Industry debate about the Texperts rebranding
I’ve been racing around with enthusiastic team members during our massive Texperts rebranding effort, and in all the excitement it’s sometimes hard to get dissenting voices. But in the blogosphere there have been a few folks who had concerns about our new direction, and they’re people I have a lot of time for.
Bena Roberts at GoMo News didn’t like the new name, and in her blog about our re-brand, she felt that the old name, 82ASK, had a closer connection with our former number (82275). Some things are a matter of personal taste, but for me, the new name emphasises the “expert” in Text Expert and the amazing people who answer all the questions. I also think it helps emphasise that we’re not a novelty service, but a group of professionals who can really help people. Bena’s second concern is really interesting and one that caused me to do some soul-searching before the re-launch.
We did a lot of research and found that the connection between the name 82ASK and the number 82275 was an issue. It resonated pretty well among mobile/wireless professionals (although not as well as you’d think!), but the general population of the UK didn’t respond well to that kind of alphanumeric shorthand. There’s also the issue of branding. As Ewan MacLeod wrote in a recent blog,
“82ASK was one of the most recognised mobile services in the United Kingdom. Ask someone on the street - a normob (’normal mobile user’) - if they could name a mobile service and invariably, they’d reply with 82ASK… and nothing else, such was the brand penetration.
“Sarah and her team want to spread the word further. To do that requires above-the-line advertising and promotion — and to do this effectively — you need an identity that is easily transferred across multiple mediums. 82ASK fails at the first hurdle here.”
That’s the thing…Texperts is a brand, whereas 82ASK referred to a service. It wasn’t imbued with any promise or expectation. Our work in changing to Texperts has focused on the inherent capabilities we offer - real experts available to help you 24/7/365. We have explicitly included a brand promise too: “if you’re not impressed, the next one is free.” This promise shows that we go as far as we can in resolving your query.
As a customer-led company, we think (and hope!) the relaunch is an example of what can be achieved when you listen to consumers and the industry whilst remaining focused on your original vision. What do you think? Leave a reply and let us know.
