Somewhat ridiculous: Syfy
It's been un-geekified
Landor has renamed the Sci Fi Channel. The new name? “Syfy.” I assume it’s homophonic with “SciFi.” Reasons for the name change, according to a TV Week article and a few blog posts, include:
- A desire to create a “more open and accessible and relatable and human-friendly brand.” – Dave Howe, president of the Sci Fi Channel
- Disassociate the channel with “geeks and dysfunctional, antisocial boys in their basements with video games and stuff like that.” – TV historian Tim Brooks, who helped launch Sci Fi Channel when he worked at USA Network
- Make the name more “ownable,” since there are “hundreds of sci-fi Web sites and sci-fi publications.” – Dave Howe
- To stay connected to the channel’s “heritage and the track record of success.” – Dave Howe
In my opinion, they pretty much only acheived number 4 on this list, and that’s because they didn’t change the pronunciation of the name at all. I don’t think an awkward, coined word (I want to pronounce it “siffy”) is more human and relatable than a phrase we’re all familiar with already. Howe is delighted that focus groups told him this is the preferred spelling in text messages, but…really? Why not “sifi”?
I also don’t think this is less geeky than “Sci Fi.” The only people who think it’s not geeky to come up with cool misspellings of words are 80s metal bands (e.g., Def Leppard). “Syfy” just reminds me of “syzygy.” And I’m a geek for even knowing that word, so again, case in point.
The idea of using less of a generic term for the name of course makes sense. But I actually thought Sci Fi Channel was doing a pretty decent job of owning that descriptor, at least in the categories they’re competing in. In making this change (if they don’t change their minds before relaunching on July 7), they need to realize that they’re also moving one step away from a nice niche they’ve defined for themselves.
As far as I can tell, the response from fans and in the blogosphere is overwhelmingly negative. Comments include “sounds like slang for syphilis,” and “
Addition (3/25/09): Landor denies responsibility for “Syfy.”
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This is a real head scratcher. SciFi is cool to those who like that kind of programming – if you don’t like it, are you are going to like SyFy any better?
I thought the pronunciation was “Syfee” when I first saw the logo. Once I read it was a different way to write “SciFi” it made even less sense to me. The tag line suggests an advertising agency – its way too aspirational for “Buck Rodgers” reruns.
I thought the benefit of broadband and 500 channels was to be able to have differentiated programming. I totally know what to expect when I watch HGTV, CNBC, TV Land, ESPN, the Weather Channel, and SciFi. If the programming remains the same – what have they accomplished? If nothing else, they will just confuse their core audience (who by the way, tend to respond very well to :120 DRTV spots and infomercials – good for advertisers).
Girls will still think guys are dorks if they watch “StarTrek TNG” and “Babylon 5″. That’s OK. It’s only rock and roll, but I like it.