Metropol

Apparently, Virgin Megastores had a management buyout in September and shal be rebranding this month as "Zavvi". I did wonder why my receipt said that the other day, I presumed it was a fault on the tills.

What an utterly stupid name. I expect the company to collapse. bah.

I think you have to consider where the new management team for zavvi actually want to take the company. Virgin is a global brand covering hundreds of companies and services.

To retain the Virgin name would probably be a bitter taste in the mouth for the buy-out group who had paid so much money. I imagine if BSkyB ever bought ITV plc they wouldn't be able to resist slapping their brand on it somewhere.

The name ZAVVI of course doesn't mean anything, except it's unique and can't readily be confused with a store of the same ilk. The days of worrying that your company name starts with "Z" (and therefore appearing at the bottom of the Yellow Pages listings) are long gone.

The logo, however:

© Zavvi
leaves alot to be desired and was probably scribbled on the back of a beermat in a pub one afternoon. No doubt someone was paid a fortune for their moments of illustrative skill and creation of the name while under the influence of controlled substances.

That really is a bollox design. You really do have to dispair with some of the logos of our time. Let's hope it's a bit like BBC Three's logo. A lot of us thought it was crap when we first saw it, but in a wider context it works effectively. I'm not holding my breath though.

Virgin in Sheffield changed the logo last week, must have been one of the first? It still looks like exactly Virgin inside though (including logos on things), so it's about as pointless and lazy rebranding as you can get. Not that it affects me, I've never bought a thing from them. Would have got my Wii there the other month, but the price appears to be a lie given the non-existance of stock.

Netizen wrote:Virgin in Sheffield changed the logo last week, must have been one of the first?

Does it look as crap as that image makes out?

That's truly awful. They could have had a great logo with a name like Zavvi, but they opted for some sort of Wordart-esque set up, complete with cheesy 'z' in the dot.

It looks like any other illuminated shop sign, in that it looks more like it's for a women's clothes shop than somewhere to go for entertainment.

Netizen wrote:...it looks more like it's for a women's clothes shop than somewhere to go for entertainment.

I have friends who snoop around womens' clothes shops for entertainment, but let's not go there!

Well it's been Zavvi-ised where I live.

Funny because in a magazine advert it was just like a Virgin one, virgin megastore's all capital font with red and yellow. The same style just with the random lime green logo.

The store itself hasn't really changed either. It's exactly the same inside. The only difference is that Mr Signman has come along and put a quick Zavvi.co.uk sign up - the website hasn't even launched yet and they are advertising it in the shop name.

The store itself hasn't really changed either. It's exactly the same inside. The only difference is that Mr Signman has come along and put a quick Zavvi.co.uk sign up - the website hasn't even launched yet and they are advertising it in the shop name.

Don't they realise that plugging one's website in the sign is so 1999?

Virgin in the Manchester Arndale has become Zavvi and it looks horrible, the sign is just green and black and everything else inside is still Virgin, considering the Manchester one has been open a year they've got a lot of work to do, it's quite a flagship store as it had it's own Virgin Media bit within and has loads of V's everywhere aswell.

I know Virgin aren't really interested in this area of the market anymore, but Zavvi is just an awful name, where as Virgin Megastores was a lot better.

Edinburgh's Princes Street store is classic. They've changed the signage to 'Zavvi.co.uk' but the "imprint" is still up on the wall clearly showing 'Virgin Megastore'. It's hard to explain, but this old image gives a rough idea.