One of the most venerable names in American inventing and entrepreneurship is Powel Crosley (1886-1961), an innovator who is credited with the first economy car, the first fax machine and the first lighted baseball field. Pictured here is the Crosley car, seen at an auto show on St. Armand’s CircleMORE HERE
In the heyday of the turntable, there were many great brand names. The turntable was the next step from the Hi-Fi (made by folks like Zenith and Philco Ford), and a turntable and receiver perfectly matched the era of the LP, when audio quality began to be an issue whenMORE HERE
The television remote is a generic thing, but at one time, it was exclusively connected to one brand, Zenith, now part of Korea’s LG. In many worlds, it is still the “clicker” though remotes today have soft buttons. Zenith had Space Command, attributed to Robert Adler (1913-2007) and introduced inMORE HERE
The 1970s cassette brands Memorex and TDK are back as electronics brands. Business Week reports that the brands have been revived by Imation (IMN), which itself was a spin-off of 3M. For the revival, Imation hired Ziba Design of Portland, Ore., to create electronics relating to audio products. The companyMORE HERE
MINNEAPOLIS –It may not be the ideal way for a great brand to come back from the dead, but it works. Polaroid, founded in 1937 and one of the great 20th century brands, has been reinvented. The company went bankrupt in 2001, and exited the production of its instant filmMORE HERE
There are only a few legacy electronics companies that still operate under their own brand; great names like Sperry, Burroughs, Hallicrafters and such have been merged into other companies or disappeared. Thankfully, Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is still around, though the company appears to be drifting. One great name that hasMORE HERE
In the afternoon, on walks in Sarasota, I often see remnants of the old GTE, or General Telephone and Electronics. The name and logo appears on manhole covers, telephone pole signs and on junction boxes on houses. It keeps advertising GTE, and will keep doing so for the next 100MORE HERE
SAVANNAH – Entries are just out in the Savannah College of Art & Design’s Phoenix Project. (See a full list of entries here.) At right, the entry for RadioShack (NYSE: RSH) by the student team of Rodrigo Mitma and Josh Finkelstein. Brand Problem: Big-Box and online electronic stores are superiorMORE HERE
Europeans are trying to bring back Polaroid and its SX-70 instant film. This points up a very important idea in brand preservation, namely that it is important to keep something continuous going as it is hard to start something completely from scratch. Today, as companies morph and change, it isMORE HERE
Radio Shack has put out an RFP for their advertising account. One bit of Andrew McMains’ story caught our eye: Online shopping, per the RFP, has not only made consumers more price sensitive, but has commoditized the customer service provided by Radio Shack because questions can be answered online. WhileMORE HERE