There’s a dumpy little building along N.C. Route 86, north of Hillsborough. It’s a bland, windowless box, like most telecom switching centers. I’ll bet the architect doesn’t tout it in his or her portfolio. But the structure has one aesthetically-redeeming feature: a crisp new CenturyLink logo.
CenturyLink — which provides local telephone service in 33 U.S. states — is on its third name in four years. Until 2006, they were Sprint’s wireline business. From 2006-2008, when I covered them at Domini, they were known as EMBARQ.
That’s a lotta name changes. But if you’re a CenturyLink customer, I’m pretty sure the quality of your phone service hasn’t gotten any better. Branding is what your stakeholders feel about you, not your pretty logo.
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They bought EMBARQ (based just outside Raleigh) and just go after small, low income areas. Lot’s of companies rebrand and target the same people over and over. Many times people in these areas have limited options when it comes to services.
I am not that familiar with EMBARQ, but you hit the nail on the head with the title. When push comes to shove, a bad product can kill you and even though CenturyLink might be able to trick some early adopters, having the same product will lead to the same dissmal results.
@Dan: It’s good that CenturyLink is providing service in otherwise under-served areas. Would you say brand perception is less important when a company has a monopoly? (For instance, if a company is the only phone provider in town, or the only community hospital in 100 miles.) And I’m going to pay taxes to the IRS regardless of what their logo or marketing collateral looks like, because I don’t have any choice.
@Cole: Good point — solid products are non-negotiable. To clarify, I’m not suggesting CenturyLink provides bad service. I used the photo (shiny logo on a blah building) to illustrate how some companies may focus on flash and glitz, at the cost of delivering the basics.
Karl: Gotcha…but you get my feeling. You can rebrand a product as much as you want but if the product is inferior…
@Cole: I think we’re on the same page — great marketing collateral doesn’t make a difference if the underlying product doesn’t work.