BT adopts Openworld logo in £5m corporate rebranding

by Claire Billings,, Brand Republic 08-Apr-03, 08:30

LONDON - BT has adopted the transparent coloured 'connected world' logo, already used by its BTopenworld internet service, as its new corporate identity at a cost of just £5m, which is a long way off the £50m it spent rebranding in 1991.

The modest cost of this latest revamp is in stark contrast with its last image change, which saw it introduce the piper logo as it rebranded to BT from British Telecom.

The piper task was unpopular among staff at the time because it coincided with large-scale redundancies as the company attempted to scale back costs.

The new logo has been adopted to reflect the range of services BT offers, whereas when the piper logo was introduced it was just a fixed-line telephony company.

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."

There will be no advertising campaign to launch the new identity and it will be phased in gradually over the next three years to minimise costs. The logo is already visible on the BT Centre in central London and the next to carry it will be customer bills. The logo will gradually be introduced on its buildings, vans and phone boxes.

"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," Verwaayen said.

The "connected world" identity was created by design agency Wolff Ollins, which also designed the piper logo.

BT has also rebranded BT Ignite, its international services division, as BT Global Services.

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