Partner Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTNR; TASE: PTNR) launched its new brand this morning at a well-attended event at the Tel Aviv Exhibition Grounds. Senior Israeli business figures came to the launch of the move by the company which is aimed at bringing about substantial change in the way it operates. The event began with an impressive artistic presentation that stressed the change the company is undergoing and the switch from the Orange brand to the new Partner brand.
Partner CEO Itzik Benvenisti opened the event and recalled the storm that the company had gone through in the crisis with France Telecom, owner of the Orange brand. He said that the changes that Partner was undergoing in the telecommunications market were being experienced by many telecommunications companies around the world, the aim being to become a comprehensive communications company. He said that Partner was becoming a digital company that would make its capabilities accessible to consumers.
The company's new logo was revealed by "Globes" last week. The familiar orange and black is being replaced by green and blue, along with the change from "Orange to "Partner".
Benjamin Gilgen of MetaDesign AG presented the work that had been done on Partner. He said that people today suffered from a surfeit of brands and messages, and that the question was what would make a consumer choose a particular brand. He also said that Israel had a culture of "can do" and of rapid adoption of innovation.
In advance of today's launch, at which the logo was to have been unveiled for the first time, Partner tried to keep the move shrouded in secrecy. The invitations to the launch event were sent out as though from a Georgian company. The launch of the new brand will not be through a television campaign as is usually the case, but through advertising on street hoardings, with about 3,000 advertisements around the country. Only afterwards will there be a conventional campaign on television, radio, and other media.
Partner's disuse of the Orange brand came after media uproar over comments by France Telecom CEO Stéphane Richard, who said last summer that he would be prepared to end cooperation with Partner and leave Israel if he could. The two sides subsequently decided on a parting of the ways, and Partner received €90 million compensation.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 16, 2016
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