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Home » brands, branding

The Crazy Eddie Brand Returns - Insaaaane?

April 18, 2009 by anne

Reviving once healthy, vibrant brands makes a lot of sense, if they succumbed for reasons having nothing to do with the brand itself, such as lack of budget, poor marketing, etc.  

But when BrandFreak posted that a New York company had purchased the Crazy Eddie brand,  intending to relaunch it online,  in brick-and-mortar locations and with licensed products, I thought of the movie Reanimator, where scientists bring back animals and humans from the dead, with disturbing results. Like the creatures in Reanimator, some brands should be left in eternal peace.
 

Known for its lowest price guarantee, Crazy Eddie’s Inc. was founded in the early 70’s, and grew to 43 stores in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. The brand was immortalized in over-the-top TV ads cast with manic DJ Steve Carroll, and the tagline “Our prices are insane.” 

 
Behind the scenes, Founder Eddie Antar, key executives and some Antar family members perpetuated a two decades long fraud. The scheme began with income skimming to reduce reported taxable income, and progressed to falsifying reported income and profit growth to better position the company’s IPO. After Crazy Eddie went public in 1984, Antar and others overstated income so they could sell their stock at inflated values.
 
The house of cards crashed down when the Antar family lost control of Crazy Eddie’s in a hostile takeover bid and the new owners discovered that $65 million in inventory didn’t exist. The SEC charged Eddie and others with stock fraud in 1989. (Then US Attorney Michael Chertoff called Eddie Antar the "Darth Vader of Capitalism.) Investors were swindled out of an estimated $145 million.
 
Antar fled the U.S. but was brought back and tried. He served six years in prison, was fined $150 million, and was released in 1999.  
 
There have been attempts to reanimate the Crazy Eddie brand over the years, including an effort by some members of the Antar clan in 1998. In 2006, Trident Growth Fund LP put the Crazy Eddie trademark and URL up for auction on eBay, having purchased it from the Antar family in 2004. They declined to sell it when the top bid of $30,100 fell far short of the $800K ‘buy-it-now’ price. Earlier this year the brand was sold to the New York company who apparently plans to reanimate it.
 
In an interesting twist, Variety recently announced that Danny DeVito will direct “Crazy," a movie based on the life of Eddie Antar. I can’t imagine that it will instill consumer trust in the Crazy Eddie brand.
 
It seems inconceivable that any good can come out of building a business out of the likes of the Crazy Eddie Brand. Some brands should just stay dead and I’m thinking Crazy Eddie is one of them. What do you think?
 
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Comments

Hi Glulife: I think you're

April 23, 2009 by anne, 3 years 3 weeks ago
Comment id: 38

Hi Glulife:

I think you're right - there's tremendously high recognition and awareness - I'm sure the purchasers are trying to capitalize on that. It will be interesting to see how successful the reanimated brand will be.

Sandracharan:

I agree.

I lived in NY for a time and loved the Crazy Eddie spots. But I just don't feel the same about them knowing what was going on in the background. Trust is such a big part of a brand and once its gone its hard to feel positively toward it...even though the spots are still amusing.

 

I actually like the crazy

April 22, 2009 by glulife, 3 years 3 weeks ago
Comment id: 37

I actually like the crazy eddie brand. It brings back nostalgia of my time in the big apple. During 83 - 84 I remember passing store windows with TV's on and hearing the Crazy Eddie tag line. Even though the back store of the brand is terrible it was a very distinct tagline. Maybe that is what the purchasers are hoping to revive.

GluLife
http://www.glulife.com
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The video appears really

April 21, 2009 by sandracharan, 3 years 3 weeks ago
Comment id: 36

The video appears really creepy. Especially after what you've just told us. Definately this brand should die.

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