AT&T ups branding ante

If you thought the AT&T logo was already ubiquitous, you ain’t seen nothing yet. The telecom giant announced today it is ramping up its branding campaign in anticipation of the late June launch of the Apple iPhone, for which AT&T is the exclusive wireless carrier.

Visitors to company-owned stores will see AT&T’s logo everywhere, as the Cingular brand is phased out of signage, store kiosks and point-of-sale materials, as well as voice greetings, handset displays and written communications such as billing statements. Major advertising campaigns that AT&T is conducting at events such as NASCAR races and the American Idol show will also focus on the new messaging.

The purpose is to play up wireless as part of AT&T’s quad play through in-store displays that tout not only wireless services but also AT&T’s traditional voice and its high-speed Internet and video offerings. AT&T said its high-speed Internet service will be for sale in 740 of its wireless stores, representing those that are within its local service footprint, and will sell AT&T U-verse or AT&T Homezone in 375 stores, in areas where those video offerings are available. In some markets, AT&T is launching what it calls the AT&T Experience Store, featuring interactive exhibits, as it seeks to further integrate its wireless and wireline efforts.

“The wireless industry is changing,” said Jeff Kagan, telecom analyst. “It’s moving away from stand-alone cellular service to part of the bigger bundle. It makes sense to have a single brand name they can show to the marketplace.”

It also makes sense to use the storefronts to sell AT&T’s other services, as the company squares off with its cable rivals, Kagan said. While it will initially be harder to make those retail connections when AT&T’s video services aren’t ubiquitously available, that will change, he added.

“It will be harder in the beginning, but remember, this marketplace is re-inventing itself,” he said. “It will take a few years before all the services are available. But having the AT&T stores sell all the services makes a lot of sense. Customers are buying differently than they have in the past. They can walk into a store and buy all the services--so if AT&T is going to be selling the bundle, they need to sell it at all the locations. The Cingular locations are a great opportunity because that’s where customers are coming to buy.”

The company also said today that the branding campaign it has conducted in the wake of the BellSouth merger, which made AT&T sole owner of Cingular Wireless, is already paying off. According to its research, awareness of AT&T as a wireless provider is up more than 80% and the AT&T brand is now equal to the Cingular brand’s previous status in designing relevant technology and being innovative. The company also said AT&T brand awareness is up sevenfold in the BellSouth region since the merger.