Originally published Friday, January 12, 2007 at 12:00 AM
Cingular's shedding of orange for blue signals post-merger identity
The result of several telecommunications mergers will become even more apparent to consumers today through the color combination of orange...
Seattle Times technology reporter
The result of several telecommunications mergers will become even more apparent to consumers today through the color combination of orange and blue.
San Antonio-based AT&T plans to announce that it will begin converting the Cingular Wireless brand, known for its orange "jack," to the blue AT&T globe.
The rebranding effort follows government approval of AT&T's $86 billion acquisition of BellSouth. Those two companies owned Cingular. A new advertising campaign will kick off Monday with the tagline: "Cingular is now the new AT&T." The transition will include elements from both brands.
Cingular will lend its "Raising the bar" tagline, while adopting the AT&T blue globe. The new ads will say "Raising it higher," with adjoining images of a flying orange Cingular jack wrapping blue bars around the iconic AT&T globe.
For the nostalgic, the changes can be traced back to events taking place in the Puget Sound area 13 years ago.
It was in 1994, when AT&T, the nation's dominant telecom from New York, bought a spry Kirkland company called McCaw Cellular Communications, which was fast becoming a dominant cellphone provider in the U.S.
AT&T paid $11.5 billion for McCaw and renamed it AT&T Wireless. The entity operated from its Redmond headquarters and ended up getting spun off by AT&T in 2001.
In 2004, the independent AT&T Wireless was up for sale. This time, Atlanta-based Cingular Wireless, jointly owned by SBC Communications and BellSouth, paid $41 billion for it. More consolidations followed. SBC jockeyed to buy the original AT&T, and renamed the combined entity AT&T.
As the new AT&T, it owned half of Cingular, prompting it in part to buy BellSouth to take complete control. The merger was approved last month, which brings us to today.
AT&T is a major conglomerate of telecommunications services, providing wireless service, land lines, Internet access and TV in a 22-state operating region. In Washington, it primarily provides wireless (Cingular) services.
Wireless is a strong focus of the entire company. Based on revenue estimates for AT&T and BellSouth, the largest chunk, or 34 percent, comes from wireless services. The second-largest category, at 26 percent, is business services.
The rebranding will aim to bring all aspects of the company together, said Nancy Ryan, a vice president at GSD&M, a marketing firm focused on AT&T's consumer branding.
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"We are building an integrated company for integrated lives," she said.
What consumers might notice first are Cingular store makeovers. First, store employees will wear AT&T shirts and window signs will announce "Cingular the new AT&T." Eventually, Cingular store placards will be lowered and replaced with ones that say AT&T.
What won't make a resurgence is the AT&T Wireless brand.
"Wireless will become one of the services that's available from AT&T," said Denise Koenig, an AT&T spokesperson in San Antonio. "We are a complete provider of the quad package — TV, broadband, phone and wireless."
Koenig would not say how much the company will spend on advertising.
But she said that by having to market only the AT&T brand, the company would save about $2.7 billion, or 15 percent, of the overall $18 billion in projected savings from the merger.
Tricia Duryee: 206-464-3283 or tduryee@seattletimes.com
Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company
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