Hill: Yes.
Barker: All right. But, we know what it is, and we know the greatness that it had in American media in generations past, which it no longer really does.
Hill: I would say the same about Sports Illustrated. Those four brands as media properties -- People, Fortune -- there is value there. And unfortunately for the people at Time Incorporated, the name Fortune Brands is already taken.
Barker: Yeah. They want to go into more of an online presence. But they have a lot of positive names under the umbrella, things which connote more hope than Time, which is somewhat neutral, I think. Between Sports Illustrated, Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine, Fortune, these are all things that sounds great, don't they?
Hill: Yeah.
Barker: Let's pick from those. Time is good and bad. Nothing more valuable than Time, really. But also, it's your enemy. I mean, it's a whole existential thing for their brand. They just take it offline and go with something ridiculous like Tronc, and then people don't know what they're up to.
Hill: Do you think they should just bag this idea altogether?
Barker: Which idea?
Hill: The idea of rebranding the corporate company? Because they're not talking about "We need to change the name of Sports Illustrated." Nobody is that dumb, thankfully.
Barker: There are people that dumb.
Hill: [laughs] Well, they don't appear to occupy executive positions at Time Incorporated. But I don't know. I look at this and think, if you're looking to reinvigorate your brands, I feel like they can do more harm than good with this one. Witness: Tronc, Oath, and Qwikster.
Barker: And yet they keep doing it. What evidence do we have, other than mockery, that this is hurting the companies? That Tronc would be having more sales with the Tribune Media than as Tronc? You're not one of the kids that they're aiming for.
Hill: No, I'm not.
Barker: They're don't care about you and your money. You're not online. You're not that hip.
Hill: I'm online.
Barker: You don't know about watching videos online like the kids.
Hill: Yeah, that's true.
Barker: That's what they're after, somebody who's 20, 30, 40 years younger than you.
Hill: Again, I think they're setting themselves up for a mistake here.
Barker: All right. We'll see.
Hill: We'll have to see how it plays out.