[ad_1]
When you think of U.K. telecom giant EE, Kevin Bacon might be the first thing that comes to mind.
The Footloose actor has fronted the brand’s marketing campaigns for over a decade, where he’s been shown attempting everything from skydiving to being shaved by a robot, all in the name of positioning EE as the U.K.’s best mobile and broadband network.
Now, Bacon’s era as the highly effective face of EE is coming to an end. Instead, he’ll serve as the voice of fresh creative work from longtime agency Publicis Groupe U.K. that puts real people at its heart, underpinned by a very British soundtrack featuring music from Fatboy Slim, Faithless and Bloc Party.
“It’s was a massive decision for us to make that change,” Peter Jeavons, EE and BT’s director of marketing comms, told Adweek. “But we’ve got a desire to be much more audience-led and audience-driven.”
The shift comes as the EE unveils a complete marketing-led business overhaul that will see it expand beyond traditional mobile and internet services to become what its chief executive, Marc Allera, described as a “personal and customer-focused technology brand.”
As part of this, EE (which BT Group acquired for £12.5bn in 2016) will become the flagship consumer brand for the business; giving way to legacy brand BT, which has been responsible for some of the U.K.’s highest profile ad campaigns over the past three decades.
Allera told press at an event on Oct. 18 that the business was excited to “take the wrappers off” the refreshed brand proposition, some years after quietly announcing that EE would become the dominant brand.
“We’re evolving to play a much more important role in customers lives beyond the essential connectivity that we provide today,” he said.
A multiplatform campaign will underscore EE’s new mission, showing how it can show up for customers across four verticals including: home, learn, work and game. These categories were identified following comprehensive research from the marketing and insights team which underscored “customer need points,” said Jeavons.
Rethinking the brand’s architecture
The brand’s new ad blitz has been two years in the making, with Publicis agencies Saatchi & Saatchi, Digitas, Boomerang, Publicis•Poke, Zag and Prodigious, leading the charge.
EE has announced a host of new business endeavors to support its brand transformation and open up revenue streams.
