When renaming MSNBC to MS NOW, did the branding team use a MAGA focus group?

When the powers that be, whoever they are, decided to scrap the name MSNBC in favor of the shiny, and baffling MS NOW, I had several immediate thoughts. First, when Comcast decided to cut MSNBC loose, I couldn’t help but suspect some MAGA meddling.

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Maybe someone whispered in the branding team’s ear: “Put as much daylight as possible between the new brand and Comcast, by making the new name as ridiculous as can be. We want no part of the lefty network.” Truthfully, I think Comcast is just another media conglomerate in the bag for Trump. That’s just my humble opinion, although there is some reporting around it.

My second thought was even worse: that perhaps the branding team, thoughtlessly, decided to convene a focus group of MAGA voters. That’s the only logical explanation I can think of for how MS NOW ever came to be, and why the ridicule of the new names has been merciless.

I’m just joking, or am I?

The reaction, particularly from conservative circles, has been swift, and for good reason. The new name seems so juvenile, for lack of a better word. And the new logo is listless and lifeless. Finally, the acronym is an unmitigated disaster. It’s had me asking, who signed off on this in the first place? Or, did someone think they’d be clever and “forward-thinking,” and farm it out to AI?

My last thought was maybe the branding team dropped into a third-grade art class and asked kids with crayons to brainstorm acronyms and logos?

Ok, so let me pause here to say something important, and that is I love, love, love MSNBC, or what it will be called in December, MS NOW. I’m not some casual viewer throwing sarcastic darts at what I consider an esteemed, must-watch network I don’t care about.

Let’s begin with Nicolle Wallace’s Deadline: White House. If I miss her show, I’m off-balance the rest of the day. I’m sorry, but that show is like a drug to me, and since I don't drink anymore, that’s my new way of getting an exhilarating buzz.

Rachel Maddow? Mesmerizing. Alex Wagner? Brilliant. Ari Melber? I didn’t like him at first, but now I think he’s sharp as a tack, especially when he slices through Peter Navarro’s endless nonsense. I can’t stomach Navarro. At. All. But with Melber, I’ll watch because he was a way of getting Navarro to continually step in it.

And Morning Joe? I scream at Joe Scarborough sometimes to “get to the point!” but I’m still glued, toggling between the show and Good Morning America. These MSNBC hosts are smart, vibrant, and relentlessly committed to the truth. They deserve better than to be saddled with a name that sounds like we're talking about a person, i.e. Ms. Now.

I spent 35 years in corporate PR, so I know a little something about rebranding successes and disasters. Most often, the problem comes down to someone’s ego or tone deaf perspective getting in the way, especially someone at the top of the food chain.

Someone high up in marketing, for example, falls in love with their own idea and steamrolls everyone else. In healthier organizations, PR and comms people get a chance to weigh in, poke holes, and raise red flags.

In this situation, it feels like no one had the courage, or perhaps the permission, to say the obvious, “We’re going to get hammered with memes and acronyms. Do not, under any circumstances, go with MS NOW.”

Fox doesn’t use an acronym, and it’s doing just fine. CNN does, and it’s been around 40 years, so that’s embedded into our brains. Acronyms don’t make or break a network. But in this case, when MSNBC already had brand recognition as Microsoft NBC (even if that origin story is long dead), why double down on another awkward mash-up?

At this point, everyone and their mother knows that “MS’ means Microsoft, so trying to make it something else after all this time cuts against the grain.

And the logo? Where to start? Of course, it’s hard to outdo the Peacock, one of the most iconic logos in media history. It’s been around for nearly 70 years. But that’s no excuse for something that looks like a graphic designer’s shoulder shrug. A logo should say, “This is who we are!” This one says, “Please go ahead and mock us.”

The whole thing is pretty sad because MSNBC’s on-air talent is anything but bland, and what’s more, they stand up to Trump, to authoritarianism, and to the creeping normalization of dictatorship and corruption.

As CBS and Disney-owned ABC shrink from the fight by stupidly settling frivolous Trump lawsuits, as CNN vacillates between condemning Trump and giving him a soft landing, MSNBC has become the last bastion of accountability. And that’s a pretty scary thought if you think about it.

That’s why this rebrand is so perplexing. To me, it undercuts the credibility and fire of the very people who are holding the line for democracy. Sure, maybe a year from now we’ll laugh about this. Maybe MS NOW will grow on us. Or maybe, God forbid, we’ll be so busy defending the network against Trump’s inevitable legal assaults that quibbling about a name will feel pointless.

Because as I’m writing this, I know Trump will undoubtedly go after MS NOW once it’s cut loose from Comcast. And like he’s done in every other instance, he’ll extort money from them, or bleed them out of cash with lawsuits, appeal, appeal again, and again.

For now, I’ll mostly bite my tongue out of love for its talent, and go ahead and accept MS NOW, but not without this written protest. Of course, I’ll root for them, I’ll keep watching, and I’ll keep defending their journalism.

Because no matter what the branding team dreamed up in their misguided brainstorming sessions, what matters is the content. And MSNBC, or whatever they want to call themselves, is still delivering truth in an age of lies.

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