Branding is fun and easy!  Here’s the latest example:

AT&T is the mother of all brands, going back to the 19^th century.  In 1983, it launched the first cellular telephone service in the U.S.  But a year later, AT&T was forced to spin off local service as part of anti-trust legislation; seven “baby bells” were created to offer local service, two of which were Bell South and Southwestern Bell (SBC).  And they all started selling wireless services, making them each direct competitors of the others.  In 2001, Cingular Wireless was formed as a joint venture by SBC (60%) and BellSouth (40%).  It started out poorly but steadily improved.  By 2004, it was doing so well that AT&T surrendered and sold off its wireless business, to Cingular.  This made Cingular the number one wireless brand in the U.S.  Since then, hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent developing the Cingular brand, while the AT&T brand was headed for the dumpster.  (You with us so far?)

Then, a reversal of brand fortune.  In 2005, SBC bought its parent AT&T, and in a nice piece of reverse-branding, launched “the new AT&T”, which owned 60% of Cingular.  And then, on January 7, the FCC approved AT&T’s acquisition of BellSouth.  (Can you see where this is going?)

Meanwhile, over at Apple Computer, holiday sales of iTunes were so strong that, on January 9, they officially changed their name to just Apple Inc., to signal they are much more than a computer company.  At the same time, they launched the new iPhone, and announced it would be available exclusively from (drum roll…) Cingular Wireless!  Which was pretty interesting considering that, just three days later, Cingular ceased to exist; on January 12, AT&T announced that Cingular, the brand with over $40 Billion in revenue, is going away and will just be called AT&T.

So here’s the pitch:  Get the new iPhone, from Apple, formerly Apple Computer, available only from AT&T (the NEW AT&T), formerly Cingular, (which you may know as BellSouth and/or SBC), formerly part of AT&T (the OLD AT&T).  Got it?

Oh, in some markets, they may keep the Cingular name.  Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up.