BT takes all consumer products under EE brand
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Editor
| 27 April 2022
As part of what the division’s CEO Marc Allera described as a new chapter in its transformation, BT has started preparations to make the EE brand its flagship mark for consumer customers focusing on convergence and future services.
bt ee building 27April2022
The new concern will focus on two areas: introducing new products and services; making changes to the way the company takes brands to market.

The new products and services will include those that go beyond currently provided connectivity services. The company admits that his will be a big change for us and won’t happen overnight, but that it was necessary to expand its brand and relevance with consumers beyond networks.

In the second part of the strategy, BT says that it is evolving from the current approach in the consumer market where it and EE both take centre stage, to one where a flagship brand will lead our approach to future innovation, convergence, and services beyond connectivity. It noted that having both BT and EE in an already crowded consumer market meant it must have two of everything, and that made life harder for customers and its people - two accounts, two apps, two product roadmaps, and multiple systems.

Explaining why it has kept the EE brand for consumer business, BT observed that customers has told the company that EE was synonymous with the best mobile connectivity and its popularity in the broadband market is growing steadily as iy had driven awareness that EE’s fibre network was powered by BT. While assuring that it would retain much of the identity that is instantly recognisable to millions today, BT said the new EE would evolve and stretch into new areas and be focused on convergence of networks, devices and new services beyond connectivity.

BT also stressed that its brand would still play an important but more focused role for Consumer customers on standalone broadband and landline services. BT Sport will continue as it prepares for its own new journey, in a joint venture with Warner Bros. Discovery.

Assessing what the changes would mean, Kester Man, director, consumer and connectivity at analyst CCS Insight said the decision to home in on EE as the flagship brand for consumers came as no major surprise following a recent increase in focus on home broadband, an area traditionally synonymous with BT.

“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,” he said.

“For the BT brand, the announcement represents a failure to resonate with the UK’s increasingly technology-savvy consumers. Despite efforts to reinvigorate it through new services, improved customer service and a return to the high-street, it has been unable to instil more engaging, exciting and innovative perceptions. EE appears better equipped to spearhead the next chapter for BT’s Consumer business as it looks to bring new products and services to market beyond traditional connectivity.”