Sprint and Nextel Reveal New Branding and Logo

June 23, 2005

For us marketing geeks, it's worth noting that Sprint and Nextel have revealed their intended post-merger branding and logo. Today's announcement is on TMCnet at:

Sprint and Nextel Communications Announce New Branding and Logo to Be Used by Combined Company

The new company will be called Sprint, with Nextel retained as a product name. Too bad they couldn't be more creative -- might have been fun to have a company called Sprextel or Nint in the marketplace.

As I'm sure you're waiting with bated breath to see what the new logo will look like, here it is:

It's always interesting to look into the rationale for decisions around branding and positioning. What's that you say? Well, maybe not for you, but�some of us are fascinated by such arcana.

Under the imposing subhead "The Sprint Master Brand," today's announcement reveals the following:

"Given its broad market awareness and its history of innovation, the Sprint name was chosen as the lead go-to-market brand name for the new company. Combining the rich attributes of the Sprint brand with the entrepreneurial, instant-communications traits represented by highlighting Nextel's presence in the product line offers strong positioning for the combined company."

The companies expect to complete their merger in the third quarter of 2005, pending regulatory and shareholder hurdles.

AB -- 6/23/05

Related Tags: sprint nextel, sprint, Sprint, nextel, Nextel, branding