Texas Town Renames Itself for Free TV
Following in the tradition of Halfway, Ore., which became Half.com for a year in 2000, and Truth or Consequences, N.M., rebranded to honor the 1950s game show, Clark, Texas has changed its name to DISH in order to participate in an advertising campaign by EchoStar Communications Corp., which owns satellite TV service DISH Network. The town's 125 residents get free satellite TV in exchange, a deal is worth about $4,500 per home according to the company. Loss of dignity isn't included in that calculation.
Mark Hughes, chief executive of Buzzmarketing and the former Half.com executive who spearheaded the Oregon deal, suggests, "Word of mouth is the most powerful form of communication and marketing out there."
Indeed, as Oscar Wilde said, "There's only one thing worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." Just look what word of mouth has done for Sony in the past two weeks.
The opportunities for renaming appear boundless. New Orleans would clearly benefit from a fresh start. "Brownsville," in honor of former FEMA head Michael D. Brown, is an obvious contender. For the sake of transparency, Washington, D.C. should just be called "New Halliburton." And "Dow" just rolls off the tongue better than Bhopal.
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