Overstock.com made the decision to rebrand to O.co six months ago. It has been touting its super-shortened new name and image on its website and national TV since.
But apparently, America isn't ready for O.co. Not yet anyway, reports Beth Snyder Bulik at AdAge.
Overstock is postponing its rebranding campaign until at least after the holiday season, reverting its website, and all of its advertising in the US to its old name.
It'll keep using the O.co name internationally and on mobile. Its NFL stadium in Oakland will remain the O.co Coliseum, according to Bulik.
Why is the online retailer backtracking? Instead of plugging O.co into their browsers, tons of consumers were trying to go to O.com -- an off-the-market name held by ICANN.
So, what's this mean for Overstock's brand?
Overstock didn't want to hurt its sales for the big holiday season, so it makes sense from that short-term standpoint. Right now, consumers are more familiar with Overstock.com than its new name and site, despite all that advertising.
This isn't a Netflix-Quikster catastrophe situation for Overstock. It's not completely abandoning the project, and there's no direct impact to consumers other than the URL they have to type in. In fact, its customers may barely notice the reversion, since its ads stated both names anyway. There are sure to be at least a few confused folks, though.
This is a bigger hit for the company internally. All those ads from the past six months have gone to waste, and of course, there'll be a bit of wounded pride.
