I may be gong out on a limb here, but I think Magnolia is dead.
During my Sunday read (Inserts from Lowes, Best Buy, Circuit City, and Solder of Fortune) I noticed that Circuit Cities firedog(sm) installation brand was prominently displayed 31X in the 28 page insert. It was on almost all the plasma, LCD and computer screens. I think they were trying to make a point.
On TV Mike Ditka and John Elway aimlessly wandered into Circuit City, "Firedog does it all" says Ditka.
I turn to Best Buy, also a 28 pager. Magnolia, the installation department that theoretically is in competition with firedog(sm), is no where to be found. In even searched the insert online it read, “Sorry, we could not find any items that matched "magnolia" in the current circulars and catalogs.” Someone in the marketing department must have made a mistake…after all this is big league competition. Or as Vincent D'Onofrio would say, “This is odd”.
However, I did notice that there were four little itty bitty page corners (pgs 8-11) stating something like the Geek Squad can install your home theatre, but as Ditka should eloquently enquire; "Does it do it all?"
Basically it appears that the Geek Squad is replacing Magnolia (as an installation group) and Magnolia is now a comfortable home theatre display with twin Barkoloungers in the back right corner of the store.
What do you want in your home? Firedog of Magolia? Magnolia however could possibly work for Susan Hunter.
Lesson - It takes guts to battle someone like Best Buy the way Circuit City has. It takes more moxey to take a 360 degree turn overnight and admit you have made a branding mistake like Best Buy. After all Ditka is running around saying "Firedog does it all". Don't worry Mike, next Sunday Best Buy will turn up the Geeks.
And finally I am speaking at ISPCON in San Jose October 16th, “Positioning Your Internet Company for Sale - and Making More Money”
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When Firedog started out, there was 1 In-Home Firedog per store and 1 Scion xb per store. Now? 1 employee and one car per DISCTRICT. And now they are considering making their full-time installers all PART-TIME. What does that say about Firedog? A knockout?
Also, there's really no formal training other than a few online e-learnings that you can finish in a few hours. No standards either.
BUT, you're right, those 30-some firedog pictures in the ad really KOed Best Buy.