AT&T has announced that on Monday, Cingular will begin the transition to the AT&T brand. And, they have finally answered a key question; AT&T’s wireless services will be referred to as Wireless from AT&T, rather than “AT&T Wireless”. This is to differentiate from the AT&T Wireless of old during the transition.
While a change in name only, AT&T’s merger with BellSouth has enabled the company to finally consolidate its wireless, wireline, and internet offerings under a single unified brand. AT&T declined to comment on the costs associated with re-branding Cingular stores.
AT&T Stores, formerly Cingular Stores, will offer AT&T a new platform to sell services. Unlike Sprint Stores, which push largely wireless-only offerings, AT&T already has plans to promote Homezone and U-verse bundled TV solutions. In AT&T’s DSL markets, Cingular stores already promote AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet.
Unlike prior transitions however, AT&T owns rights to both the Cingular name and the AT&T brand. This will allow for a much slower transition (Cingular was required to drop the use of AT&T Wireless after six months of the older merger).
Monday will also kick off high-profile advertising. As shown at Macworld Expo, AT&T will initially co-brand the two companies (with the Cingular logo beside the AT&T logo). Television ads, launching on Monday prime-time, will also show a transition similar to the AT&T Wireless/Cingular merger ads, only this time with the Cingular splat morphing into the new AT&T logo… instead of the reverse in older ads.
