Merging of BT brands?

Someone elsewhere posted a link to this BT page

We�re bringing together our BT, EE and Plusnet brands to create the UK�s largest provider of fixed-voice, broadband and mobile services. It�ll take effect from 1 April 2018.

Not heard anything previously, have I missed something? Any comments or inside knowledge?

Intriguing. You would have thought they would be telling their customers if something significant is going to change in less than 2 months time.

Maybe BT are getting in their April fools day joke early this year?

Nothing new.

It was announced last July (https://www.btplc.com/Sharesandperformance/Quarterly...):

Our new Consumer business will operate our three distinct brands; BT, EE and Plusnet; to leverage our position as the largest and only fully converged player in the market, spanning fixed and mobile networks, consumer products and services as well as content.

Edited by deleted (Tue 06-Feb-18 12:31:34)

Though this post suggests they're continuing as three separate brands

https://community.plus.net/t5/Plusnet-Feedback/BT-Me...

https://www.btplc.com/Sharesandperformance/Quarterly...

Yeap had just popped back to say nothing new.

Thanks folks for your replies. So it doesn't appear to have any direct effect on the "brands". (Yet?) The statement I quoted I read to suggest a merging of the brands rather a reorganising of the upper echelons of management.

It seems that the brands remain.

Interesting that Andy Baker retains the title of "CEO Plusnet", under the new structure Marc Allera is the overall boss so Andy Baker will be more of a Managing Director than a CEO.

In reply to a post by bluetroll:

Someone elsewhere posted a link to this BT page

We�re bringing together our BT, EE and Plusnet brands to create the UK�s largest provider of fixed-voice, broadband and mobile services. It�ll take effect from 1 April 2018.

Not heard anything previously, have I missed something? Any comments or inside knowledge?

That link took me to the BT Corporate page, which is aimed at investors and the Stock Exchange. It merely identifies the various business divisions within BT Group plc. The BT, EE and PlusNet brands will come under the umbrella of the company's Consumer division, in the same way that Openreach is another, entirely separate division.

One or more directors will probably have overall responsibility for the management of the Consumer division and will drive policy decisions within that division. But that does not mean BT, EE and PlusNet (which are separate business) will merge or operate differently after 1 April 2018.

Using different brandings is a typical marketing strategy. BT seem to be standalone whereas PN run services for companies such as John Lewis. JL oc course use this piggybacking to expand their business. Not sure that this would work if everything was merged into BT. Not sure either how the customer would react too as for all its criticism there are a lot worse CS departments than PN!

There has been an interesting development with Vodafone recently. Their cheap and cheerful brand TalkMobile has now been merged fully into the parent company with higher prices for TM customers. I just see an increase in "churn" but that seems to be the way it all works nowadays.