Comcast customers will soon see a new name on their cable trucks.

FEB. 12, 2010 • Comcast Cable is rebranding its cable, Internet and digital voice services as Xfinity. The change affects more than 25 million Comcast Cable subscribers nationwide. The company has not always gotten high marks for service in years past, and the rebranding is seen as a useful tool to both distance itself from past criticisms, as well as reposition its corporate and division identities for the intended takeover of NBC Universal.

Impact: Sometimes rebranding is hugely successful. How many people remember the stodgy GTE brand when they pay their Verizon cell phone bill. The key here is the Verizon branding coincided with the explosion of cell phone use. Radio Shack is looking to attempt a similar rebranding to The Shack.  Of course, the jury is still out on whether a simple name change will do much for Radio Shack because it doesn’t change the core product the company sells to consumers. The same can be said for Comcast’s rebranding effort, if the company can’t change its overall practices.  The Comcast name will still remain as the corporate parent, but chances are that if the new Xfinity brand is successful, it will be based on some new feature or product category that consumers can relate to, not just a large advertising buy.