According to this article in USA Today, AT&T (ne SBC) CEO Ed Whitacre has announced that Cingular Wireless services will be marketed under the AT&T brand. This follows SBCs acquisition of AT&T and re-branding as AT&T over this weekend. Cingular is 60 percent owned by AT&T/SBC and 40 percent by Bell South. Cingular had acquired AT&T Wireless, itself having been spun off from AT&T in 2001. Got all that? Im just waiting for this plot line to involve a case of amnesia, the evil Stephano or some long-lost child returning from a Swiss boarding school all grown up in the space of two years time.
I can see why AT&T are pushing this to consolidate all of their services under the AT&T brand. According to the USA Today piece the Cingular mark will still be used in certain markets, which sounds like about the only thing that could add more confusion to customers. Im actually very surprised that Cingular co-owners Bell South are so blas about all of this.
BellSouth spokesman Jeff Battcher says anything that boosts Cingular’s revenue is good for BellSouth. “This is not an issue,” he said Sunday.
Whitacre also sees a silver lining, of sorts, for BellSouth. If the switch to the AT&T name helps attract customers to the wireless company, he noted, both carriers will benefit.
Now, if I were a marketing exec at Bell South, I would be looking for AT&T to pony up the bill for any goodwill the Cingular brand had accumulated over the years. I would have my counterpart from AT&T on the phone and letting him know, in no uncertain terms, that 40 percent of that goodwill is going to be needed in payment in exchange for my agreement to move this forward. Bell South are getting screwed in this unless they get some sort of compensation for their support in building the Cingular brand.
As something of a telecom nerd, I have to feel sorry for people for whom this is just a service and not a fascinating industry to observe. Im sure the average user doesnt even know what the hell is going on. This has got to feel a bit like Oceana has always been at war with Eurasia and at peace with Eastasia.
Considering the negative press AT&T Wireless were getting in their last days as an independent carrier, combined with the fact that the AT&T brand itself has seen better days, the new AT&T have a whole lot of brand building to do.
