If shorter is better than even shorter must be too good to be true
Song or no song, the YMCA has decided to ditch its famous four-letter acronym in favor of being called simply “the Y” – and at least one expert says credit (or blame) for the change falls squarely on the shoulders of Twitter.
From a story in yesterday’s New York Times: “Jonah Disend, chief executive of Redscout, a brand strategy company in New York, said adopting abbreviations in lieu of long names could make sense in an era of Twitter, with its 140-character diktat, and apps for mobile phones. ‘There’s a real need to make everything fit into a bite-size space,’ ” Mr. Disend said.
Nowhere is that need more appreciated than in the high-tech world, where a number of such changes are being kicked around board rooms, according to Buzzblog sources:
Oracle is said to be considering a shorter moniker but instead of going for the obvious O it’s looking to exploit the last two letters of its current name: LE. Company co-founder and CEO Larry Ellison made the suggestion himself, an insider tells me.
Apple’s working plan is to eschew alphabetic convention altogether and become known as 7, a silent 7. Why a silent 7? An industry insider asked Steve Jobs. “I’ve sold 4 million iPads in a day-and-a-half. Any more questions?”
IBM, ever cautious, would become ibm.
EMC sees an opportunity to bolster its “green” story, telling focus groups that eliminating the M and the C from all of its support and marketing materials would save the typical enterprise “significant storage and electricity costs over time.”
Microsoft has reportedly run through every conceivable combination of its nine letters and is still struggling to move beyond the already shopworn M, MS, Msft … Moot?
This exercise is old hat for HP, which long ago set aside Hewlett-Packard for most purposes. But because good enough isn’t good enough when every character counts, going to simply H is up for discussion. The Packard family has already threatened a lawsuit.
AT&T’s marketing geniuses are pushing for elimination of the A and both Ts, provided the company’s legal department is able to trademark the symbol and the word ampersand. This may require an acquisition.
As for Cisco, the prevailing view within management is that SCO has a nice ring to it and company lawyers say it isn’t being used by anyone in the technology business.
Finally, even the Internet’s governing bodies are exploring shorter acronyms, as the IETF and ICANN have formed a study committee that will appoint a blue ribbon panel that will approach the United Nations about scheduling a summit.
No one wants to rush into a decision of this magnitude.
(Update: Village People reportedly take “the Y’s” decision in choreographed stride.)
