More than four months after announcing its acquisition of BellSouth Corp., AT&T Inc. continues a determined push to rebrand Cingular as “the new AT&T.”
Though that phrase has gotten its share of promotion by AT&T itself, let’s get it straight:
“The brand is ‘AT&T,'” said spokesman Michael Coe.
The company, naturally, would like to see evidence that it has largely succeeded by
the critical fourth quarter, when American shoppers typically plunk down the most money for gadgets and services in a holiday-fueled frenzy.
“Certainly we’d like to be, if not done, pretty dang close by the fourth quarter,” Coe said.
But the effort is calibrated by metrics gleaned from daily surveys, among other means. Actual success in penetrating consumers’ consciousness will determine when the effort winds down, Coe said.
Given the telecom giant’s ambition-widely shared by several carriers-to become a one-stop shop for wireline and wireless services, it will have no specific name for its wireless division, according to the spokesman.
Change is rarely cheap
The cost of this gargantuan effort to replace “Cingular” with “AT&T” in the minds of 300 million Americans-akin to replacing a lost lover’s name with a new one (i.e., no slipups allowed)-will remain undisclosed, though “we do have a budget,” Coe said.
The effort, begun in earnest in January, has featured wave after wave of messages across most media with a chance of piercing the American consciousness-if such a phrase holds any water at this juncture-including billboards, print, television and online channels, according to Coe.
Fully 2,100 retail outlets are getting makeovers as well. These stores will be AT&T stores and will present “more than just a bundle” of services, according to Coe, as the company attempts to tie together any and all services relating to personal computers, TV and telecommunications and interaction among them.
For wireless customers who still see Cingular’s site when they shop or check their accounts online, that will change when the metrics tell AT&T it’s safe to rebrand the site without sowing confusion.
Handsets leading the way
As for the company’s handset portfolio, the AT&T name already has appeared on Research In Motion Ltd.’s maroon-colored Pearl handset in March and now graces the AT&T 8525, a smartphone from HTC America formerly known by its Cingular moniker.
At this point, in mid-May, the overall rebranding effort is pretty far along, the spokesman said.
With Apple Inc.’s iPhone available in “June”-the latest word, literally, from AT&T-the rebranding effort is expected by some to gain heightened attention.
The iPhone is “the most eagerly anticipated handset on the market in five or 10 years,” Coe said, with more than 1 million enquiries registered by the carrier from individuals wanting more information.
Brand bumps?
Of course, the rebranding road has had its share of speed bumps, according to analyst Maynard Um at UBS.
“We believe management was disappointed with postpaid gross adds in the (first) quarter and feels it was at least partially due to the . rebranding,” Um wrote in a recent note to investors. “In Q2, we expect more wireless-only advertising as well as an increase in handset subsidies to drive (AT&T’s) share of postpaid gross adds.”
Um said that he doesn’t believe the iPhone will be subsidized, that Apple will share the marketing and lend some brand panache to the offering from AT&T, which will use the attention to drive traffic to its stores, where it can link wireless to wireline offerings.
“Management would make no comments on how the phone is activated in its own or Apple-owned stores, suggesting that this may be done somewhat differently vs. typical handset purchases,” Um wrote.
IPhone impact far and wide
Two intriguing aspects of the iPhone launch have been little remarked upon.
One is how it reflects a shift by carriers from touting their network to using handsets to retain subscribers or steal new ones from the competition.
The implied strength of the Apple brand and the presumed coterie of consumer-admirers it draws have buffed the Apple’s shine.
“In the United States, coverage has been the key selling point by carriers,” said Bill Ray, analyst at ARC Chart in the United Kingdom. “The shift to touting one’s handset portfolio has been incredibly effective.”
The other: Nokia Corp. and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications typically have taken pains to assure listeners of their fealty to the carrier-dominated market model in the United States when they discuss alternative channels they are pursuing.
Meanwhile, Apple has seemingly waltzed to the fore at the nation’s largest carrier-at least in the pre-launch hype.
Has the process of rebranding presented any particular difficulties to AT&T?
“We’ve been through a lot of rebranding,” Coe said. “There’s a process. We have a sense of how long it takes for each phase. We’ve got experience.”
