Radio Shack’s rebrand campaign is up and running and I think they’re on track. They’ve kept certain elements (like the logo lockup) the same but have utilized a new color palette in print and on-air to really encourage consumers to re-interpret the brand. By getting rid of the generic-looking red and gray scheme and using a fresh, vibrant green and blue, viewers are more likely to look at the core message of the advertisement instead of filing it as “just another ad for junk at Radio Shack.”

While the rebrand and restructuring of Radio Shack has been implemented on a wide variety of levels — from promotions to product lines to store management — it’s interesting how much a simple difference color makes. For Radio Shack (and any brand that is flagging in a vast field of competitors) it’s essential to make consumers to re-formulate their ideas about the brand. Because our minds are so visual in the way they process information, the radical color shift effectively forces us to re-categorize Radio Shack in our minds.

Ad Breakdown: In the smaller color gamut of web-press print ads, the blue and green become very similar in value, resulting in a vibrating color relationship which can make the ad a little hard to read. This isn't much of an issue for this ad because it brings the product photos into sharp contrast, and "cool touchscreen smart-phones" is at the top of the message hierarchy for Radio Shack.

Aside from the color, Radio Shack is also encouraging the consumer to think about the brand differently by abbreviating its name to “The Shack.” While it has a colloquial, nonchalant sort of vibe, it illustrates the tricky territory created by the name “Radio Shack” — which now connotes antiquated technology in a dilapidated building.

While “The Shack” is cheeky and gets rid of the dated “Radio,” I think the entire brand itself still has a limited lifespan. Even though “Silicon Fortress” would be a great direction to take it, it’s probably more likely that the company will be bought by a more-successful competitor. In the past, Radio Shack has filled a niche in the market that companies like Best Buy don’t: stores with a small, easily navigable footprint that have everything you need in an electronics pinch. A larger company could adapt these stores to reach a customer base that is unable (or unwilling) to travel to their big-block retail locations with minimal cannibalization.

The proof is in the pudding, of course, and the earnings statements for Radio Shack will tell us if new CMO Lee Applbaum (and creative firm Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners) has been effective in his efforts. They’ve done some serious slashing to the bottom line in past years, closing over 700 stores, and now are set to outperform earnings estimates this year according to some analysts.

Follow up note: It’s been interesting to see the Radio Shack creative evolving to address the problem of visibility I mention above. On-air graphics packages were initially similar to the print ad above, then versions appeared which shifted the green to a brighter value for more contrast. Most recent versions use the brighter green and go further by adding a drop shadow behind Shack. Other media have swapped the green and white, so the word SHACK is more prominent. Goes to show that no matter how cool your creative direction is, it needs to be readable in order to communicate anything!