Nick Cannon Joins RadioShack As Chief Creative Officer

Heh

I thought RadioShack had ALREADY folded or were at least very much close to broke.

I hear Adam Savage has some free time on his hands now MythBuster’s is ending…he is like king of their target market so would make more sense for him to help steer the ship or at least use some buckets to remove water to stop it sinking!

Their latest CEO tried to downsize and close stores, keeping only their profitable ones open but the Board of misDirectors felt it wouldn’t leave enough stores still open to try to make back their debt, so the CEO resigned and the chaos continues…

I hope Nick’s contract provided for full compensation of year one salary as an upfront lump sum.

Who’s Nick Cannon?

LOL. No kidding.

While at first blush this would seem to be categorized with the Lady Gaga, Will.i.am, etc “Creative Director” appointments, I think this guy might have more potential when paired with the Radio Shack brand.

RS has had its share of problems and questionable spokespeople (Lance Armstrong for one example) but I hold out a little bit of hope reading things like

He will also help the company continue to grow its educational and S.T.E.M (science, technology, engineering and math) initiatives nationwide.

which is what RS was historically good for. Whether this guy will help that effort remains to be seen.

Like any PR announcement, they are throwing out buzz words. It would be cool if they re-brand themselves as the DIY or STEM go to store but if that is the case then they hired the wrong “face” with the wrong credentials for the company.
I think they are aiming to attract younger kids to buy cheap electronics (headphones, speakers, cameras, tablets, etc.)
Similar to ashton kutcher & Nikon and then moving on to Lenovo as a “product engineer”. I remember cringing when I saw this video years ago. - YouTube

Another example of an entertainer turned designer. The Concierge Life: Kanye West Designs Second Louis Vuitton Sneakers Collection

Mr. Mariah Carey

They should have gotten her!

Another celebrity creative director: Matthew McConaughey. Wild Turkey

http://devour.com/video/matthew-mcconaughey-is-wild-turkey-bourbons-new-creative-director/

“As his first act as Wild Turkey Bourbon’s new Creative Director, Matthew McConaughey traveled just outside of Lexington, Kentucky to meet up with the Russell’s.The Oscar-winning actor wondered through their distillery, learning the history of their more than 150-year business, and of course drank some bourbon. This six-minute clip is just the first of a multi-year campaign lead by McConaughey.”

Maybe that’s what I need to do to be creative director. I often wander through things, but rarely wonder through them.

A colleague and I were just talking about radio shack’s plight the other day. I’m curious what you guys think about a strategy that could pull them out of the hole? I feel like they need to focus their market on the constantly growing maker community. Right now, they’re so confused, like; “well, people like cell phones, let’s get some of those.” Obviously they would be narrowing their market to move from “cell phones and a few transistors” to arduinos and raspberry pis, but then they would connect with people again. RadioShack used to be a place people went for advice and help with projects and to share ideas. Now you go there and the employees don’t even know what to do when you start asking about their electronic components. Focusing on these users seems so simple to me. Am I oversimplifying it?

It might help if the removed the words Radio and Shack from the name. :slight_smile:

I think a “maker store” in key markets around the country could do really well. To become that, two challenges that The Shack would face to transition are:

  1. the maker community doesn’t go to their store in mass. They more likely go to specialty shops of buy parts online. They would likely have to rename/rebrand and significantly invest in marketing to do appeal to this group and that is expensive.
  2. they have a lot of locations. At one point that had the most retail storefronts of any retailer in the country (maybe 20 years ago). A lot of those storefronts are not in areas frequented by the maker community. Shuddering the right doors and opening new ones in the right locations would be a second expensive endeavor.

Given those assumptions I think it would be easier to start from zero.

I think all that has happened, is marketing decided to change the term Spokesman to Creative Director…

Don’t forget the new iPhone cases that Kim Kardashian “Designed”.
She is very proud of her “Design” work on them…

OMG. that’s funny.

Sadly, I think you may be on to something. And if the company has an actual Creative Director, I wonder how that make him or her feel.

I happen to be wandering through my own wonder at the moment.

Agreed - it seems Radio Shack’s biggest problem is that their last Board insisted on retaining a brick and mortar presence - the maker community isn’t shopping on the sidewalks - they’re online - they’re buying raw materials and printers online, investigating and perusing online, build-ordering online and having their creations shipped to them. Alternatively, they’re finding 3D printers in their local community colleges, universities and libraries…centers that charge next to nothing to let them print their creations.

I think Radio Shack has a similar problem to GM and Ford pre-2008: over capacity. People aren’t going to buy radios and TVs in small stores in malls anymore. They are buying in big box stores or online. So shut down many of their stores. The rest, I would re-brand as Maker Stores like Yo suggests. That’s a trend and the days of Radio Shack carrying resistors is not completely forgotten. Double up with a strong online presence (need it now, go the store, need it tomorrow, buy online) and you have a real strategy for the next 20 years.