Amidst the height of Apple’s newly launched batch of iDevices, a Canada-based marketing firm rallied on the streets of NYC to ask the tech giant to change the name of their new iPhones.

Registered under the business name 6S Marketing Incorporation, the firm sent out a billboard on a truck in front of the Apple Store in New York City. It came with a straightforward message: “Dear Apple, Please call it the iPhone 7. Sincerely, 6S Marketing #WeAre6S, WeAre6S.com.”

Why would they make such a gimmick in public?

Back story

The firm has been in business since 2000 and they want to keep the “6S” name so that it’s associated with their business and not Apple’s next flagship phone.

In the official statement by 6S Marketing Inc., co-founder and president Chris Breikss said, “We wanted to save a little space in the world for our company’s history, and we thought this was a fun way to tell our story and what ‘6S’ means to us.”

Breikss added, “Hopefully, this message will reach you in time and you’ll reconsider leaving ‘6S’ to the originals — we’ve been rocking it since the millennium, after all.”

Is there a chance that 6S Marketing’s requests will be recognized by Apple?

Apple stands firm

Despite the marketing firm’s publicity stunt, there’s no chance Apple will change their new smartphone’s name. Firstly, they have already announced the new smartphones’ name officially during their Keynote event. Secondly, Apple has already manufactured a lot of devices with the “S” to signify that it’s an upgraded S series of its predecessor. Lastly, there’s no turning back now – if they did it would cost them an unimaginable amount of money.

Although the new iPhones come with various upgraded features, the physical design of the handsets remains the same as its predecessor. It has been an Apple trademark over the years, that they will only change the number of their iPhones when the aesthetic see an obvious improvement (like the iPhone 5s and 5c to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus). The new smartphones have the same 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch size and physical look of its predecessor, as seen on the featured post by O2.

So, in short, there’s no way it can be considered the next iPhone 7, as the Canadian marketing firm hoped. They will just have to wait for another year when Apple will more than likely release its next handset.

Before any iFans go ballistic over this public stunt, we must understand that 6S Marketing is an advertising firm and they are probably doing what they know best – raining awareness of their brand. If there’s anything that we learned from this scenario it’s – if you can’t beat a multinational firm like Apple, use them for promotional purposes.

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References: 6S Marketing, O2
Picture from: 6S Marketing, Mashable. Photo Credit: Mathieu Thouvenin via Compfight cc