“AT&T Inc. will rebrand its Cingular Wireless service with the AT&T name starting Monday, a move aimed at bringing together the company’s newly acquired entities and services under a single moniker,” Dionne Searcey reports for The Wall Street Journal.
Searcey reports, “The rebranding comes just a few weeks after San Antonio-based AT&T completed its $85.8 billion purchase of BellSouth Corp. and took over sole control of Cingular. Before, the two had owned Cingular together.”
“The service will be sold as “Wireless from AT&T.” Initially, AT&T ads will combine Cingular’s logo, an orange X-shaped character named Jack, with the round AT&T trademark. AT&T executives say using both logos will train consumers to recognize that Cingular is now AT&T,” Searcey reports.
Searcey reports, “Over the coming months, AT&T will phase out the Cingular name altogether. This move might prove unpopular with young consumers who prefer it over AT&T’s stodgy brand, according to branding and advertising experts. Cingular has cultivated an image of being a hip company, most recently with its partnership with Apple Inc. to offer the iPhone.”
Full article here.
Related articles:
Apple chooses Cingular as exclusive US carrier for iPhone – January 09, 2007
The 1984 breakup comes full circle. Perhaps the Ma Bell companies should have stayed together.
I am one of those young, trendy folks… and being in advertising… I think it is a old business stuck in the past. Cingular was a powerful brand, even though it has had a short life. Far more attractive to young people than the dated AT&T moniker. Come on, American Telephone & Telegraph.
How about “Shackular”? As in “we shackle you into long term contracts with large fees for breaking them”.
Good Lord!!! I was with At&t which changed to cingular and now it’s back to At&t???!!!
Well After cingular ripped me off I vowed never to go back, a vow I instantly revoked when I saw the genius of the iphone (still wish it had more gig’s though-i do like to store my files and shuffle through 60 g of songs). Makes me feel a little better that come June I won’t be on Cingular (sort of).
I’m still amazed at this piece of hardware folks, the buzz around me and my friends (even non geek idiots like myself) is huge. I think this thing is going to be bigger than anybody thinks, we have our 2nd perfect gadget for the 21st century…and it’s from Apple (again).
Is it odd that I’m proud of our man Jobs? because I really felt that when I watched the keynote…
They should call it what it really is – Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, a monopoly that destroyed the competition by means of accounting fraud and screwing their existing customers with overpriced, substandard service.
The iPhone deal reminds me of Pixar’s ‘Toy Story’ deal with Disney – which ended with Steve Jobs as the largest shareholder, and Michael Eisner booted out to the curb. I hope Steve Jobs gives that gang of criminals in San Antonio the Eisner Treatment – especially Ed Whitacre.
Good thing they’re going to train the consumers. It’s just what they need..
Fact of the matter is that AT&T wants a single, core branding. The same one that arch rival Verizon has.
Some companies move forward, some move back, and some move sideways
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
Personally, I hate all this name consolidation on AT&T’s part. I thought SBC was a far better brand than AT&T. Sure AT&T is known worldwide, but that’s mostly as a brand with a sucky image.
I deliberately moved my long distance from AT&T to SBC 5+ years ago, after having a series of nightmare experiences with AT&T. I made a vow never to go back to AT&T, so I’ve got to say, it TOTALLY irks me, that SBC purchased AT&T then decided to switch to the AT&T brand.
Practically, everyone I know, who’s had problems with AT&T, still say SBC (yeah know AT&T). It’s like a little mantra for reminding us who purchased who, because if it was the other way around, I’d probably be searching for another vendor.
>The 1984 breakup comes full circle. Perhaps the Ma Bell companies should have stayed together.
People forget that the “breakup” was AT&T’s idea. The DOJ just wanted AT&T to split-off Western Electric (remember them?), the manufacturing arm of the Bell System. But AT&T wanted to get into this new thing called “information services” and dump the tired old regional bell stuff (that was before people started ordering modem and fax lines like crazy — and then DSL).
This makes me very sad, for some reason. I don’t know why exactly. But the Cingular name, its logo, its store designs and everything else make it look “hip” to me. This is what I am afraid of being destroyed. Cingular is a “cool” company, and it was even cooler that it was going to be with Apple on the iPhone. Good match. Young people are excited.
But now, thinking of iPhone and AT&T is … well, yuck.
I have had nothing but good things to say about Cingular since dumping that disaster of a provider, Verizon, last year.
Anyway, it’s a sad day. I don’t want to see that ugly blue ball thingy with its white stripes on my bill and hanging in the store. Old. Stogy. Boring. It shouts to me “The Big Boys are coming to screw you over, and make a hip’d company into a rip’d company”. Goodbye Orange.
RIP Cingular brand.
This sucks.
Hopefully you’ll develop some kind of life before the completed transition, drmacnut. Then maybe a tiny blue logo on a piece of paper will no longer depress you.
I still have an old Pacific Bell Wireless chip in my Cingular phone. I wonder whether I can put it in my iPhone? (Kidding – ‘course not.)
Oh stop whining, you wimps.
I live where there is only Verizon, Sprint, and what used to be Cellular One.
You may not want to do business with stodgy old AT&T (and yes, it’s too bad they are not capitalizing on the Cingular brand name) but at least you have a reason to BUY an iPhone for something other than a high tech paperweight!!
MDN MW: others
as in
Why don’t you think of OTHERS sometimes?
I woke up and realized I’d been dreaming about the iPhone… and then I couldn’t fall back asleep! What does one do at 4:05 in the morning?
“I woke up and realized I’d been dreaming about the iPhone… and then I couldn’t fall back asleep! What does one do at 4:05 in the morning?”
foobies.com
WIll the cigular guys stop asking me to switch from my AT&T account?
Let’s worry about the REAL important stuff. What’s Jeff Burton going to do for a sponsor this year???? No way Nextel will allow AT&T to be pasted over the 31. Cingular was grandfathered in when Nextel became the series sponsor…
A good reason for S. Jobs to create an Apple Branch network.
i used cingular for nine years and it sucks. non service areas were all over the place where i live.
i have experienced a single one since leaving cingular. verizon rocks!
Does AT&T stand for Advanced Tungeons & Tragons?
Apple should buy Cingular.
“AT&T executives say using both logos will train consumers to recognize that Cingular is now AT&T”
We are lab rats then…nice.
I’ve been using AT&T for so long that I’m still using a pre-Cingular plan that is cheaper than anything Cingular has to offer now. I’ve never upgraded phones through Cingular because then my plan would change. I’ve we’ve needed a new one we find an unlocked phone or a used AT&T phone on Craigs List. I had billing problems at first but no problems since and that’s 5 years.
I used Cingular for only a short time. In that time I never received a bill that was correct, and needed to spend hours per month on the phone with them regarding the billing errors. I gave up and went to T-Mobile. Over the last 2.5 years with T-Mobile they’ve been ok – not perfect, but at least tolerable.
Maybe I can get an iPhone through Deutsche Telekom (aka T-Mobile’s parent company) when Europe gets the phone at the end of this year.
Unfortunately, Cingular / AT&T (new or old) is a deal killer for me.
Slowly but surely the world is coming to owned by a few dozen monster corps. Its just downright scary.
Hmmm, it sounds like all the services have their good and bad points.
However, this AT&T thing smacks of Microsoft. “We are so big you are stuck with what ever CRAP we decide to sell you but as a bonus, we will spend millions and millions on advertising to make you feel better about it.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />
The NEW AT&T, “Now, we own you!!” LOL
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />
N.
Back when I Cingular took over a local provider that I had, I stopped receiving bills. For five months I kept calling them when I didn’t receive a bill. Each month they “took care of the problem”. The last straw was when one of the operaters started yelling at me on the phone for being late with my bill. Mind you, they still hadn’t sent a bill, and I called them. I immediately demanded that they cancel my account with no extra charges and I filed a complaint against the operator. To my surprise, after an argument where I told them that due to the fact that I never signed a deal with THEM and that they were rude and incompetant, they actually let me out of the contract.
I then wen to VoiceStream (now T-Mobile), which was great. I know have Verizon due to the fact that all my family had it and we had a free family plan, and that has been great as well.
I agree with those preferring the Cingular branding. It is fresher than AT&T and a better match with APPLE. There is really no reason that AT&T could not move all its wireless entities under the Cingular brand if it wanted too (and I think there would have been some advantages to that), but AT&T is the Big Dog and Cingular is the tail. And the tail doesn’t wag the dog.
Increadibly stupid move. Cingular is a far more attractive brand than ATT- This is all about a power trip within ATT/Cingular after the merger and not about business sense. ‘ATT’ represents everything I hate about phone companies, but ‘Cingular’ was something new/unique.
Is it just me, or does the newish AT&T logo remind you of the Death Star too?
The Empire indeed…
i think apple should sell the iphone unlocked to ppl chosse their carrier,that whould be genius,a all iphone compatible carrier.
I will switch to Cingular because of the iPhone and because my family has it.
But really when you have a brand that people like and one they hate, then why use the disliked brand?
I have Alltel, and ahve been happy with it for the most part (kinda expensive), but I never even charge my cell (that’s goign to change when i get an Iphone), I like the smaller brands tho.
Ya know what I really hate, is when there are buyouts, we, the consumer, has to pay more. Every time my account whether it was internet, phone, electric or cable bill has been bought out I have to pay more–and in the case of cable, paying more and getting less.
“The service will be sold as “Wireless from AT&T.” Initially, AT&T ads will combine Cingular’s logo, an orange X-shaped character named Jack,”
You don’t know Jack —-.
http://home.pacbell.net/diana_do/knowjack.htm
I have just read about half of the posts above, and am sitting here chuckling…
Some complain about the demise of the “hip” logo and corporate image (it’s all a mask on top of a big corporation, folks – corporations don’t REALLY have personalities… they are all just Wizards of Oz, hiding behind curtains…
And then there are those that associate one corporation, whether it be AT&T or Cingular, or SBC, etc. with something that happened, possibly to them, sometime in the past… Like those who say “Cingular/AT&T/SBC screwed me/made me happy”… Just because that happened once, doesn’t mean it will/won’t again, whether the name has/hasen’t changed…
To all those people… You’ve all been indoctrinated into believing corporate logos are the equivalent of religious icons…
I love my Mac, and OS X is brilliant, but if something truly better did come along, I’d switch, and could care less about Apple behind it. Do I think that will happen? No, honestly, I don’t. But, if it does…
“Your world delivered. To the NSA.”
Hanging out with hipsters does not make one hip. We live in a day and age where large, stodgy corporations are wising up and creating smaller, more nimble, hip brands in order to attract young buyers. AT&T is proving that they haven’t a clue about branding. They said it themselves…it’s about efficiency.
AT&T already co-owned the Cingular brand with Bell South. And now it’s time for them to “train” consumers through co-branded advertising that Cingular is owned by AT&T, afte which the Cingular logo will be phased out. Another example of operations turning a deaf ear to marketing.
Too bad they won’t be able to phase out bad customer service.
Are we all missing something here…
Could ATT and Apple eying a merger? Imagine the possibilities?
And I wonder who who head such an organization?
First of all Cingular is a much better brand than the old AT&T brand. Second, why are we letting previously broken up monopolies to rejoin? granted because of the iPhone i’m breaking my verizon contract.
Some things must not fade.
Do you like OS X? Don’t forget where UNIX was invented.
Or what the acronym AT&T has stood for since 1885.