In response to an invitation to hear PC maker Gateway 2000 announce a major strategic shift last month, our sister publication, the monthly magazine Computer Business Review sent a journalist along to a press briefing. The news? In what appears to be merely a late touch of common sense, Gateway 2000, the South Dakota direct-sales PC company, decided to ditch its famous brand image: A cow. The company, which sells PCs directly to home users and very small companies, said that the cow was not being taken seriously by business users. At the same time, the ‘2000’ would be removed from its branding (CI No 3,396). Gateway said that the number was dating it, and that it was a bit ‘tacky’. Gateway is attempting to move into small and medium sized businesses and recently began selling PC servers. The new logo, however, still retains a whiff of cow: It incorporates a white box with black spots. The changes have been prompted by the arrival of chief operating officer and president Jeff Weitzen, from AT&T Co. He has also encouraged managers to refer to customers as ‘clients,’ since ‘customer’ implies a transaction, while ‘client’ implies a continuing relationship.
