Penney.
"The Shack"?! Sounds like a low-end realtor to me...
Score: 5
|17-foot high laptops. Yeah, that is sexy.
Score: -1
|"contemporizing" sure sign of a company now populated by wankers.
Score: 1
|You missed the "This creative is not about changing our name" part.
Score: 0
|Don't forget for a short time they sold Tandy computers (they're own branding, like Realistic) and then later on Compaqs. Sad but Radio Shack is a only a shell of it's former self. They still sell components but that is overshadowed (and tossed in the back corners) by everything else. I go there occasionally to get a set of earphone pads, but most of my parts come from eBay these days.
Score: 0
|A sad last attempt at a fix! Radio Shack is nothing more than a cellular phone store these days. The Shack??? What are they thinking!
Score: 2
|It's been long over due. I am a hobbyist from way back. Old school I guess. Recently I went to the "Radio Shack" with a parts list, a few resistors, capacitors, etc. They have long ago written off the hobbyists. You now go to Radio Shack to purchase pre assembled electronic things. No fun in that, very few of the workers even know what resistors, capacitors, transistors, or integrated circuits are. Once they make the name change I can mentally complete the disassociation from the Radio Shack of my youth and whatever the heck they want to be now.
Score: 4
|Why?
Leaving the name as Radio Shack keeps it clear in the mind of the consumer just how well an established and trusted brand they are.
They tried to make things work in the UK under the name of Tandy (God knows where that name came from) and they are all but gone from the high street.
In the UK the largest high street communications store chain is called 'Car Phone Warehouse' which harks back to the day when they started by selling those bulky fixed in-car mobile phones. Their name means everything and like Radio Shack tells you how long they've been in business.
I bet they (Car Phone Warehouse) will never change their name and Radio Shack shouldn't either!
Also Shack sounds a lot like 'shat' which is a british colloquial term for the past tense of s*** as in "I have just shat myself". Leaving off the word radio to leave just 'The Shack' could make you think their products are crap (sh*t meant bad rather than really good as it does in some countries like - "Yo, that flat-screen is the s*** man!".
Score: 2
|For quite a few years, Radio Shack's products have not been their own; the Realistic brand name seems to be a thing of the past. Now they sell Compaq, RCA, and sundry other mainstream brands - but the lowest-end items available, at full MSRP. So their products are, indeed, now s***.
"Radio Shack" implies amateur radio, which was their mainstay in the Sixties, when I was first their customer. I look forward to the name change, because "The Shack" will no longer pretend that Tandy Corporation's electronics retailer (which by the way is where the Tandy name comes from) has anything for hobbyists. If it also happens to imply redneck cr*p, well, so much the better for truth in advertising.
Score: 0
|"... knowledgeable, helpful associates."
Are you kidding me?? If you mean by their ability to ask "Do you need a cell phone?" before your second foot can touch the floor when you walk through the door - well then; yes - they certainly are!
Naming it "Cellphone Shack" would be a much better fit.
Score: 0
|