In this analysis together with opinion piece, lets examine Comcast and their innovative brand called XFINITY, the reason it is needed, and whether it will succeed. Suddenly, new competition is changing the environment for Comcast. They are some of those companies who is spending so much time to re-invent their relationship along with the customer. So far it has not worked, so for a next step they are re-branding this company. They hope if these people change the name and the brand that customers will your investment problems. The goal is actually right, however the plan is not really. The company will be called XFINITY. However they have not yet fixed things that hurt the Comcast name. Therefore I think the new name will not work the direction they want. Comcast and their relationship along with the customer have been hitting sour notes for quite some time. With competition building, they have been trying to repair their own image. As the company tries to reinvent again with it's warm-hearted promotion, and improving their customer satisfaction by adding more workers, if you ask the purchasers, generally speaking the problem is not fixed yet. Because there is little focus on the customer over the years, even if the company reverses itself completely now, it will still be several years before the customers realizes the change. This happened with Sprint inside 1990's. Sprint fixed their customer care problems, but did not benefit for several years when the customer finally caught on. The Comcast problem is they say another thing and do another along with the customer. An example is the recent shift to a digital network. Currently Comcast has two different types of services. One is the digital network and has a converter box, and the other has a less expensive basic analog cable product. Comcast has suddenly begun to force its customers with the basic analog service to switch to their basic digital service. That small change in the name does not give a good representation of the down sides the customers being forced overcome. Area by area, Comcast is actually transforming their network to digital. I hear from reporters from coast to coast looking for comments about this story as it rolls to their town. The marketing rule Comcast is breaking is this. Otherwise happy customers who tend to do nothing will lose channels. Customers should be capable to opt out of this changes and keep their existing service. At least to get a transition period. Instead these kind of customers will drop from almost 100 channels to help 20 something channels. If they wanted your channels they had before they have to spend more every month and rent a converter box for any television. The problems with forcing the customers to make this switch so quickly are several. This goes against the rules of building good relationships. One of the significant problems for Comcast is the hit on their product. Upset customers remember. First of all there is no effective channel surfing. Changing options was instantaneous. Now it takes a second or consequently between channels. That spoils the fun for many. A hit on your brand. Second it costs more. Customers have to obtain these converter boxes to make the additional channels work. Then they have to be charged Comcast, per box, and per TV, on a monthly basis. Many chose to never have digital because these people didn't have room for or didn't want that converter boxes. That's a problem customers now have to deal with. Another hit on this brand. Third, since they have to fund these boxes and maintain job security, customers only get boxes for the televisions they watch often. They don't buy boxes for the less frequently used sets. On those customers still can't watch all the options. An example is within a guest room. Seldom used, but when someone is in there they can no longer watch television the same as before. Customers are now handicapped with only a few channels. Another hit to the brand. Fourth are the long lines past Comcast stores with very upset customers waiting to rent converter boxes to allow them to get back to where we were looking at. I stopped by repetitions to talk with customers. The lines were so long, and lasted a couple months and also the customers were very worried. Another hit on your brand. Fifth is the products the signal. Customers had quality problems once in a while, but with this new digital network these problems are much more numerous and longer lasting. Another hit on the brand. The benefits of this digital system are a few extra channels and better quality picture, but to tell you the truth the picture was fine just before also. Many customers think this change is not really worth it, yet they're just forced to make the idea and incur extra fees, and not have service on all their TV's. To make is important worse this change has been forced on customers, if they want it or not. Comcast broke a vital marketing rule. Don't force customers to change. Offer something new and let them choose. Allow customer stay in demand. If you have to make a change, introduce a transition period of a couple of years in order for customers to get a better feel. Comcast would have looked like be familiar with company who cared regarding the customer by the approach. Now they look like bullies in the childhood schoolyard. Comcast shot themselves in the foot with this move. In the past it do not matter to them. On the list of no competition so on the list of nothing to risk. Now however there is growing competition. First there's satellite television. Now you will find there's bigger threat. The nearby telephone company offering television set. AT&T is offering Uverse and Verizon offers FiOS in an increasing number of places. According to various awards they have received it's very good quality. The good news for the customer is a marketplace is changing for a customer-oriented place, instead in the company oriented place. Imagine the customer can vote with their feet. A good customer reputation is key. That is built out of showing respect for any customer. Comcast instead gives with one hand and takes away with the other. They keep ripping open the customers wound and don't give it a way to heal. That's where this new brand comes into play. Comcast hopes XFINITY will breath new life to their market worn name. Expect to see them pouring lots of money into advertising the attempt. However I don't think it's going to work, not yet. Until they realize plants fix the problems first, then re-brand, I don't think this new name will continue to work. Customers will realize quickly that name is different, but the problems are the exact same. The value of the brand new brand will be lost. I have met with Comcast executives and like them. They seem such as nice people. The problem is that they don't connect the dots and know that what they do with their company in order to grow, also impacts innumerable other people, their customers. They have not explained why they're just forcing the customer to deal with these problems. Why they need to upgrade the network. They cannot give the customer that respect they demand. Comcast should understand they need to involve the customer, not dictate to them. Especially when competition is usually building and their risk is higher than ever. XFINITY Deals My websites: DirecTV vs. Dish Network -- Which Is Better?