Amazing. Mediaite, an MSNBC cheerleader, calls this thing above as ‘surprisingly elegant.” Elegant? MS is best known as a disease, and a nasty one. If someone says, “I have MS now,” the proper result is, “I’m so sorry! What’s the prognosis?” More pandering from Mediaite: “Media rebrands usually stink. Quibi. Tronc. Syfy. The graveyard is crowded with names that sounded bold in the boardroom and ridiculous everywhere else, which is why MSNBC’s new identity as MS Now feels like such a surprise. It’s not perfect. It’s not thrilling. But it’s… smart.” Hey, everybody! It’s smart to make your new identity the common name for a dread disease! Is it possible that no one mentioned this among the dozens—hundreds?—of alleged professional marketers and image consultants involved in the process? Just to make sure I’m not imagining this, I just Googled “MS.” The result:
Yeah. Smart!
Ethics Alarms 
They’re morons.
I think it’s actually a smart choice from a branding perspective. It keeps the familiar five-letter name and much of the design. As someone who has had the fun of participating in the re-branding of several organizations, and some reasonably serious experience in broadcasting, this one makes a lot of sense to me.
That said, Mediaite’s quote is hilarious:
“Media rebrands usually stink. Quibi. Tronc. Syfy. The graveyard is crowded with names that sounded bold in the boardroom and ridiculous everywhere else, which is why MSNBC’s new identity as MS Now feels like such a surprise.“
Note to Mediaite: MSNOW is HIGHLY likely to end up in the graveyard along with Quibi. The NBC branding brought it a lot of gravitas in certain markets, and also provided access to bureaus and reporters that MSNOW won’t be able to access – to say nothing of the fact that it will no longer have the deep pockets of Comcast to underwrite Rachel Maddow’s preposterous salary.
The entire story arc of MSNBC is amusing to me. Many people may not be aware that the MS in MSNBC originally meant Microsoft, and MSNBC was originally intended to be the default brower in Microsoft’s Windows search engine (Internet Explorer). Microsoft got done with it decades ago.
Then there’s how they became the pathetic propaganda organ it is today. MSNBC was a struggling cable news also-ran until they took a flyer on Keith Olbermann and ratings shot up. Fox News was created because Rupert Murdoch had market research showing that roughly a third of Americans thought broadcast and cable news tilted too far left. That’s a very nice potential market niche, and he recognized it as such. MSNBC didn’t become Fox News’ doppelganger as a result of savvy understanding of news consumers. They blundered their way into it.
It sorta worked, for a while. My guess is that MSNOW will be a shadow of itself (and its ratings are already dismal compared to Fox) next year, and I’d wager a sixpack it’ll be gone in five years. Good riddance.
Thanks for covering that history. I came to mention the Microsoft origin story as well, but you beat me to the punch.
Multiple Sclerosis never entered my brain due to the Microsoft joint venture beginning. I give the network a year before it’s bought by Al Jazeera or Russia Today, with Al Gore brokering the deal and getting a big fat commission.
Thanks for the synopsis, AIM. Reminds me of they Michael Somebody who was a highflyer and started “Slate.” He sure pulled an Icarus.
Michael Somebody,or MS, was ultimately sidelined by MS, Multiple Sclerosis.
Was his name Michael Steele? White guy. Eggheady.
From the bedrock conservative HuffPo–MSNBC Almost Entirely Dominated By Opinion: Pew Study
News Content: FoxNews 45 % MSNBC 15 %
Opinion Content: FoxNews 55 % MSNBC 85 %.
Et tu, HuffPo?
MSNBC having 55 % more opinion content and a mere 1/3 the News content of FoxNews? Priceless!
Anyone think their percentages will change?
Neither do I.
PWS
IMO it’ll get worse, Cornelius. Remember, MSNBC had full access to NBC News’ reporting assets and didn’t do much enterprise reporting of its own. That it didn’t cover much hard news was an editorial decision.
MSNBC did do reasonable reporting during major events – as long as it was actually reporting. But it was doing so with NBC assets who were, I presume, contractually obligated to be stringers for the cable net. That now goes away.
There’s a lot of money to be made in direct sales of overpriced homewares and patent medicines. Fox News has proven that. Then again, they don’t have grossly overpriced talent like Rachel Maddow on their rosters.
What will be MSNOW’s equivalent of My Pillow or Relaxium Sleep? They’re going to need to find them. I might even punch in more often than I already do just for the chuckle of finding out.
“IMO it’ll get worse“
Worse than the 15% to 85% ratio? Heh! that’d make it worth…um…punching in more often.
Glass half full? We’ll see a demonstrable uptick in NELSON activity.
FTR, AiM, I’m Paul W. Schlecht. WordPress has fought me every step of the way to change it. No longer having the interest, energy, or desire to continue to try, I just sign off as:
PWS
I wasn’t referring to the coverage ratio. I was referring to the amount of money the outlet is leaking.
Who knows? They may have to bring back Keith Olbermann and go full Olbermann style insane TDS 24/7. That may appeal to their demographic.
When I first saw it, I thought the flag might be a P.
I was also going to make the “MS” in “MSNBC” stood for Microsoft point… Not because I think that’s redeeming, but because I think it’s kind of damning. Even Microsoft doesn’t refer to themselves as MS. You’d have thought that the more pertinent part of “MSNBC” would be the “NBC”.
As for Mediaite… The author’s name is Colby Hall. “surprisingly elegant”? Surprising? Elegant? I do not think they mean what you think they mean. Did someone pay him to write that, or was it purely for sexual gratification? Of Hall’s last 20 Stories, 18 had Trump in the headline, the other two were this and a story about how there’s a study that says smartphones rot your brain, for him to take a break from all-Trump-all-the-time for a fluff piece about their technical competitor but ideological friend would reek of as assignment from on high, if Hall weren’t the Founding Editor of Mediaite.
Great snooping, HT. I love finding out “who are these guys” stuff on these writers. Actors and actresses as well. Actors, actresses and directors are invariably nepo babies of entertainment and media people. Actresses are invariably children of divorce. Must be an attention getting thing. Very interesting.
Media rebrands usually stink. Quibi. Tronc. Syfy. The graveyard is crowded with names that sounded bold in the boardroom and ridiculous everywhere else,
huh? No gratuitous swipe at Musk about X?
-Jut
Good catch!