Everything Everywhere: Brand to nowhere
by
, 26th July 2012 at 01:26 PM (7193 Views)
Everything Everywhere, the amalgamation of T-Mobile and Orange in the UK, faces a massive challenge. It wants to consolidate its brand. This would be difficult given the best of scenarios, but CEO Olaf Swantee seems resigned to uniting behind the Everything Everywhere identity.
At first pass this seems to be an insurmountable challenge. The mobile network cannot possibly be called "Everything Everywhere". It's too long. There's simply nothing that can be done with it.
In order to use this moniker, it first needs to be transformed into something palatable. Something that can be imagined displayed next to the signal bars on a phone screen, or stamped onto the back case of a subsidised handset. So lets look into that.
Ee
Everything, everywhere
Ee (pronounced "E"), seems an obvious choice. The group name can then be turned around into the slogan; Ee means everything, everywhere. I still don't like the arrogance and incredible lack of focus 'everything, everywhere' portrays, but I can actually imagine Ee as a successful mobile and ISP brand in the UK. It looks scientific, as if plucked from the periodic table, and in the face of cutesy wootsey Three I think it has potential.
Everything
everywhere
Seizing upon Everything as the new brand name is only slightly better than swallowing the whole Everything Everywhere pill. My main problem is with the word. Three signifies the third generation of mobile technology, the mobile internet revolution. Orange symbolises a bright future. They're great brands. It's very difficult to assign any great meaning to something known as 'everything'. Alternatively, "Everywhere" could be used as the brand name for the network, but it leaves us with the same problems and adds one: how stupid does a brand called 'everywhere' look when you go somewhere that's out of coverage.
If Everything Everywhere gets gobbled up by private equity as is expected then it's highly unlikely the Orange brand, that, despite many missteps in the stewardship of France Telecom, still has some mileage in it, will be available to Everything Everywhere to use without costly licensing. Will a Tom Alexander-lead Everything Everywhere adopt an entirely new brand for the UK? I'd say there's a much better chance of it than if Swantee stays at the helm, and therefore a much better chance of the identity bereft network succeeding full stop.