Eesti Telefon's rebranding may cost millions
10.06.2003, 10:15The decision of Estonian Telephone- Estonia's largest fixed telephone services provider- to rebrand itself as Elion will cost millions.
An additional charge will likely occur from the payment that Eesti Telefon may have to make to OÃ Elion- a small videorental based in Sindi which has registered and is using the same name.
For instance- Hansabank paid 20 million kroons for its new corporate identity. Estonian Mobile Telephone which- like Estonian Telephone- is a subsidiary of Eesti Telekom Group- paid 7 million kroons for new corporate image.
Estonian Telephone announced yesterday that starting from second half of August it will adopt a new brandname Elion. However- before the telecom giant can go ahead with the rebranding campaign it will have to reach an agreement with Sergei Korjukovets and Oleksandra Belyavskaya who own a company named OÃ Elion and was incorporated less than a month ago.
Valdo Kalm- chairman of Eesti Telefon- and Piret Mürk- press spokesperson of Eesti Telefon- said yesterday that they were aware of Oà Elion and believe that there would not be any problems. A few hours later the representatives of Oà Elion confirmed that they had been contacted by a law firm that represents Estonian Telephone.
"The law firm that represents us is conducting negotiations and there is a principle agreement to buy the company- if necessary-" said Valdo Kalm yesterday.
Kalm added that the most important thing was the brand and that the telecom could also continue to be incorporated under its existing business name AS Eesti Telefon. "We have Plan B and Plan C and can continue also with our old business name-" said Kalm- adding that while the Hallo chain of telephone retail stores was still owned by AS Telefonipood- it would also start using the Elion brand. "For customers it is not so important which business name the company is incorporated with-" he added."
Asking the question of how much Estonian Telephone would be prepared to pay for the video rental business- Kalm said that it would not be millions. "But it's a fact that all good names in the world have long been taken-" he said.
As a result of the rebranding campaign- Estonian Telephone would replace its existing brands of Eesti Telefon- Atlas- Hallo and Hot with Elion. The only exception is Internet portal Neti which will retain its current brand.
Source: BBN - Ãripäev