“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
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.
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The NEW AT&T, “Now, we own you!!” LOL
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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.