Originally Posted by Reuters

AT&T to phase out Cingular in effort to unify services

Reuters

AT&T Inc. will begin to extinguish the brand of cellphone operator Cingular Wireless LLC next week, built up with billions of dollars over a few years, to imprint its more-than-century-old name firmly across its services.

AT&T, which took full control of No. 1 U.S. mobile carrier Cingular with its $86-billion (U.S.) purchase of BellSouth Corp. last month, will launch a campaign on Monday to mark the change.

"We did not enter that decision lightly," Wendy Clark, vice-president of advertising at AT&T, said in an interview. "We came to understand that consumer customers and business customers alike are looking for a single provider. We heard it so consistently across the marketplace."

In its first stage, Cingular will share its orange logo of a bouncing jack with the AT&T globe logo on everything from television ads to monthly bills.

AT&T's name and logo will eventually replace Cingular in a process expected to take several months, Ms. Clark said.

But with its long and complicated history, AT&T may face customer confusion over its name, marketing experts said. Also, Cingular built up a reputation among younger customers who may not easily associate with the AT&T brand.

At stake are AT&T's efforts to promote its bundle of phone, Internet and video services against a growing number of rivals, including cable operators and Web providers.

"It's a tough proposition," said Hayes Roth, chief marketing officer at brand agency Landor Associates. "Multiple brands within any company is expensive. Arguably they don't have much choice, they've made a stand now that they've invested back in the core brand." T (NYSE) rose 24 cents (U.S.) to $34.73.