Study: Cingular brand more popular than AT&T

AT&T Inc. could have a tough time transferring the positive associations of the Cingular Wireless L.L.C. brand to the veteran AT&T brand, according to new research from the Keller Fay Group, which specializes in tracking and analyzing word-of-mouth marketing.
According to Keller Fay’s measurement program for word-of-mouth marketing, Cingular has nearly four times more positive talk about it than AT&T. In the telecom category, Cingular ranked second in what Keller Fay calls “Talkshare,” or the percentage of people talking about the brand. Cingular claimed 19 percent of telecom conversations, and 19 percent of those conversations were positive. AT&T ranked last among telecom providers both in the percentage of people talking about the brand (seven percent) and in positive discussions (five percent). People were also far more likely to recommend that someone buy or try Cingular (27 percent) than AT&T (15 percent).
“The branding challenges for AT&T will be formidable regardless of its name choice, since telecom has the least positive word of mouth of any product or service category we measure,” said Ed Keller, founder and CEO of the Keller Fay Group.
A survey released by Keller Fay in June of last year showed that brands including Toyota, Wal-Mart, Honda and Apple/iPod consistently claimed a positive place in people’s conversations; the only telecom company that made the top 10 was Verizon, in 10th place.