Can Syfy killer creative keep SciFi’s geeky?

SciFi rebrands to Syfy, really???

When millions of eyeballs are on the line it usually takes a pretty hefty budget to make sure you keep them. You better come up with something cool. When you’re messing with a brand that’s beloved with cult-like obsession, you better do something really special… unless (gasp!) you’re not worried about the core that’s gotten you here.

Now, admittedly, I was “on the fence” when I heard SciFi was re-branding to Syfy and still can’t imagine being in that meeting!

Check out the whole slew of creative posted at ProudCreative.com, the agency behind the work.

When I caught The Dirty Blog article revealing the creative behind Syfy’s new campaign I couldn’t help but check it out and it’s very cool! It’s cool enough to cut through the clutter and probably “wow” enough to be memorable but, on the surface, it just doesn’t seem to have that special something to win hearts and minds. At least not those of super sci-fi fan club realm.

An overhaul, not an evolution. At a glance it seems that Syfy is shooting for even bigger audiences than it’s geeky core can give while probably assuming the core will hang in there regardless. The work that’s posted is pretty impressive. There is, however, one odd ID that caught my eye because it looks like they just couldn’t get a purple plasma-like build of the Syfy logo to work.

Can Syfy keep the geeky? I just happened to check Twitter and couldn”t believe it, Syfy was trending! Scanning the tweets you realize pretty quickly that sci-fi fan’s are not impressed with the new look, check out a cross section of Scifi vs Syfy tweets at here > Scifi vs Syfy: Twitter Attacks . If you look even closer perhaps you’ll see the opportunity I saw to give that core audience their own online community. While the uproar is pretty much hatred for change, there’s still a love for the content in spite of Wrestling (as many comments show) and a large geeky audience to drive over to a new online resource for the “SciFi” crowd. So the question is, will Syfy step up and keep the geeky? Let me know your thoughts in the comments! What about you? Love it or hate it? Please comment!

My tweet went something like this when I heard about the change:

richardbouchez: Scifi changing SYFY, this is either ridiculous or genius! Glad I wasn’t in that meeting!

More Scifi vs Syfy tweets at here > Scifi vs Syfy: Twitter Attacks .

-Richard

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3G iPhone: Rebranding Apple

It looks like I need to pass on the 3G iPhone. Truth be told, I found the 3G build up a big letdown and apparently I’m still a little bitter. Here’s why, Apple chose main stream instead of going geek, and I get it… there’s way more money in “world product domination” than there is in the “early adopter racket,” but is there longevity too? Let’s face it, Apple left me and many others out on the sidelines and consumers don’t give many mulligans. Can Apple serve the masses and still deliver to the geeks or will it cost them their coolness? Is this reminiscent of the 1982 Cadillac Cimarron, the Cadillac everyone could afford (that in turn arguably killed Cadillac)? …or is the iPhone so cool and such a niche product they can stay ahead of the curve with the apps store? I submit to you what could be a bad sign, this 3G iPhone commercial which takes a sharp turn away from the very cool ipod/iphone commercials we love so much. That being said, I predict a very cool phone in the near future that will cost me a fortune and replenish Apple of their coolness, after all the may have already done the impossible by in fact, spreading “Apple coolness” to the masses. So, while we wait to see how long Apple can fight off competition while keeping the geeks at bay and working the buzz machine, I’ll keep going through rss feeds and Google alerts searching for a sign that the next multi-camera 32 gig iPhone with at least one 5 megapixel phone (oh, and while I dream it can acts as a wifi router and… wait for it… cut and paste). That reminds me, somebody needs to talk to BMW about the 1-series.

-Richard



(updated / reposted 9/18/08, originally posted 6/26/08)

Cadillac Cimarron one of Time’s worst cars of all time: http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1658545_1658533_1658526,00.html
The BMW 1 series “Cheap Thrills” from CNN: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2008/04/14/105106252/index.htm?postversion=2008041114
3G iPhone commercial:
[http://youtube.com/watch?v=

-Richard

twitter @richardbouchez