Qualcomm Name Change A Snap
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Calling all dragon-slayers. If you hate corporate-named venues, stay away from San Diego for the holidays.
The wireless chip firm Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM), which has held the naming rights on the Chargers stadium since 1997, is temporarily changing the name from Qualcomm Stadium to Snapdragon Stadium.
Snapdragon is the brand name for the company’s family of application processors that power smartphones.
“Anywhere you have the big Qualcomm signage, we will replace the Qualcomm signage with new signage that says Snapdragon Stadium by Qualcomm with the Snapdragon logo,” said Dan Novak, a company spokesman.
The company is attempting to connect with tech-savvy consumers. 30 million viewers are expected to watch three nationally televised football games at the stadium during the holidays -- the Chargers vs. Baltimore Ravens on Dec. 18, the Poinsettia Bowl on Dec. 21 and the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 28.
Not eveyone is in favor of the 'snap' decision. "All a dumb vanity game. It doesn't sell a dollar's worth of product," said Mark Stevens, CEO of MSCO, a branding and public relations firm.
Stevens told fool.com: "This is the problem with giant companies and why their marketing often sucks. They engage in costly boondoggles under the holy grail of "branding," which is just a way for the big agencies to camouflage the failure of most of what they do. None of the senior managers who have approved this expense would do so with their own money. But with the stockholders' cash, oh that's a different story. Just like the jokers in DC."
While this a unique situation, venue name changes are fairly common. Enron Field in Houston is now Minute Maid Park; Pac Bell Stadium in San Francisco is AT&T Park and Jacobs Field in Cleveland is Progessive Field.
The all-time leader is in Miami. The home of the Dolphins and the University of Miami began life as Joe Robbie Stadium. It has since been called Pro Player Park; Pro Player Stadium; Dolphin Stadium; Dolphins Stadium and Land Shark Stadium. On January 18, 2010, the Dolphins signed a five-year deal with Sun Life Financial (NYSE: SLF) to rename it Sun Life Stadium. The deal is worth $7.5 million per year for five years.
I do not own shares in any of the cited firms.
