BT finally makes EE its main consumer-facing brand

A sort-of rebrand means EE will become the flagship brand for consumers, and will ‘expand into new areas’ – though the BT brand will remain on home standalone broadband and landline services.

The essence of it seems to be that there will be a greater emphasis on EE branded converged bundles, while BT will be more of a b2b facing operation aside from standalone consumer broadband and landline, which will stay BT branded.

“We are evolving from today’s approach in the consumer market where BT and EE both take centre stage, to one where a flagship brand will lead our approach to future innovation, convergence, and services beyond connectivity,” said Marc Allera, CEO, BT Consumer in a post.  “Having both BT and EE in an already crowded consumer market means we must have two of everything, and that makes life harder for our customers and our people – two accounts, two apps, two product roadmaps, and multiple systems. You get the picture.  We need to simplify things, for everyone.

Aside from broadband the other big consumer facing bit of BT is BT Sport – and it sounds like there are plans afoot for that, which could mean some sort of spin off or rebranding: “The BT brand will still play an important but more focused role for Consumer customers on standalone broadband and landline services. BT Sport will continue to broadcast the best in sport, as it prepares for its own new journey, in a joint venture with Warner Bros. Discovery,” continues the post.

Kester Mann, Director of Consumer and Connectivity at CCS Insights told us: “Running two major consumer brands was never something BT could continue indefinitely. It means additional cost and complexity both internally and for customers, not something that aligns with strategic efforts to streamline the company, improve simplicity, and achieve challenging cost-saving targets.

“BT’s branding choices are the right ones, but it won’t have taken this decision lightly. It won’t be universally welcomed either, for example by many older customers who have an enduring affinity for the BT brand, or internally among some long-serving BT employees. So, the subtle repositioning of the two brands – clearly already underway – feels like the right approach.”

The BT brand doesn’t have a huge space in the mobile market anyway, and this feels more of a strategic repositioning than a full rebrand. But taking some measure to draw a line between the two brands to prevent them directly competing in the consumer space certainly makes sense.

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