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Celtel International, a leading mobile telephone service provider across Africa could be in a major re-branding strategy before the end of this year. The move could see the company drop the Celtel brand and adopt a completely new identity - Zain. The new name is used by celtel’s parent company MTC Group in other nations except the African market.
MTC group says the re-branding is meant to re-invent the regional brand into a global brand. Experts described the new logo as too dark and moody. The re-branding process has reportedly begun in Kuwait and is expected to spread to other MTC-branded operations in the Middle East then Africa.
Brandscape has more discussions on Celtel re-branding and other branding issues.
MTC group says the re-branding is meant to re-invent the regional brand into a global brand. Experts described the new logo as too dark and moody. The re-branding process has reportedly begun in Kuwait and is expected to spread to other MTC-branded operations in the Middle East then Africa.
Brandscape has more discussions on Celtel re-branding and other branding issues.
8 Comments:
True Ka-investor. Celtel is soon gonna be Zain.
To set the record straight, Celtel used to be owned by MTC Kuwait but the latter was bought by Zain, and so Celtel is under Zain.
Thanks Catch up. is it wise to change the brand just after expanding the Celtel network to the whole of East and Central Africa? Then again the Zain brand does not look good to me.
Back to square one in terms of marketing, and they already probably outspend Safcom. How long will it take and what will it cost to rebrand kiosks all of Kenya all over again?
This is a clear case of regressive strategies taken by multinational companies. I'm sure they are mot factoring in the presence they will loose while doing this.
If you ask me, it is not wise to change a brand name and Zain admits its a big risk. Especially in Kenya where it was Kencell, this sends a message of an unstable and unsure Opco.
However, Zain is focused on being in the top 10 telecos among the likes of Vodafone and Orange. This is all the oil barons care about.
As Bankelele puts it, its gonna be costly but a big chunk of advertising budget is on Zain HQ in middle east (just made equivalent of KSH 17b in Q1 2008!)
Unfortunately Africa is under siege being the fastest growing mobile market in the world. In Mauritius Orange from France just took over Celplus, a local teleco. The same Orange is rolling out in your country Kenya, its 13 in Africa!
I work with a mobile tech firm that has deals with Celtel all over Africa and I can tell you so many projects are in hold waiting for rebranding. Money is being lost meanwhile, but what to do.
Goodness!
@everyone: Wont the brand change confuse kenyans at this time when Econet and Orange/Telkom are about to roll out their new networks?
Guys might think Zain is a new network and revenues will suffer.
Catch up,
Get your facts right. Celtel and Zain are still owned by MTC. The Group operates under the brand Zain in the middle East and Celtel in Africa. The Idea of a brand change was first mooted early last year when MTC wanted to consolidate all their international operations under one brand Zain, through several stages to measure brand perception of the market especially in africa since many felt that the Zain brand might not be fully appreciated in the group's African operations. Seems they finally decided its time to rebrand and run under one global Brand Zain.
@catch up: I believe the marketing team has gone through this discussion so many times but still decided to go on with the re branding mission. i wish them luck.
@pesa tu: may be confusion is what they want so that some naive Kenyans can think its a new network and jump into their latest cheap tariffs. welcome back!
@branded: Thanks for the clarification. it seems even after realizing the brand will not be fully accepted they have decided to take the risk. But I'm sure the resistance will only be in the short term...in the long term its a zero sum game.
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