Why I'll Miss Kinko's

I never really “got’ the FedEx/Kinko’s merger, and an article in this week’s Business Week, http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_52/b4114078612060.htm helped me to understand why.

As a small business entrepreneur, I loved Kinko’s. They could do anything. If I needed bound handouts, they could deliver. In prewireless days, I could go to Kinko’s in whatever city I was in and get online. Through the years, I utilized the company for over-sized visuals, business cards and photo reprints. Particularly memorable was my 5 am visit in Dallas when I was supposed to be in San Antonio, but was stuck due to weather. That wonderful woman took my mammoth presentation and made sure it got to San Antonio before me, and for that I will be forever grateful. Now, FedEx is dropping the Kinko’s brand all together to become FedEx Office. Huh? The company’s CEO, Brian Philips states in the article that the FedEx Office name will create more opportunity for growth. “Kinko’s is known as copies”, he says. “Nine cent, black and white copies you got in college. FedEx is a very elastic brand. We do packaging, shipping, digital document storage, direct mail. We’re the back office for small businesses, the branch office for mobile professionals. Copies are a small part of our business.”

When I walk into a FedEx/Kinko’s, or Office or whatever it is, and I don’t really see a back office for small business. I see a place to ship stuff. Some of the stores are really small, and only have one or two employees. I miss Kinko’s. I wonder if they did a focus group about the whole, “Kinko’s is only copies” assumption. To me, Kinko’s wasn’t about copies; it was about solutions. Any time, day or night, I always had Kinko’s to help me deliver. Kinko’s is one of those brands that had an almost ethereal quality to it – that is, just the word said so much to the consumer about the product and the benefits it offered.

Life goes on. Brands come and go. Businesses evolve. The Kinko’s signs are coming down, but the brand will be remembered, not only for its clever name, but for the solutions it delivered, always in the nick of time.

What does your brand say to the consumer? Does it convey solutions? Is it confusing? Is it clear when someone walks into your office what you stand for? Do people feel good when they think of you?

What brand messages do you convey?