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Technology Stocks : Vodafone-Airtouch (NYSE: VOD) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MrGreenJeans who wrote (2912)	7/23/2000 1:45:52 PM
From: MrGreenJeans	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3175

Vodafone to declare war on Orange with global brand Jamie Doward Sunday July 23, 2000 Vodaphone AirTouch, the world's largest mobile phone operator, is drawing up a radical plan to position itself as a global brand in an attempt to drive home its credentials as the leader in the wireless telecommunications market. The move will spark an all-out branding war with arch-rival Orange as both firms try to consolidate their operations around single global business identities - shifts that will have significant reverberations for shareholders. Vodafone's shareholders will this week vote on a move to drop AirTouch from the company name. Instead the plan, which will be discussed this Thursday, is to christen the company The Vodafone Group. The change is seen as a strategic move which will act as a precursor to rolling the Vodafone name out across all of the 24 European companies in its portfolio. For the past few months chief executive Chris Gent has expressed a desire to turn Vodafone, which has nearly 60 million users worldwide, into a global brand. Currently the raft of mobile phone companies which are owned wholly or in part by Vodafone represent a diverse set of interests. All have different names and identities, each targeting their indige nous markets. The company consulted branding agencies before deciding to unite all its European interests under the Vodafone name. The move by the telecoms giant comes as France Télécom looks to roll the Orange brand out across Europe. The French company acquired the UK's third largest operator from Vodafone for £27 billion in May. Orange is seen as stealing a lead on Vodafone in the race to sign up customers, thanks largely to the strength of its brand. Last-quarter figures show that in the UK Vodafone added 572,000 customers while Orange attracted 1.2 million. The experts suggest Vodafone's decision to create a 'monolithic' brand could be good news for investors. 'Our analysis shows that the value creation potential of single brands is higher than that shown by conglomerates,' said Jan Lindemann, director of consultancy firm Interbrand. He said it was cheaper to communicate a single brand on a global basis. 'It is easier to focus on one brand than 50, providing it is acceptable to local markets. You have to think about the way the market will evolve. You have to think about the way the company will present itself on the internet.'