AT-T wireless service - NEWS: AT&T Prepares to ‘De-Brand’ the Cingular Wireless Name

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NEWS: AT&T Prepares to ‘De-Brand’ the Cingular Wireless Name

John Navas

2007-01-12, 10:33 pm

<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/12/t...gy/12phone.html>

One of the biggest "de-brandings" in advertising history is to begin
Monday when AT&T, now the sole owner of Cingular Wireless, starts
changing all Cingular marketing to adopt the AT&T name.

AT&T will not disclose the budget for the campaign, which will
continue for five or six months -- leading to the partnership with
Apple on the new iPhone, scheduled for midyear.

A campaign last year to promote AT&T as the new brand name of SBC
Communications cost an estimated $1 billion.

...

"We did rigorous research; we did not enter this decision lightly,"
Wendy Clark, senior vice president for advertising at AT&T in San
Antonio, said yesterday of the decision to change the name of
Cingular, the nation’s largest mobile carrier.

"What consumer and business customers want is a single provider of
services for the way they live and work today," Ms. Clark said, "and
if it’s one company, they want it under one name."

...

The new campaign shows the Cingular logo being transformed into an
AT&T globe. The AT&T slogan, "Your world delivered," replaces the
Cingular slogan, "Raising the bar."

AT&T will keep some familiar elements of Cingular ads, said Karen E.
Jennings, senior executive vice president for advertising and
corporate communications at AT&T. For example, the actor Stanley
Tucci, who serves as the announcer in Cingular commercials, will be
heard in AT&T commercials, she said. And the color orange will turn
up in ads for what AT&T will call "wireless service from AT&T"; THE
NAME AT&T WIRELESS WILL NOT BE REVIVED. [emphasis added]

Ms. Clark said that AT&T planned to continue working with the BBDO
Worldwide agency, which created ads for Cingular.

[MORE]

karlkrandall@sbcglobal.net

2007-01-12, 10:33 pm

On Fri, 12 Jan 2007 22:18:57 GMT, John Navas
< spamfilter1@navasgro
up.com> wrote:

> The new campaign shows the Cingular logo being transformed into an
> AT&T globe.

Also known as the AT&T Deathstar

Sherry

2007-01-13, 4:33 am

John Navas < spamfilter1@navasgro
up.com> wrote in
news:ru1gq2l2tmk5v19
td49ts3orhuluhapdtl@
4ax.com:

><http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/12/t...gy/12phone.html>
>
> One of the biggest "de-brandings" in advertising history is to
> begin Monday when AT&T, now the sole owner of Cingular Wireless,
> starts changing all Cingular marketing to adopt the AT&T name.
>
> AT&T will not disclose the budget for the campaign, which will
> continue for five or six months -- leading to the partnership
> with Apple on the new iPhone, scheduled for midyear.
>
> A campaign last year to promote AT&T as the new brand name of SBC
> Communications cost an estimated $1 billion.
>
> ...
>
> "We did rigorous research; we did not enter this decision
> lightly," Wendy Clark, senior vice president for advertising at
> AT&T in San Antonio, said yesterday of the decision to change the
> name of Cingular, the nation’s largest mobile carrier.

<snip>

So is this Cingular or AT&T service? When I renew my contract (maybe
I should say *IF*), will I need to pay an activation fee again for the
"new" service?

I was so fried when Cingular took over AT&T wireless - we had AT&T for
years and renewed with Cingular (since AT&T was now owned by them and
we had no other choice) and they charged an activation fee and I
didn't get a free phone upgrade as I always had with AT&T. Well, the
contract was done by the time we got the bill showing the activation
fee (funny, the manager forgot to mention that).

Our two years are up and we're wondering what to do now......

Sherry

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