OK OK so you all remember, obviously, that Dell recently cut off all ties to the real world by putting together its own shop. A friend of mine, who built one of their interactive biz sites tells me that like, half his shop is gone following the fall out.
And since Dell had at least a billion addies working for them worldwide, the shock waves still haven’t fully subsided. Nonetheless, we’ve followed Dell’s every move via big daddy Death Star WPP. Initially, we got Synarchy. More after the jump.
Not sure if you remember back in 2005 when Marquette University (in Milwaukee) was considering a name change for their athletic teams, the Golden Eagles. Originally the Warriors, MU had a tradition of coming close to major victories (like in 2003 when they missed winning the final four by that much). Anyway, at this point in history, for some reason students wanted to go back to being the Warriors, a name that had been tossed aside years earlier for political incorrectness.
The Golden Eagles was a fine name, but it lacked a certain…testicular fortitude, as some put it. I was in Europe, of all places, when I heard the administration had heard the students’ pleas for a change, and an announcement was made that the team’s new name would be…wait for it…simply, the Gold.
I laughed out loud (no, I didn’t fucking lol or lawls or any of that) at the title and wondered what the mascot would look like. A big faux brick of gold on casters that can be wheeled to center court during halftime events?
Students felt the same way, and nailed the university to the wall. The decision not to go back the the Warriors angered many alums and left students feeling like douchebags.
I think that’s the general feeling with Enfatico/Synarchy. The decision to go internal fucked up a lot of lives, and no matter how snazzy your name is, people will always remember that. And with an increasing rate of layoffs hitting almost every market, no one is safe to hope their shop won’t suffer the same pull back. Saturn, for example, might see some of that down the road. More on that issue later today.