CTIA-The Wireless Association has formally adopted the aforementioned moniker as its new federally registered name. The association said its board of directors approved the change at last week’s CTIA I.T. & Entertainment 2004 show in San Francisco.
“Successful organizations build and maintain strong brand images,” said the group’s President Steve Largent. “We have worked hard over the past year to create a strong, recognizable and positive corporate image for the wireless industry. Today, I’m pleased to report our success.”
Largent first announced plans to reshape the corporate brand at its annual major trade show last March in Atlanta where a new logo and the wording were unveiled. A new Web site was later launched in May, www.ctia.org.
Originally known as the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, this most recent change follows an interim rebranding announced in October 2000 as the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, which the group has been know as until now.
At that time, then president Thomas Wheeler said, “We have always maintained a `big-tent’ philosophy, growing first from an exclusively cellular association to include personal communications services carriers, then we expanded to include supplier members. Now, we have changed our name to reflect the newest and most exciting developments in the industry.”
In March at his first annual conference as president, Largent said of the most recent changes: “This is a new era. We have re-worked the mission statement. We have come up with some core values. We have flattened our organizational structure to create a more communicative, collaborative, transparent CTIA. I think with the physical relocation now is the perfect time to put a new face on CTIA. I also think it reflects where the industry is at right now. I think we are getting ready to shift gears. We are going bigger, better and brighter in terms of our future.”
