New Commodore banks on warm memories of the '80s
LAS VEGAS -- Remember the Commodore 64? The boxy, brown home-computer-in-a-keyboard that sold millions in the '80s is back -- if only in name.
A Dutch company, recently rebranded as Commodore International Corp., is betting that nostalgia for one of the first affordable, widely sold home computers will jump-start sales of its new line of multimedia products in the United States.
At its official coming out at last week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Commodore unveiled a lineup of products sporting the old Commodore logo, but the resemblance stops there. The new Commodore isn't in the personal computer business.
The company's new lineup includes an affordably priced GPS navigator that also plays movies, music, and games; a multimedia set-top box that plays DVDs, records video, and streams music and other content; and a kiosk the company is marketing to retailers that will allow customers to walk up and download music, games, and ring tones to digital players and cellphones.
A company spokesman said Commodore's new strategy harkens back to the old company, a pioneer in the home computer market that created innovative products sold at affordable prices between 1981 and 1994. Best known for its Commodore 64 computer -- and popular among game enthusiasts -- the company went belly up in 1994, after having sold millions of units.
Yeahronimo Media Ventures purchased the brand name from another Dutch firm, Tulip Computers, in a deal worth $32.7 million in 2004. Yeahronimo adopted the name last year.
One of Commodore's founders and current chief executive, Ben van Wijhe, worked for Tulip and along with another founder initiated the purchase of the Commodore brand.
The company, which has been selling digital music players and downloadable music in Europe, is now looking to expand in the United States.
''We want to get back to the tradition of the company providing a very large market with a very good product at a very reasonable price," said Patric Olenczak Sr., vice president of global sales.
Resurrecting a brand can be risky, said Paul Parkin, a principal with SALT Branding, a San Francisco firm. While nostalgia may initially generate interest, it may not hold up in the long run.
Older brands ''have a kitsch quality," Parkin said. ''They're remembered fondly by a certain segment of the population who, for good or bad, has associations with them, but often those associations are no longer relevant today."
It remains to be seen whether the company will be successful at trading on the Commodore name, but it certainly evokes warm and fuzzy feelings among former owners.
Last year, Commodore ran a test at a consumer trade show in London, purposely putting up a sparse booth emblazoned with the old Commodore logo. People flocked to the booth, bypassing other high-tech players to reminisce about their old Commodores.
''The emotional reaction we got from people was amazing," said Sean MacGillavry, a marketing manager for Commodore. ''People were skipping the Gizmondo booth, which had full bells and whistles, girls in short skirts, and a big car display. They were coming over to us going, 'My first computer was a Commodore!' "
Interest in the old company's story continues. A new book, ''On the Edge: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore," was recently published.
Paul Rand, global chief of development and innovation for Ketchum, a public relations agency, said that if the new Commodore can tap into the good feelings US consumers have about the old Commodore -- and please ''influencers and brand evangelists" -- they have a good shot at bringing back the brand.
Brands have risen from the dead, including Napster and Atari, but they may bear little resemblance to their predecessors and fail to emulate past successes. One exception Rand cites is DeWalt, a well-known power tool brand that died out in the 1980s. Acquired by Black & Decker, DeWalt eventually generated $1 billion in revenue and a 35 percent market share, Rand said.
''It costs so much money to build a brand now," Parkin said. ''You hear figures of $250 million to launch a new brand. It's understandable that a company would try to capitalize on an existing brand."
Commodore's Los Angeles office will oversee the US expansion. The publicly held company is projecting revenue of $20 million for fiscal 2005, $55 million for 2006, and $127 million for 2007.
And while Commodore may be leveraging the name, it's looking to innovate and to join companies such as Apple and Microsoft in offering both software and hardware.
Olenczak said Commodore will focus on consumer devices that multitask and connect users to media and services from anywhere.
The GPS unit, the Commodore Navigator Combo, uses Microsoft's Windows CE operating system and has a 20 GB hard drive for storing digital photos and other files, a touch-screen, a voice recorder, built-in speakers, and a memory card slot. It will retail for $699.
Michelle Johnson can be contacted at mijohn@mail-me.com.
