BT Brand Value | BT Brand Valuation, Rating & Profile

Brand performance
Brand history
Brand presence
Brand elements
People
Other

Market cap

* For banks, enterprise value is substituted with market cap. Source: Bloomberg Finance L.P.

Performance of the brand

BT has risen 9 places in the eight months since January 2011 according to the Brand Finance Global 500 September update. Brand value has increased steadily by 3% in these eight months from $9,061 million to $9,333 million.

BT have divided their buisness into several different sub brands such as Openreach, BT Global, BT Infinity and BT Wholesale, as well as several smaller sub brands. BT have made this branding move in order to make their business segmentation clearer to customers, however, there is now such a huge variety of sub brands that it is becoming confusing for consumers to distinguish which sub brand offers what kind of product or service. As a result of this perplexing branding structure, BT’s brand is not reaching its full potential as illustrated by the slight decrease in the percentage of BT’s enterprise value attributable to its brand, down from 28% in January 2011 to 26% in September 2011.

With regards to the brand’s climb up within the Global 500 table this can largely be attributed to the fact that many brands previously ranked higher than BT have performed worse and moved down the table or even out of the top 100, consequently pushing up BT’s brand.

British Telecom was formally privatised in 1984, since when the company has experienced strong growth. It remains the major provider of fixed line and broadband communications in the UK and has now moved into the lucrative markets of providing mobile and TV content services. The brand enjoys very strong awareness across the whole of the UK, also spreading outside of its home markets with BT Global providing IT network services to corporations, SME’s and governments across 170 countries.

One of the most recognisable landmarks of the London skyline is certainly the BT tower which is an example of the large ammount of consumer awareness that the BT brand enjoys. As is often the case with former state owned companies, BT do not need to promote their brand as much as their competitors, as their large market share and awareness had already been created for them by the government over the previous 100 years.

BT is continuing to expand its public Wi-Fi business with around a million hotspots. In addition, the company is seeking to increase access to high-speed broadband services for its customers. It has also entered into competition with Virgin Media in the super-fast broad-band market by launching its own service, BT Infinity.

League tables

BT appears in the following brand league tables:

Rank 86 in the Global 500 2012.
Rank 13 in the Top 500 Telecom Brands 2012.
Rank 12 in the Top 500 Telecom Brands 2011.
Rank 102 in the Global 500 2011.
Rank 10 in the UK Top 50 2011.
Rank 102 in the Global 500 2011.
Rank 87 in the Global 500 2010.
Rank 12 in the Top 500 Telecom Brands 2010.
Rank 10 in the UK Top 50 2010.
Rank 92 in the Global 500 2009.
Rank 111 in the Global 500 2008.
Rank 145 in the Global 250 2007.

2012 brand performance*

Brand value $9,820m
Brand rating AA
Enterprise value $37,172m
Value / ent. value 26.4%

* Figures taken on 31st December 2011.

2011 brand performance*

Brand value $9,061m
Brand rating AA+
Enterprise value $31,987m
Value / ent. value 28.3%

* Figures taken on 31st December 2010.

2010 brand performance*

Brand value $8,685m
Brand rating AA
Enterprise value $36,240m
Value / ent. value 24.0%

* Figures taken on 31st December 2009.

2009 brand performance*

Brand value $6,649m
Brand rating AA
Enterprise value -
Value / ent. value -

* Figures taken on 31st December 2008.

Mission statement

"Our aim is to drive shareholder value by making BT a better business with a better future. Three areas - customer service delivery, cost transformation and investing for the future – are essential building blocks to making BT a better business. They are linked: the better we serve our customers, the less time and money we spend on reworking and fixing faults. By continuing to transform our cost base, we open up new opportunities to invest in BT’s future. We are committed to acting as a responsible business for shareholders, customers, suppliers and our people, developing innovative solutions that both benefit society and support our long-term development. Investing in the communities in which we operate and driving down our CO2 emissions are critical parts of this commitment."

Geography and products

BT serve customers in the UK and more than 170 countries worldwide

Distribution channels

BT has four customer-facing lines of business, these are: BT Global Services, BT Retail, BT Wholesale and Openreach. These are supported by two internal service units: BT Innovate & Design and BT Operate. BT Retail, BT Wholesale and Openreach operate mainly in the UK, where BT are one of the largest communications services providers to the consumer and business markets. BT Global Services operates in the UK and globally. In the UK BT support CPs through BT Wholesale and Openreach, and internationally through Global Telecoms Markets, a part of BT Global Services.

BT has a portfolio of around 1,800 products and services. These can be divided into 5 broad categories.

Broadband & Convergence
Calls and Lines
Transit, conveyance, interconnect circuits, wholesale line rental (WLR), global carrier and other wholesale products
Managed solutions which comprise networked IT services, multiprtocol label switching (MPLS) and MNS
Other products and services which include BT Global Services' revenue from non UK global products and BT Retail's Enterprises division including revenue from conferencing, directories, payphones and other select services

Advertising

PR

BT have been running TV advertisements that follow a storyline. Viewers vote on BT's website to determine the fate of fictional characters Adam and Jane. The campaign has received a massively positive response. In fact, the most recent development - that Adam's girlfriend Jane is pregnant - was a destiny that was decided by 1.6 million voters. One fan of the advertisements created a facebook page "Just to give the BT actors some support, they do make a great couple and now his internet has cut off i hope they dnt break up!". The group has around 2,000 members. The video above shows a collection of all the Adam and Jane advertisements, which ended in August 2010, after running for 5 years.

Key people

Ian Livingstone - Chief Executive Officer

Mr Livingstone became CEO of BT group in 2008 after holding two key executive roles in the company which he joined in 2002. He as served on the board as group finance director, and as CEO at BT Retail. Livingstone graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Economics

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