Posted: 07th Apr, 2003 By: MarkJ
BT has opted to throw away its aging 'piper man' logo in favour of the globe design, which is presently in use with ISP
BTOpenworld:
The new mark is the company's first visual identity change since 1991 and only the second since it became British Telecom in 1980. The change more accurately reflects the wide range of activities that BT now encompasses.
Ben Verwaayen, BT's chief executive, said: "BT's business and its culture is changing so it is important that we have a brand identity that represents the multi-faceted nature of our business. The new logo does the job. It represents BT as being in-tune with the multimedia age as well as communicating the company's international reach.
Although BT continues to change, there is still more to do and we will be introducing the new mark over time to demonstrate that the job is far from complete.
We are not changing image for the sake of change. It is more fundamental than that. There will be no big bang advertising campaign. The new brand will be delivered through the service that customers experience every day.
This customer experience approach reflects our attitude to customers. It is top priority for BT people to put customers at the heart of everything they do and be passionate about what they do. We want people to experience the new BT through improved service not through a new logo. Only then will they credit BT with having changed."
BT will manage implementation of the new identity over a three-year period in order to minimise costs. The total cost of the project is expected to be less than 5 million.
At the same time BT announced that its international services and solutions business, BT Ignite, would be called BT Global Services.The new logo has been developed for BT by Wolff Ollins.