RadioShack has certainly been down a rough road in recent years. Upon years of declining sales and relevance, the retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February before selling the brand to hedge fund Standard General LP. In a seemingly never-ending to effort to turn its brand around, the retailer hired television personality and entrepreneur Nick Cannon as its Chief Creative Officer. It didn’t take long for the hiring to take criticism from numerous media outlets, with Cannon’s retail experience (or lack thereof) being a major topic of concern.
The RTP team discusses whether the hiring of Cannon will be a good move for RadioShack, and highlights steps the retailer must take if it wants to bounce back.
Debbie Hauss, Editor-In-Chief: RadioShack has been trying a lot of different tactics to recapture market share and regain solidity after filing for bankruptcy. There’s the wacky, 1980s-themed TV ad last year, the partnership with Sprint, and the focus on selling unique tech gadgets during the holidays. And, of course, the hiring of a former Dell executive as the new CEO. And hiring Nick Cannon as the new Chief Creative Officer certainly has stirred up interest in the company this week. In addition to bringing some celebrity attention to the brand, Cannon will benefit from not only the salary, but the opportunity to have a venue to sell his own electronics products. If this tactic doesn’t work, I hope RadioShack can figure out a way to hang on and see the light of 2020, as I mentioned in an article earlier this year.
Alicia Fiorletta, Content Strategist: Onboarding a celebrity to contribute to company branding and business development isn’t anything new. Songstress Alicia Keys was named Global Creative Director of BlackBerry and Justin Timberlake was named Creative Director of Bud Light Platinum for a short time. In 2014, he went on to a similar partnership with Beam Inc. to promote a new line of tequila. (And who could forget Sean “Diddy” Combs and his love for alcohol branding and partnerships?) Do I think it’s a ploy to add excitement and an element of “hip-ness” to the brand? Absolutely. Do I think giving Cannon such a high-level title is a bad move for RadioShack? I can’t exactly say. Cannon is known to be a jack-of-all-trades, and the reality is, people like him. It will be interesting, regardless, to see how the brand leverages Cannon’s celebrity and what he can inject into the company.
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Adam Blair, Executive Editor: It’s easy – probably too easy – to smirk at RadioShack’s hiring of actor/producer Nick Cannon as its Chief Creative Officer. Snarky questions immediately come to mind, such as: Can a retail brand seemingly cursed with un-hipness become relevant with Millennials by bringing a second-tier celebrity into its C-Suite? But “marriages” of retail brands with celebrities of any tier are nothing new, and they have often proven to be mutually beneficial. Cannon also brings experience as a TV producer and as a developer of electronics products himself through his Ncredible Entertainment company, so there are real points of alignment. Now it will be up to RadioShack to refine its own brand promises, and to make sure its operations back up those promises.
Glenn Taylor, Associate Editor: I do appreciate the retailer for thinking outside the box on this one, especially since its stores’ dated offerings were a major reason for the company’s downfall in the first place. While I don’t believe the company is beyond saving, I do think the recovery process has to go beyond whatever brand recognition and electronics knowledge a celebrity may bring to the table. While Cannon may have a keen eye for popular trends, RadioShack as a whole needs a product and marketing overhaul to prove it has the ability to differentiate itself in the right way again. The STEM initiatives Cannon has expressed desire to spearhead may be a good place to start, especially given that there isn’t a retailer with a major focus on that target.
