Bye bye, Tribune Publishing; hello, tronc Inc.
The Baltimore Sun‘s venerable parent company’s rebranding effort has caught on, in a way. Tronc — (you know, as in “Tribune Online Content”) has inspired a flash mob of mocking memes on social media.
In a way, it has everything. It’s infantile, vaguely onomatopoeic, pseudo-futuristic, lowercase — what’s not to hate? It’s like glossolalia for marketing speak.
It’s just the name for “a content curation and monetization company focused on creating and distributing premium, verified content across all channels.”
— Tasha Robinson (@TashaRobinson) June 2, 2016
If you’re wondering where you know the #tronc font from, it’s from Nickelodeon. pic.twitter.com/9fISNbnrJ8
— Margaret Lyons (@margeincharge) June 2, 2016
Q: What does an elephant use to dismantle a media company?
A: Its #tronc
— VoldemortForMayor (@Voldemort4Mayor) June 3, 2016
It’s impossible to say, “I work for #tronc,” and not have people wonder how you managed to dress yourself this morning.
— Mike Glenn (@mrglenn) June 2, 2016
While the company couldn’t be more excited to start pooling its “leading media brands and leverag[ing] innovative technology to deliver personalized and interactive experiences to its 60 million monthly users,” you’ll have to wait until June 20 for the name change to take effect.
Are you too freaked out? Should I let you know about troncX now?
The fact that it’s a MONETIZATION company instead of a news-gathering company should tell you all you need to know.