AT&T drops $1.8 million on rebranding

Vince said:Your business strategy is flawed. People rarely value things they pick up for pennies...

Look, the entire campaign—rebranding the logo and everything—ran about $12 million, which is quite a significant sum, I suppose... but honestly, do you have any idea what it actually costs just to produce a thirty-second spot for ABC and run it during primetime??

velvetfox16 said:Personally, I’m digging the new branding. Maybe it's just because I actually fall into their target demographic, but even so, I’ve got this nagging feeling that this whole look will be stale in maybe a year or two, and then all that cash just vanishes into thin air. If they can actually turn a profit after paying for this, more power to them... but I’m pretty skeptical...

There's no such thing as "making a profit" here—it's a straight-up expense.
Isn't rebranding pretty standard practice? I mean, most experts suggest doing it every few years anyway, right?
I'm not entirely sure what that $12 million covers, but if you factor in designing a new logo, creating massive brand guideline books, and launching a full-scale ad campaign across TV, print, and billboards, then honestly, that number doesn't seem crazy at all.
They probably intended to roll this out later on, but T-Mobile being so aggressive in the market likely forced their hand. They had to move fast because customers are jumping ship constantly.

At the end of the day, how it looks isn't even the main point. The important thing is that it's something fresh, and hey, they finally gave us something to argue about here. Mission accomplished.

Vince said:The target audience is likely members of the Mexican minority; if I were Mexican, I would feel quite proud seeing such a massive, successful corporation adopting symbols so closely tied to my national identity—it’s almost as if Microsoft decided to start dressing in checkers...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...flag_large.png

That was actually the very first thing that crossed my mind when I spotted those new posters.

They went through the trouble of changing the logo, yet they haven't introduced anything fresh, interesting, or even remotely competitive to their service offerings. Isn't that curious?

I have been a loyal Verizon customer since almost the very beginning of their operations, but I must admit, I am starting to think they might lose me quite soon.

So, I actually got a call from Nielsen yesterday for a survey about mobile carriers. They were asking which ads stuck in my mind, and I mentioned Verizon’s new look and T-Mobile. They really dug deep, asking me to explain exactly what I remembered about them. At one point, the woman on the phone told me that 85% of people surveyed agree that Verizon's new branding is currently the best and most eye-catching out there. Honestly, I think that’s the key—they’re clearly trying to stay ahead of the curve, and with this rebranding, they’re definitely hitting the mark. If they could just trim down those prices a little, they'd be unstoppable.

I gotta say, Verizon totally let me down. I could've definitely put that $1.5 million to much better use—like actually picking out a decent phone, getting better deals, or maybe even seeing an upgrade program for loyal customers where you get a discount on a new device. It’s pretty obvious Verizon is just lagging behind everyone else lately. I was on their prepaid plan for four years, and honestly, they really blew it.