New name, same pain -- the Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore

Sometimes, you really have to wonder what's going on in the minds of marketers. We had to re-read this piece of news carefully when it first came up on Channel NewsAsia -- the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon has been renamed the Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore.

Huge difference. We can really see what you did there. Before it was just so confusing. 

It certainly doesn't help when The Straits Times comes up with a slightly different version, reporting that it's a new marathon organized by the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) with Standard Chartered Bank as the title sponsor. Which again calls for more eyebrow-raising puzzlement. We're pretty sure this is Standard Chartered saying 'we've forked out all this cash as sponsor, so we want it to sound more like 'our' marathon, rather than Singapore's.' 

But we're also pretty sure the major public reaction will be, "So?" 

In any case, the name of the game's still the same -- 42 kilometers of sweaty, feet-pounding mind-numbing running from the Central Business District of Singapore to the eastern end of the island and back. The Singapore Sports Council, who's organizing the 'new' Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore (SCMS), promises "a brand new and iconic route with the Padang set as the finishing point."

Apart from standard race categories such as the full marathon, the half-marathon and the 10km run, the organizers are looking at introducing new categories to the Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2010 to cater to different ages. There will also be an Ekiden relay, where teams of six runners complete the 42-kilometer distance in a relay format, as well as fringe activities for spectators taking place at the Padang on the day of the marathon.

SCMS 2010 debuts on Sunday, December 5, and more details will be released over the coming months.