ntl to rebrand.
 

Well here are details of ntl's impending 'rebrand'

Personally, I think it's a complete waste of time & money, especially in light of redundancies/bonuses to execs etc, & also the impending Telewest merge which will completely rebrand everything anyway. :rolleyes:

So there you have it.

Can someone just remind me of the point of this again........

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

Shouldn't NTL be spending the money on the technical side? It doesn't matter how much money you throw at rebranding, it doesn't matter what it says on the tin, it will still be the same rubbish inside.

Talk about skewed priorities.

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

Even if this 'exercise' only cost them 10p in terms of money to spend, the cost in terms of man hours (consultants??) etc must surely be phenomenal? :Yikes:

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

I know,

Look how much money the BBC spent producing the dandelion logo a few years ago.

Talk about a waste of money.

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

Read the news again, they're not spending any money...... :rolleyes:

Also, there aren't any consultants being used for this. It's all from within ntl. :)

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

I think that we will see a similar situation to the Sky and BSB merger. The new company was called BSkyB but is still referered to as Sky on the customer facing side.
When NTL and Telewest merge they could call the company NTelewestL (or something similar) but continue to refer to its as ntl for customers, hence the above rebrand.

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

How can you rebrand vans/letterheads ect without spending money ???

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

Remember the Post Office changing to 'Insignia' or whatever daft name they rebranded with?

Still, it all seem pretty straightforward, so let's see if NTL manage it and whether any customers notice or care....

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

They are defo gonna spend money on this-but my point is why??

What a complete waste of time (if not money ;) )

Surely it would be better on concentrating on running the business properly prior to the TW merge than re sodding branding? :shrug:

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

As it states, they'll only get rebranded when they need replacing.

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

What about letterheads and paperwork ? I can see the printers changing the artwork for free !

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

In fairness to them Stu, I think what ntl are saying is that they will wait until vans etc need an update (perhaps after an accident repair for example?) rather than just doing it now for the sake of it.

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

Of course they will. Either that or they lose a bloody great contract.... Think about the size of the compnay and the amount of money that is spent in a year on headed stationary for example.... A bit of a no brainer really... :)

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

That's correct. :)

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

Shock horror!! OB and Neil agree!!! ;) :D

Seriously though, does there actually feel like any need for this?

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

Just one last point from mr no brain.....

I dont beleive that a company of NTL's size can make a change on this scale without spending money !!!! If they can then they should publish a how to.. They may make money out of it.

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

So how much will it cost to charge the litho? Couple of hundred quid? Amortize that over the millions of pages they probably consume every year and it shrinks into insignificance.

Although there may not be any any great need to rebrand (although personally I can see the merits in having all the ntl areas under one name) there really is nothing to get worked up about on this one. The total cost of the rebrand, communication of the rebrand and the man-hours spent on it probably falls under a few grand - whihc for a company the size of ntl is nothing.

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

Has anyone got a copy of this new logo?

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

I think it's another case of the BS squad pulling yet another fast one! Remember the Post Office? Their rebrand totally failed too. And what's this crap where every company has to have a "Mission Statement"? It's of no value whatsoever. At the end of the day, if NTL had a crappy logo, plain white vans but gave brilliant service for a very low price, they would have plenty of customers by word-of-mouth alone. That beats any new logo for attracting new customers.

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

I'll misquoute an old quote I forget where I heard.


... brainstorming ways to improve company image ...
DISGUISE THE REPAIR VANS!

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

But we know NTL will never wing it on that alone.

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

There is no new logo, only the strap line is changing to:

"more choice. better value"

It used to be "Technology Tamed" and then it was something, it will probably change again to whatever the flavour of the day is.

Also when you call the call centre they will answer "hello ntl - Home Division" or they will answer "hello ntl - Business Division" they will not just answer "Hello ntl".

All they are doing is removing the Business/Home/Broadcast add ons and not all Literature or vehicles carried these add ons anyway.

Over the years the culture at ntl has grown more seperatist and this has shown in our attitudes to the customer and to the business. This is step to redress that.

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

Now that is a good explanation :)

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

:banghead:

They are not rebranding. Also the Royal mail fiasco can in no way be compared to what ntl are doing

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

Why not just change it to NTHELL and be done with it ;)

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

I think this is all a plot* to stop me from switching to BT.
I dont know how it affects me, but give me time, and I'm sure I'll come up with something.

Nah, seriously, this seems like a waste of time, that could be spent trying to help stem the flow of dissapointed customers.



*Note the lack of the work "cunning"

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

I totally agree - this will cost very little in terms of actual cash - the NTL logo already exists, they will change the strapline on stationary for little cost - in fact it might actually save money, as the stationary will all be standard, and there will be no need for different items for different departments...
the vans etc will be changed when they would be replaced anyway - no extra cost.

If this does succeed in causing the different NTL factions - sorry departments - to work together [more closely] then it will be worth every man[person] hour spent on it...

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

Things just don't work like this in business. Each area / division / etc gets a budget to spend. This will come from some marketing budget.

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

The other week they sent me a new remote with "ntl:home" on the bottom of it. Should I send it back?

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

You could always spray paint the home part out. :D

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

Today they sent me a bill with "ntl:home" on it, should I pay it? :D :D :D

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

:rofl: :rofl: :rolleyes:.......

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

When OnDigital rebranded as ITVDigital they sent out some metalic ITVDigital stickers so you could apply them to your set-top-box - maybe NTL could do something similar.

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

But that would cost money.... :LOL:

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

It would cost money, also why should ntl start to do that, I still got the cable & wireless logo on my set top box but my money goes to ntl.

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

our ntl box has the cwc logo also...
personally I think its a good idea to try and save money overall... but its gonna take at least 12 months if not longer to see the benefits of the savings. They're gonna have all this existing stationary with ntl:home or ntl:business on it which they wont be able to use, so it'll get recycled in some way (possibly costing them in some way? if not from the recycling process, but from the fact that you never get back what you pay for things (with exceptions)). With the van rebrands... there are ntl:home label sets and ntl:business I assume... they could just cut the business/home part out of the label sets perhaps? However, they're not gonna be using the home/business parts anywhere else on the van... more waste.

Like I said, it is a good idea, but its a waste of time if they're only gonna merge with Telewest in the future as it was said earlier in this thread, they'll change the name again (probably to NTelewestL - it really wouldnt surprise me - nice imitation of Sky (BSkyB) there!).

I personally though would try to concentrate on keeping the customers happy, as I have come across several people over the weekend who have been less than impressed with NTL's service - these people should be NTL's main priority rather than anything else...

One final thought though... if we phoned NTL - we could end up still being diverted to the dept which deals with home accounts as we rang the business accounts section by mistake, so although its united by name... its not by practice :/

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

I did not say NTL should do that! ;)

Personally, I like to see a bit of history still surviving around the place...

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

I seem to remember when I started having services from NTL that the brand was NTL. Then it changed to NTL Home, now back to NTL. WTF!
So NTL Home was a pointless excercise that was a COMPLETE WASTE OF MONEY!

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

I knew that. :)

I was just saying that my STB has had the C & W logo for years so I personally, do not see a point in ntl sending out stickers with their rebranded logo on etc. :)

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

Actually the formation of ntl:Home & ntl:business was a success. At the time ntl was heading for chapter 11, they needed to get a hold of their costs. The problem was the Engineering field force, construction etc was held within networks. Therefore it was difficult to gain a true representation of how much it actually cost to support and maintain the "home" network and its customers.

Therefore Carter decided to align the people in ntl into these divisions based on what was the greater percentage of your job. Construction and engineering personnel that mainly did business jobs went to into the new business division etc.

This way ntl were able to properly understand what was required to manage the network and adjust costs (redundancies) accordingly.

So in fact the formation of ntl:Home saved money.

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

If you read the statement, all there actually doing is streamlining how the buisness is percieved to the outside customer. Its most likely some team somewhere has decided that if a customer just see's ntl as ntl as opposed to all its seperate parts then it will be less confusing for the customer.

This looks like it was probably briefed out to staff, if it was released to the public i would be suprised, i dont know, i dont have ntl, i just joined to point this out after seeing all the responses to this breif.

They arnt actually rebranding anything, if you look, within the company, they will continue to refer to the seperate entites as they currently do, however, the focus for the customer is that there dealing with ntl, not per say Ntl:Buisness or Ntl:broadcast or however other many devision's they have.

Throw in a few new fancy logo's and images, just call yourself NTL on the outside and then you give a more customer focused image, like your just one nice big oiled company not tons of seperate entities that dont know there a$$ from there elbow.

I think alot of the hoo ha i have read after reading the initally release is just rubbish, i doubt there going to spend very much money at all, infact, they will most likely continue to send out there letters with the old letter heads and seperate divisions until they run out of that kind of paper, and slowly phase in new headed paper which just says NTL on it.

Companies have found that major rebranding can be a bad move, as in the post office changing its name, and there was british airways repainting there planes with them stuipd colours, NTL are doing nothing so dramatic as all there doing is telling the people who work for them to start referring to themselves by NTL, nice simple and easily remembered.

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

Well considering how much paper NTL get through at the moment, all they'll have to do is start ordering the new paper and they'll quickly use up the old stuff so there won't be boxes and boxes of the old stuff lying around to recycle,it'll still be used until it runs out in probably about a week.
With the van's, who's to say they'll still go with peugeots or vauxhaul astras if they can get a better deal with someone else, so they'd need to get new label sets made anyway, also there'd only be the cost of one label set to replace rather than two. More saving.

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

Are ntl vans branded with business/home/broadcast then?

I've only seen plain ntl vans with big coloured spots on them!

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

The whole point of the re-organisation is to mirror Telewest. This will allow the merger (when and if it happens) to go smoothly.

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

I doubt they will when I first got BB it was from NTL but my STB still said cable and wirless.... Had that for almost 2 yrs...

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

I know when they ran job adverts with "do you want to work at home" people were ringing saying yes, I'd like to work at home cos I have to look after my kids so can't go out work etc, so perhaps the rebranding might be a good thing :D :D

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

I wonder if the people who choose to work at home would have to recieve a pay cut? or will NTL pay them more for choosing to work at home? I also wonder what NTL jobs can be done at home & can employees be trusted to do the work un-supervised?

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

at the prospect of repeating myself the point of this is ?

are NTL rebranding so they can give customers a better service ?

i think not, so what else are they doing it for tax evasion ?:D

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

Our new pool car has an ntl:home logo on it. We've only just got it so it won't get replaced for 4 years. Our department will be gone long before then, anyway. :(

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

Of course it will give customers a better service. Just think, the next time your broadband/TV/telephone go down and NTL say "Oh, we can call next week sometime to look at fixing it", instead of getting angry you'll look at the new motto below the logo. This will fill you with a warm glow, a feeling of peace that the old motto just didn't do. Now isn't that worth spending loads of money on? ;)

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

Anyone else get the impression this is 'too little too late'? I hope it ends up having a positive affect on the company (and ultimately the customers) but is it just a PR stunt?

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

Oh how true Russ....

If this manages to achieve the desired effect (one NTL , with all depts talking to each other) then it is well worth it, however I think that this will impress the city, and therefore their share price, and have little or no effect on the day to day "NTL experience" :(

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

Why not? It's the same thinking. Forget about the service, just change the logo. It's just nonsense. Does anyone look at the logo or the motto or whatever below the logo and say "Ah! Now there's a company I'd like to be with". NO. We all look at what is offered at what price. Then we talk to people and look around for evidence of what experience others have had with the company. At no point does the logo have any bearing on our decision to buy goods or services from any company.

Changing logo's, mission statements or whatever, is done to either dis-associate a company from its past or they do it out of desperation. Take a look at all the successful companies, with very strong brand names. Their logo's seldom change.

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

ntl's logo is NOT changing! They are simply dropping the word 'home' from the name.

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

LOL, joking aside I think you are quite right. Good luck!

*snigger* But this isn't a rebrand in the typical sense, nor are they spending loads of money. It sounds more like a "tactical management decision" - one that is cheap, not too drastic, and (IMHO) will be pointless :dunce:

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

I thought that NTL:home is a logo! It certainly looks like a logo, and the phrase, motto or whatever you want to call it underneath is also part of this logo. Which ever way you look at it, the change is just PR nonsence. It will have no effect on the service and cost money. Despite what has been said regarding vans etc., the change will cost money. Money better spent on actually improving the service for customers.

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

ntl: is the logo. home/business/networks/broadcast is the division and is sometimes added onto the logo. But not always.

If you go to the BT website you will see that they have BT:Wholesale etc.etc.

The LOGO (for the hard of understanding) is not changing. Therefore they are not rebranding.

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

Why will it have to cost money?

NTL reps aren't needing extra training to drop home, broadcast etc from their startup speech.

NTL paper will be ordered but the old stuff will no doubt still be used until it's all gone, so no cost there.

Anything that is already physically branded (vans, offices?) isn't being changed, so no cost there.

Where is this big cost?

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

I do not see the need to re-brand,unless something new or something to be proud of was going to happen (like the inevitable merger with Telewest - or God forbid! Broadband throughout London). But if they are going ahead just now, why not just follow the trend that they had when they re-branded and re-designed the bills in black & white? ntl:home and ntl: etc. all in illustrious black and white! Vans like dalmations with black & white spots.......:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

That's actually not a bad idea... :idea:

*contacts management and awaits £2m branding fee* ;)

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

So the team that came up with the new motto did it for free, did they? And the graphics team who have designed how it actually looks are not paid? As are the web designers etc. etc. I think not. Therefore it costs money.

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

So NTL do not use a specific typeface for the "home" bit? They do, so it is definitely part of the logo. If a company (notice I say company) used a logo with the :home added in exactly the same way as NTL use it using their typeface, I think it would hit the courts. Which ever way you want to dress it, this is another useless PR stunt.

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

so will the LCR3 guide and interactive bar at the top change to ntl:?

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

already just says ntl: on bromley CR3, and CR1. but not interactive...they'll have to change it soon.

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

I imagine a lot less than Barclay is getting paid in consultation fees or whatever it is he's spnging these days.

It could of just been a decision of one of the managers y'know. We don't know whether it was an outside group or not!

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

I agree with you that it is probably not NTL's biggest expenditure, but it just seems a total waste of money anyway. Better spent on adding decent spam filters to the email servers, or something else useful IMHO.

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

$6000.00 per day at last count. :rolleyes:

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

:Yikes: :Yikes: :Yikes: :Yikes:

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

Would like to put my name forward as a consultant :angel:

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

Next thing you know he'll have a Lear Jet :rofl:

Re: ntl to rebrand.
 

I wish i was paid 6000 a day.

Does anyone know what he *actually* does, or is this just another of these over inflated jobs where he plays golf all day?