The name’s the easy part. AT&T’s more serious challenge.
Yes, this YouTube clip of Stephen Colbert’s explanation of Cingular’s name change to AT&T is funny. Even as a branding guy, I laughed. However, as a branding guy, I also recognized how well it underscored the confusing nature of the telecommunications industry and, specifically, the challenges inherent in building a strong telecommunications brand.
Despite the audience laughter, the name change is actually the easiest branding challenge this new AT&T will face. From a business strategy perspective, it was the right decision. While not perfect for all sorts of reasons, the AT&T name is simple to remember, has higher awareness on a global basis, and a decent amount of trustworthiness. With enough advertising, people will forget about Cingular. The bigger branding challenge for AT&T will be its ability to imbue its brand’s name with something consumers will recognize as being different and relevant to their telecommunications needs – relevant differentiation being at the heart of every powerful brand. AT&T may be promising our world delivered. But if it can’t deliver its brand promise in meaningfully, tangible ways, I’d stay tuned for more fun courtesy of Stephen Colbert. Which, from my branding guy point of view, would be no laughing matter for AT&T.