EE to launch third brand alongside Orange and T-Mobile
Everything Everywhere (EE) has dismissed reports today that is planning to drop its Orange and T-Mobile plans and has revealed plans to launch a third consumer brand that will sit alongside them.
The new brand is scheduled to launch in the UK later this year as part of EE’s strategy to develop a family of brands.
The telecoms business is not revealing the name or the brand proposition at this stage, but clarified that it will not be called Everything Everywhere. The company has applied for trademarks for names including ‘4G Every’, ‘4G Everywhere’, 4G Everything and ‘4G Everything Everywhere’ this year.
Speaking to Marketing Week, Mat Sears, head of PR and corporate comms, says the focus will be on acquiring new customers and will “complement” existing brands rather than compete against them.
He adds: “We’ve made the announcement today ahead of schedule to respond to concerns from customers that we are replacing both brands. We’re aiming to launch the new brand later this year and will position it alongside our existing Orange and T-Mobile brands, despite reports today that we’ll be scrapping them both. It will not replace them. It’s important point to clarify, particularly for our Orange and T-Mobile customers who were concerned by the initiative reports.”
Rumours started to circulate that the business would scrap its headline brands not long after it took control of both Orange UK and T-Mobile UK in 2010.
Earlier today, Sky News reported that EE now plans to drop both brands in favour of ‘Everything Everywhere 4G’ from March next year. The reports came following the news that the company would launch a super fast mobile internet service in October after getting the nod from industry regulator Ofcom to reuse its exiting spectrum licenses. This would have signalled the launch of a new consumer brand and the demise of both Orange and T-Mobile, according to the story.
Mobile industry analysts have observed that the move has been “on the cards for a while now” because Orange and T-Mobile are not perceived as “market-leading” brands by UK mobile users.
Thomas Wehmeier, analyst at Informa Telecoms and Media, says EE is building a brand that can truly rival industry leaders O2 and Vodafone.
He adds: “It’s clear that both the T-Mobile and Orange brands were not doing what it wanted. The new brand will be positioned as a premium one and at the cutting edge of what is driving forward the mobile market. It won’t specifically leverage on 4G but will be connected to the fact that they will have hopefully achieved that leadership position [in 4G] for an undetermined length of time in the UK.”