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 Changing a corporate name is a big deal. It's a move that risks erasing brand awareness built up through the years, and often begs the question, "What the hell were they thinking?"Macrovision Solutions Corp. (NASDAQ:MSVN) provides a perfect case in point Tuesday in announcing that it wants to change its name to "Rovi." That's right, Rovi. After looking at it for a few moments, it appears to be what's left of the name "Macrovision" if you chop off the beginning and the end of the word. But whoever came up with the move cut off a lot more than a few letters. The company is well-known as a leader in digital content management and piracy protection, and while its name is neither as evocative as, say, "Facebook," nor does it carry the brand awareness of "Intel" or "Cisco," it's a name most people in tech circles know and understand. In a statement Tuesday, Macrovision president and CEO Frank Amoroso said the change is being driven by the transformation of the company "through a series of strategic acquisitions, divestitures and continued innovation of our product portfolio, and as a result, the company is dramatically different then it was just a year ago." Indeed, the 26-year-old company has changed quite a bit recently. The transformation of the company was set in motion in December 2007 when it agreed to pay $2.8 billion to acquire Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc. It set out on a chain of divestitures to focus itself on digital entertainment technology. To that end, last month it acquired Muze Inc., an entertainment metadata provider, for $16.5 million. Certainly, these moves might warrant the consideration of a new marketing campaign or logo change, but Rovi? The company said it will put the name change, which would be accompanied by a stock ticker change and a new "corporate design," before shareholders at its annual meeting July 15. We wouldn't be surprised to see them react to it the way they did when the Gemstar deal was first announced. - Olaf de Senerpont Domis
CategoriesComments
From: just.a.guy,
Motorola's first product was an AC/DC transformer (the "A-eliminator") which then led to car radios. Motor + Victrola = Motorola. Think their business model has changed? Hewlett-Packard's first product was a bowling alley foul line detector. Think their business model has changed? Sony's first product was an electric heating pad, and which was a fire hazard to boot. Think their business model has changed? This name change is a terrible mistake, unless Macrovision is deliberately trying to distance themselves from their past reputation and/or brand.
Posted on:
May 19, 2009 9:58 PM
From: Robert H. Heath,
"Macrovision Solutions Corp. (NASDAQ:MSVN)... wants to change its name to "Rovi." That's right, Rovi. After looking at it for a few moments, it appears to be what's left of the name "Macrovision" if you chop off the beginning and the end of the word." Reminds me of the old story about Food Lion (possibly apocryphal). This Salisbury, NC grocery chain was originally named "Food Town" but as they expanded throughout the Southeast they opened in markets that had grocery stores with the same name. To avoid lawsuits, they changed their name to "Food Lion". The story is that the founder, Ralph Ketner, figured he could save money by only changing two letters on his existing signage. If any startup wants to name itself "Macsion", maybe they can get a deal on some signage from "Rovi".
Posted on:
May 20, 2009 1:36 PM
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Maybe "what they were thinking" is that they want a new name to go with the new business model. The author of the article cites the company as being a leader in "piracy protection," a segment of the old company that I believe was part of the mentioned "chain of divestitures." Maybe with a new name, online pundits might pay better attention to the new model, instead of assuming they already know all about business as usual.
Those who were paying attention may remember that Macrovision acquired All Media Guide first, even before the Gemstar deal. AMG is not as big a purchase as TV Guide, not even close, but it was quite a bigger deal than Muze. Moreoever, it was the first clear public indication that the old Macrovision was changing course. Will this change in direction be good for the company in the long run? I don't know (but neither does the author of this under-informative article, I'd bet).
All that said, I must agree that "Rovi" does sound sort of silly at first. What were they thinking?!