My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, radio, the movies and more. I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View from the Phlipside.
I'll be honest and tell you this next story is probably NOT the most important media story of the year. It's not earth shattering and it probably won't change how you view the people involved. At the same time it's still a dumb decision.
Don't know if you've heard but one of the first results of the merger of NBC Universal and Comcast is that the symbol of the network and the movie studio are being exiled from the new corporate symbol. That's right you will no longer see NBC's peacock nor Universal's globe in the corporate logo any more. What's replacing them? Ummm, nothing? The old logo read NBC, then the peacock as a kind of spacer then Universal with the Universal's stylized globe sort of ringing it. To be honest it wasn't a particularly brilliant logo but it was obvious and straight forward. It came into existence back in 2004 when NBC then owned by General Electric merged with Vivendi Universal Entertainment owned by French media giant Vivendi. It was a marriage of convenience and the logo kind of reflects it.
So then along comes Comcast and gobbles up NBC Universal. As I've noted
before the reality is that of all the assets of the company the NBC network is probably the least desirable for Comcast. It's a bad network and creates potential other problems along the way. But in this case to get Cinderella you have to marry the ugly sisters too.
Let me point out quickly that the new, incredibly boring, monochromatic logo, which is to eliminate the graphics and then just shove the NBC and Universal together to create one long word, is said to be only for the corporate entity. Which means we'll still see the peacock on NBC and MSNBC and CNBC and all the other places we see it. Ditto for Universal. I'm not sure what it's supposed to SAY about the new corporate entity. We're really boring. We're a really boring media company. We're a really boring media company and we don't mind everyone knowing it. The old logo was average. This is one is awful.
And messing with logos can have an effect. The Gap stores found that out last year when they left an iconic image of the blue square with the single word Gap in white for something that looks like a Microsoft clipart logo. That lasted about a week. It just makes me wonder that Comcast thought this was the best use of their energies as they take over the company. Makes you wonder what might be next.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
I'll be honest and tell you this next story is probably NOT the most important media story of the year. It's not earth shattering and it probably won't change how you view the people involved. At the same time it's still a dumb decision.
Don't know if you've heard but one of the first results of the merger of NBC Universal and Comcast is that the symbol of the network and the movie studio are being exiled from the new corporate symbol. That's right you will no longer see NBC's peacock nor Universal's globe in the corporate logo any more. What's replacing them? Ummm, nothing? The old logo read NBC, then the peacock as a kind of spacer then Universal with the Universal's stylized globe sort of ringing it. To be honest it wasn't a particularly brilliant logo but it was obvious and straight forward. It came into existence back in 2004 when NBC then owned by General Electric merged with Vivendi Universal Entertainment owned by French media giant Vivendi. It was a marriage of convenience and the logo kind of reflects it.So then along comes Comcast and gobbles up NBC Universal. As I've noted
Let me point out quickly that the new, incredibly boring, monochromatic logo, which is to eliminate the graphics and then just shove the NBC and Universal together to create one long word, is said to be only for the corporate entity. Which means we'll still see the peacock on NBC and MSNBC and CNBC and all the other places we see it. Ditto for Universal. I'm not sure what it's supposed to SAY about the new corporate entity. We're really boring. We're a really boring media company. We're a really boring media company and we don't mind everyone knowing it. The old logo was average. This is one is awful.
And messing with logos can have an effect. The Gap stores found that out last year when they left an iconic image of the blue square with the single word Gap in white for something that looks like a Microsoft clipart logo. That lasted about a week. It just makes me wonder that Comcast thought this was the best use of their energies as they take over the company. Makes you wonder what might be next.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY. You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2011
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment