Right Now In The People’s Republic Of Comcast: The XFINITY Brand Is Still Comcaste-ic
We’ve been quite vocal in xpressing our disapproval of corporate behemoth hometown cable and internet provider Comcast’s move to rebrand itself as XFINITY. And guess what… we’re right! The graphic design and branding experts at UnderConsideration’s blog, Brand New, have just posted their review of the new XFINITY name and logo, and they don’t like it either! They describe the XFINITY name as “pompous and clichéd,” largely due to the perceived connection between the letter X and xtreme/tacky/stripper-related products (here’s looking at you, Axe body spray). They also don’t like the detachment between the mandatory all-caps spelling and the lower-case logo, and they note that the spacing between the letters is the logo seems uneven, too tight at the edges, too spaced-out in the center. Brand New’s outsider perspective does allow them to praise the logo’s overall restraint, and the tidy way that the X-F and T-Y letters are angled into each other, something that we, as Philly locals and branding amateurs, might not have been able to see ourselves. But even Brand New admits that XFINITY “might sound more fun than ‘Comcast’ but at least Comcast sounds like a real company with almost fifty years of experience.” Experience doing what, we’re not quite sure, but there you have it: Even to the pros, the XFINITY name doesn’t seem likely to give Comcast much upward mobility out of the corporate lower caste.
February 8th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
You know what would really class-up this logo? A “Z” at the end.
February 8th, 2010 at 4:29 pm
I’m surprised there was no mention of this ad’s overt religious notions — the “x”/cross, the bright dawning godly light, the suggestion of endless life, the heavens. Really looks more like an ad for a Christian talk radio show.
February 8th, 2010 at 4:37 pm
Its got fangs.
February 8th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
@djlynnabraham: absolutely. I read it quickly at first and thought the tag line was “A new era of enlightenment . . . .”
February 8th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
Dunder Mifflin INFINITY?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunder_Mifflin_Infinity
February 9th, 2010 at 12:41 am
DJlynnabraham nails it. Maybe Comcast is unconscious of its god complex?
February 9th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
Hey Philebrity, you don’t have to listen when Comcast tells you to spell their new stupid unpronounceable non-word of a brand in all caps. Copy editors don’t have to slavishly adhere to the whims of jackass marketers who insist that an exclamation point come at the end of their brand or that they can mash two words together into one but still insist that the first letter of the second word be capitalized. English already has perfectly good spelling, punctuation, and capitalization conventions. Writers and editors need to stop catering to the whims of these flacks who are vying for attention and charging big bucks for their brilliant, edgy ideas.