DaVinci becomes "Anarchy!" Poisoned Dwarf not amused!
I almost drowned in my coffee this morning when I read in AdAge that DaVinci is now "Synarchy!" Is it just me, or does that sound a bit too fucking close to "Anarchy" for comfort? Rupal Parekh and Matt Creamer have a lovely tongue in cheek piece about this dramatic development in the "Poisoned Dwarf's" continuing quest for world domination. As they point out, the Wikipedia entry for "Synarchy" quotes from Vichy France when French industrialists saw Nazi Germany as an alternative to Communism: "Many of them had extensive and intimate business relations with German interests and were still dreaming of a new system of "Synarchy," which meant government of Europe on fascist principles by an international brotherhood of financiers and industrialists." How fucking perfect is that? Considering the "Synarchy" brotherhood still hasn't come up with a CEO after months of looking, you'd think that in true fascist style, the "Height Challenged One" would have had someone taken out and shot by now! Loved the bit at the end pointing out this wonderful new identity was created by Uber-Scam artists, Landor, which is co-incidentally, another part of the WPP Dark Star empire. Wonder if anyone's told them it's also the name of a Thrash/Metal group in the fucking Faroe Isles? Can't wait to see the ads!!!
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Ken Segall inspects his creative staff before shipping them off to their cubicles!
Amazing how people don't step back for a moment and take a fresh look at their work. Reminds me of a BDA pitch for an airline tagline a few years ago:
Prepare for departure.
Too fucking clever for their own good.
Posted by: GI Joe | May 15, 2008 at 08:42 AM
DaVinci was not a great name either. But Synarchy is worse. If this is such a bold, new enterprise, why take a name coined in the 18th century?
Posted by: HighJive | May 15, 2008 at 08:43 AM
it's actually such a bad name that it will deter people from working there. who the hell wants to spend 20 minutes explaining the name of their agency every time someone asks them where they work?
Posted by: t | May 15, 2008 at 09:12 AM
Sector 64 and Refute? These guys must be joking. I hope the logotype goes back to the stylized "S" from the Nazi SS. Sector 64 sounds like a fucking death camp. I can't wait to see Landor's bill for the branding work.
Name Generation and Focus Group Research: $300,000
Logotype development (Helvetica Black): $100,000
Color exploratory: $100,000
Large usage application: $50,000
Small usage application: $50,000
Web application: $75,000 (it IS the Web, afterall)
Friggin thievery.
Posted by: Auntie Christ | May 15, 2008 at 09:15 AM
Many a parent went in hock up to their nostril hairs so the buffoons who conceptualize these things could get an education. Just go with Brain Drizzle and be done with it. Does anyone really wonder in their hearts why we rant and rave?
Posted by: Studio Maven | May 15, 2008 at 09:20 AM
Wired Products and Plastics
would have been a good name, but it was taken.
Posted by: Tom Messner | May 15, 2008 at 09:21 AM
Tom...
Comment of the day. You win a $5 Dell Gift certificate.
Cheers/George
Posted by: George Parker | May 15, 2008 at 09:25 AM
Dude, you're getting a Synarchy. And a $400,000 bill from Landor.
Did anyone notice that all the trademark and web address registration was done by WPP's NYC's full-time outside counsel, Davis & Gilbert? From severance packets to layoffs NDAs to trademarks, D&G's bills make Landor's look like a discount house.
Posted by: Tanner | May 15, 2008 at 10:00 AM
The HR departments in the WPP Reich certainly know how to look up candidates on google, myspace, facebook and whatever other bullshit sites. Bet they even have a secret file of candidate's douchebag behavior pictures saved somewhere.
But they idiots responsible for naming the company can't handle that? Nazis and Faroe Island cockrockers? That's not a big deal, let's just use it.
Posted by: pat smith | May 15, 2008 at 12:17 PM
Let me get this straight ... they wanted to take the word "synergy" which is already a bullshit word made up by MBA's. And they wanted to add .... what exactly to it? Anarchy? Hierarchy?
Posted by: Jane Sample | May 15, 2008 at 01:27 PM
Am I alone in thinking it just sounds like "snarky?"
Posted by: Michael | May 15, 2008 at 02:45 PM
Interesting the name "Snarky."
In the very early days of television when I would sit a foot from the screen to see the objects through perpetual snow, Bil Baird
had a show called "Snarky Parker."
He, Snarky, was a marionette sheriff.
Hadn't thought of that in years.
Thanks.
If anarchy means without a ruler, synarchy has to mean the same ruler. I guess the leap is ruling together. I knew that course in Joyce would come in handy some day.
Posted by: Tom Messner | May 15, 2008 at 03:47 PM
They should have just shortened the working name to Da.
Posted by: GI Joe | May 15, 2008 at 03:52 PM
i don't believe that's going to be the name... we might have seen a "work in progress" leak or a "let's test the waters" article... we ad folk would be the best test group, after all.
although, naming an agency after a failed 18th century political movement does seem like what the "smartest guys in the room" would think clever...
i just keep seeing Albert Brooks in the Odd Couple, raving "it's today, it's happening, it's now, Unger!"
Posted by: the lower depths | May 16, 2008 at 05:43 AM
George, I'm a tad slow on the uptake here but consider this from AdAge: "WPP could change direction if the name doesn't pass legal muster or translate well into the various international locales in which it operates."
Hmm. Were this my shop, (thank Christ it's not), I think I would have, er, how shall I put this? Figured all this shit out BEFORE going public. WPP is one of the biggest media companies ON THE PLANET!
Did it not occur to these people not have fucking checked all this stuff before discovering its links with Nazi Germany and thrash metal bands?
Were I the head honcho at Dell I would be worried by all this. It does not bode well.
Posted by: popgoestheweasel | May 16, 2008 at 08:33 AM
Pop...
Dead right there. But remember my post the other day about the Air Force tag line... "Over All" which was also the Nazis "Uber Allies" As you say, these people are fucking stupid... But, they are making the big bucks. Maybe the Poisoned Dwarf prizes stupidity. That way, no one is a threat!
Cheers/George
Posted by: George Parker | May 16, 2008 at 09:03 AM
They should just call a spade a spade and name the place The Peter Principle Agency.
Posted by: Amper Sand | May 16, 2008 at 09:28 AM
Why is the ill-chosen name "Synarchy" not surprising! After all, WPP is secretly short for "Wanton Putresence Prurience". Only from the House of the Odious Little Jerk comes a idea so stupid as Synarchy.
Posted by: Danaconda | May 20, 2008 at 01:04 PM
Duh Vinci is what we are calling them internally. I like Duh! Did you know the RFP that got WPP the job did not account for ANY WEB PRODUCTION? So now the entire $$ is back in play for everyone needing web assets developed. Who wrote the dang RFP anyway?
Amazing!
Posted by: withinthewalls | May 24, 2008 at 07:43 PM