‘A clear signal of discontinuity’: MSNBC’s big brand change
MSNBC announced it will soon become MS NOW, which stands for ‘My Source (for) News, Opinion (and the) World’. The classic peacock is nowhere to be seen.
The rebranding of MSNBC to MS NOW is a chance for a brand reset, and to imbue the updated name MSNOW with new meaning. The current name reflects a historical partnership with Microsoft that no longer exists.
And the owner Comcast is creating a new architecture, separating many NBCUniversal cable networks (to be part of the new company Versant) from its Peacock streaming services, which will carry the peacock branding device.
MSNOW’s loss of a famous distinctive asset, the peacock, on the face of it seems a costly branding issue.
Out with the old, in with the NOW.
