AT&T announces expensive rebranding (sigh)
Stung by Verizon ads, and a slew of unhappy customers, AT&T is doing what most companies with image problems do: Fix their problems. Get a new logo. A new color scheme. New ads.
"All of our communications across all of these channels is 'Rethink Possible' and this integration of design," Esther Lee, AT&T's senior vice president for brand marketing and advertising, said in an interview with Advertising Age magazine. It's reported that AT&T, which is one of the country's five biggest advertisers, spent $1.87 billion on marketing and advertising last year.
The new company slogan, "Rethink Possible" is supposed to alert us that nothing is impossible if you are an AT&T customer. Right. I'm really enjoying that tethering. I guess "expanding the boundaries of 'can'" actually adds in a few values of "cannot."
One good outcome of all of this is that the Luke Wilson ads will be going away. AT&T still seems tight with Apple, but if the iPhone does wind up going to Verizon then things might rapidly change. I've really never understood these re-branding exercises. Me: "Hey Mary, I know you hate AT&T but they have a new logo now." Mary: "Great, I'm going to drop my Verizon plan today and hook up with AT&T. And the color changes? Breathtaking!"
You can get some samples of the new campaign at the AT&T website. I'm glad to hear how much AT&T is spending to upgrade its network. It still doesn't work in my house, but of course AT&T is quite happy to sell me a hardware doo-dad so that I can use my own internet bandwidth to get access to the AT&T network. Thanks for that one.
