RadioShack: Call us “The Shack”

In an effort to distance itself from the near-obsolete part of its name, Radio Shack is adopting a colloquial moniker that it hopes you’ll use.

“Our friends call us The Shack,” the company says in an online flyer for a promotional event. This fueled much speculation over whether the company is changing its name or merely trying to be hip. It appears to be the latter, as details on the event define the store as “RadioShack,” and a press release calls “The Shack” a “brand creative platform” (that’s jargon for “how we market our brand name”).

The move is reminiscent of Pizza Hut’s rebranding effort as “The Hut.” While the eatery hasn’t changed names, it hopes the abbreviation will endear itself to customers while being more conducive to an online and mobile presence. Its iPhone app, for example, is simply called “iHut.”

Here’s what RadioShack’s chief marketing officer, Lee Applbaum, says about “The Shack” moniker: “Trust is a critical attribute of any successful retailer, and the reality is that most people trust friends, not corporations. When a brand becomes a friend, it often gets a nickname — take FedEx or Coke, for example.”

The problem with Applbaum’s analogy is that “FedEx” is a unique name, and “Coke” is simply ubiquitous. “Shack” is just a word, and not a particularly complimentary one. It’s also not particularly conducive for the Web, as the name competes with a novel by William P. Young and, to a lesser extent, the video game Web site Shacknews.

But the bigger issue is that trust is earned, not acquired simply because a company adopts a lighthearted name. I can’t recall the last positive experience I’ve had at RadioShack, whether it was because of astronomical prices, limited selection or employees who knew less about technology than all but the most inept customers, and were only interested in selling cell phones.

If the company really wants, I’ll call it The Shack, but I won’t trust it.