Thursday, 08 February 2007 — 08:14AM
Not A Merger of Equals
   The merger of telecommunications giants Cingular and AT&T was announced last week, creating a behemoth of unprecedented size. It was also announced that the new entity would retain the AT&T name, and that a new “transitional” advertising campaign is planned which will carry the tagline: “Cingular is now the new AT&T.”
   While these types of important branding decisions are never made hastily, I can’t help but wonder if the proper choice was made. The marketing gurus at these companies undoubtedly conducted hours and hours of consumer research to reach the decision that the AT&T brand would have more equity going forward. Yet the AT&T name is derived from an anachronistic moniker (the American Telephone & Telegraph Company) and has a dusty heritage of being a bloated, monopolistic, long distance landline provider.
   A quick round of informal “grandma research” conducted here at the Crosswind offices on Cingular’s brand character revealed adjectives such as “hip,” “cool,” and “personable.” One respondent even admitted to choosing Cingular over the competition solely because he “liked the little orange guy” (logo/mascot).
   Meanwhile, Cingular invested tens of millions of dollars to build a unique, cutting-edge brand that will soon be banished to the history books. Time will tell if the right choice was made. — GP
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