Why does branding attract so much taken-too-seriously foolishness? I just read that Ask Jeeves is firing their mascot. As soon as I saw the headline (before reading any of the article) I thought to myself, “that’s dumb”.
Clicking through and reading the article only strengthed my opinion of the change. I’ve always thought that having Jeeves as the symbol of a search service was a cool idea. And, I’ve not yet found any reasons to think otherwise. Certainly, none of the reasons mentioned in the article made any sense to me. In fact, Ask Jeeves CEO Barry Diller was quoted as describing Ask Jeeves, sorry Ask.com, as “potentially the glue for almost all of our services” which sounds a lot like what an Internet butler would do. Putting that aside, it seems to me that the mindshare Ask Jeeves does have is strongly connected with that name (and therefore the famous character himself).
At the end of the article the following appears:
Only last month, Ask Jeeves CEO Steve Berkowitz said at a conference in San Jose, Calif., that the butler was “safe for the moment,” CNet reported. At the time, Berkowitz noted that Jeeves was looking leaner than he had in some years.
But physical fitness aside, Diller said Wednesday that the butler has outlived his usefulness. “I don’t see many tears on the floor,” he joked.
Would this be an appropriate time for me to raise my hand? There might not be tears on the floor, but I am sad to see the butler go. Farewell Jeeves.
Link via tech.memeorandum.
Don’t Ask Jeeves, Ask the Boring Website
Why does branding attract so much taken-too-seriously foolishness? I just read that Ask Jeeves is firing their mascot. As soon as I saw the headline (before reading any of the article) I thought to myself, “that’s dumb”.
Clicking through and reading the article only strengthed my opinion of the change. I’ve always thought that having Jeeves as the symbol of a search service was a cool idea. And, I’ve not yet found any reasons to think otherwise. Certainly, none of the reasons mentioned in the article made any sense to me. In fact, Ask Jeeves CEO Barry Diller was quoted as describing Ask Jeeves, sorry Ask.com, as “potentially the glue for almost all of our services” which sounds a lot like what an Internet butler would do. Putting that aside, it seems to me that the mindshare Ask Jeeves does have is strongly connected with that name (and therefore the famous character himself).
At the end of the article the following appears:
Would this be an appropriate time for me to raise my hand? There might not be tears on the floor, but I am sad to see the butler go. Farewell Jeeves.
Link via tech.memeorandum.
This entry was written by the proprietor, posted on 21 September 2005 at 10:40 pm.
Filed under Commentary Unbound and tagged branding, web.
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