Comments on: The Venereal Disease Channel Imaginatizes Greatastically http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/03/17/the-venereal-disease-channel-imaginatizes-greatastically/ I FORGET WHAT EIGHT WAS FOR Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:12:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Christopher Hawley http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/03/17/the-venereal-disease-channel-imaginatizes-greatastically/#comment-232315 Fri, 17 Dec 2010 22:03:16 +0000 http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=6707#comment-232315 (posted in wake of the Stargate: Universe cancellation announcement)

I happen to own a number of hardback books, each of which has emblazoned on its cover, an endorsement that it is

<swooshy-logo/> A (SCI FI|SyFy) ESSENTIAL BOOK

This weekend’s project: me, those covers, and a razor blade or X-Acto knife suitable for excising the aforementioned endorsements. And screw the possible damage to resale value of said books, because right now I care so much less for the SciFi^WSyFy network, its recommendations of essentialness, and the poxy marketroids who fostered this slide below submediocrity than I could ever care about the potentially–negative financial impact.

A number of the books in question are quite good. I’m certain that this had nothing to do with Clap^WCrap Network brandvertising and everything to do with quality publishers such as Tor, who know a Good Thing and believe that delivering Good Things to their custom is job one.

]]> By: Dr. Kenneth Noisewater http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/03/17/the-venereal-disease-channel-imaginatizes-greatastically/#comment-191638 Sat, 06 Feb 2010 16:28:29 +0000 http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=6707#comment-191638 Because bad English is cool.

Surely you jest.

]]> By: Jacque http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/03/17/the-venereal-disease-channel-imaginatizes-greatastically/#comment-191052 Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:25:10 +0000 http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=6707#comment-191052 Typo?

Should:
“when you find slink away from it”
be:
“when you finally slink away from it?”

]]> By: Noah http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/03/17/the-venereal-disease-channel-imaginatizes-greatastically/#comment-154808 Fri, 17 Jul 2009 02:07:30 +0000 http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=6707#comment-154808 I thought ΞΦ would have worked much better. For those who don’t know the Greek alphabet, that’s Xi Phi.

]]> By: TheMadCow http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/03/17/the-venereal-disease-channel-imaginatizes-greatastically/#comment-145677 Sat, 16 May 2009 06:51:57 +0000 http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=6707#comment-145677 “opening the brand aperture”

Oh my. Makes my posterior start hurting just thinking about that one.

I have to get some bumper stickers made over at stickermonkey. You can’t make this stuff up.

]]> By: BobHale http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/03/17/the-venereal-disease-channel-imaginatizes-greatastically/#comment-139603 Mon, 06 Apr 2009 20:23:33 +0000 http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=6707#comment-139603 I haven’t had time to read ALL of the comments so this may have been mentioned before. I was especially taken with the press release use of language (http://www.syfy.com/press.html) which, among other gems includes “brand evolution”, “non-linear digital platforms”, and “opening the brand aperture” (and doesn’t that conjure some images?).

]]> By: Jonathan Vos Post http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/03/17/the-venereal-disease-channel-imaginatizes-greatastically/#comment-137606 Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:29:22 +0000 http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=6707#comment-137606 It’s akin to that advertising consultant in the 1950s who specialized in creating brand names. For a detergent manufacturer, thy said that words beginning “Dr-” suggested softness and words ending “-k” suggested power. Then they recommended the brand name “Dreck.”

Or the Chevy Nova. It sold very poorly in Latin America, where “No Va” means “It won’t go.”

]]> By: Ellestra http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/03/17/the-venereal-disease-channel-imaginatizes-greatastically/#comment-137594 Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:59:37 +0000 http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=6707#comment-137594 What I found most ridiculous is that they’ve spent so much money on this rebranding thing and knew the all the meanings of it in Polish yet they still went with it. I think it’s the old, pre-internet mentality when such things were found out only by few people with right friends. Now everyone knows new word in Polish. Not what they expected I’m sure. It’d be hard to find a word more suited for making bad jokes. Especially since there’s hardly more appropriate Polish word for what most people think about most of the stuff they show. So maybe it was intentional – you couldn’t say you were not forewarned – it’s right there, stuck on your screen. We are showing syfy (crap).

As I understand bad English was intentional. Because bad English is cool.

]]> By: Sharon http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/03/17/the-venereal-disease-channel-imaginatizes-greatastically/#comment-137141 Sat, 21 Mar 2009 19:28:32 +0000 http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=6707#comment-137141 don’t get me started on “Think Different.”

Wasn’t Apple’s “Think Different” a response to IBM’s “Think” motto?

]]> By: M Miller http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/03/17/the-venereal-disease-channel-imaginatizes-greatastically/#comment-137096 Sat, 21 Mar 2009 16:58:33 +0000 http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=6707#comment-137096 Thank you for posting about this.

I tend to be out of the loop but my husband reads your blog every day and I deliberately haven’t before because he enjoys telling me about it. (I feel like I would ruin the moment for him if I said I already knew about your blog posts for the day.)

Since I have female bits, I decided to send a passionate letter to the SciFi channel about their press release and how pointless it is to insult the only people who actually care about their channel. I linked to a copy as my website for anyone who cares.

In the process of writing the letter, I realized that what I like about SciFi can be condensed to two words.

“Different. Special.”

Any takers on that as a new slogan?

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