Computer 2000 rebrand no laughing matter

CRN managing editor Doug Woodburn asks why it took Tech Data so long to can C2K name and roll its brand to the UK

Despite it being arguably the UK's best-known distribution brand, the name Computer 2000 has been a comic gift for the comperes of the CRN's Channel Awards down the years.

Everyone from Jimmy Carr to Ed Byrne has not believed their luck to discover that one of our industry's main protagonists has a bizarrely outdated moniker that immediately conjures up images of the millennium bug, brick-like mobile phones and dial-up internet.

Not great for a firm striving to be at the cutting edge of technology.

That all changed this week when C2K announced its brand had been confined to the annals of history as it finally adopted the name of its parent - Tech Data - 15 years after it was acquired by the US-based goliath distributor.

So what took it so long?

Well, although Tech Data had wanted to roll its brand to the UK for years, outside of introducing the prefix 'TD' to some parts of the business it wasn't able to do this due to the existence of another similarly named local distributor, security specialist Tekdata.

Word has it that - after years of wrangling - Tekdata owner Micro-P finally accepted a fat wad of cash from Tech Data to make the name go away and in April Tekdata was rebranded as Micro-P Security.

C2K's name change rectifies an anomaly by finally bringing it in line with the rest of Tech Data, a much more powerful brand globally and one that is already known even among its UK reseller base.

But why did the two parties - Tech Data and Tekdata - finally reach a deal now? It's hard to say but maybe Micro-P felt it was finally the right time to retire the brand of a firm it acquired way back in 2007. But the agreement was also likely spurred on by Tech Data's desire to ditch C2K before the integration of recent acquisition SDG is completed. This means SDG's reseller and vendor partners will only have to endure one system change as opposed to two.

Tech Data UK marketing director Andy Dow would not confirm or deny whether money changed hands between the two distributors but told us it was "critical" the rebrand occurred before the SDG integration was completed."

"With Micro-P no longer using the Tekdata name, there was no conflict in the distribution channel and we were able to go ahead and use the name," he said.

Dow admitted that Tech Data "feels a lot more current" than C2K, adding that he was not even sure whether '2000' referred to a year or a number.

"Computer 2000 is a stronger name [than Tech Data] in the UK, however vendors deal with us as Tech Data across Europe and we spend a lot of time explaining why one country is different," he said. "Many resellers also refer to us as Tech Data - it's not a big change as this is a name they are familiar with.

In any case, the UK's largest distributor could finally go under the radar of this year's Channel Awards compere as they scan the list of nominees for comedy gold.