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Job no:82185(CTP) Title : RP-Logolounge 2 Client : Pro-vision

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Dept : DTP D/O : 27.08.04 (Job no:000000 D/O : 00.00.01 Co: CM0)

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For buyers in the wireless-communications market, purchasing decisions

typically come down to phone features, calling plans, and price—end of

story. But when BellSouth and SBC Communications merged their eleven

existing wireless properties in 2000, they sought out VSA Partners to write

a different story. What they got was something more offbeat than they

expected—and something even more relevant.

Instead of establishing the new company as another price-and-service-

based competitor, VSA established a brand that communicated the human

value of wireless communications, including a name that stood alone in the

industry: Cingular. Although with twenty-one million customers, Cingular

became the nation’s second-largest wireless company upon its creation, it

was a late entry into an already crowded wireless-communications field.

Because of its belated arrival, Cingular (at the time unnamed) had to create

a strong and immediate presence. And if it was going to compete suc-

cessfully, it was going to have to win customers who were being wooed by

commodity-based companies whose brands promised cheap plans, sound

clarity, and up-to-the-minute technology.

From assignment to launch, the new brand would have to be developed in

eight weeks at VSA. Facing this unprecedented schedule and the number

of leaders involved among the partner companies, VSA partner Jamie

Koval was at first a little reluctant to get involved with the project. “The

assignment had so much potential on many levels,” he recalls. “But I was

concerned about the timing, the approval process, and if we’d be allowed

to do something great.” But after meeting client representatives, Koval was

convinced that the potential could be realized.

To begin, VSA conducted market research to uncover what the competi-

tion was doing in terms of positioning, message, and image. The VSA team

saw that competitors in the wireless market essentially stressed the same

thing the same way—all had fairly similar identities—and they understood

that the client was looking for something unprecedented in the marketplace.

Design Firm

Client

Project

VSA Partners

BellSouth and SBC Communications

Corporate Identity and Naming

(Top and Bottom) Jack,

Cingular’s spirited logo, was

not a conventional, safe solu-

tion, says Jamie Koval of

VSA Partners, the firm that

brought him to life. But the

little character has charmed

consumers and the telecom-

munications market.

(Middle) The logo’s impact is

undeniable. Maintaining its

sense of celebration and sin-

gularity is achieved through

guidelines offered in the

Cingular style guide, also

created by VSA.

“The assignment had so much potential on many

levels. But I was concerned about the timing,

the approval process, and if we’d be allowed to

do something great.”

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Job no:82185(CTP) Title : RP-Logolounge 2 Client : Pro-vision

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175 Size : 228.6(w)279.4(h)mm Co : M6 C0 O/P: CTP

Dept : DTP D/O : 27.08.04 (Job no:000000 D/O : 00.00.01 Co: CM0)

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VSA presented some 4,000 names for client evaluation

—

a remarkable quantity given the constraints.

Part of the beauty of the Cin-

gular logo is that it can be

used both as a part of one

design or as an inspiration for

another. In addition to being

used alone, it can easily be

used to create patterns or to

provide a visual cue to pho-

tography, which can either

follow its shape or its mood.

The bright orange reinforces

the good cheer and energy

of the brand.

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