Case study: Rebranding OTT Communications as OTELCO
OTELCO, formerly OTT Communications, is a 220-employee company based in Alabama and serving New England, and parts of Alabama and Missouri. As a B2B and B2C telecom provider, the OTELCO family of companies included a portfolio of smaller, local telephone and Internet providers under various brand names with no cohesive organizational identity.
After a unification of the company’s operations across all footprints, it was time for the name to also be unified. In markets including Maine and Missouri, the OTELCO name was entirely new and required a dedicated focus.
Fluent began by conducting an internal survey of employees across all locations to understand their brand perception. We distilled the findings into a short list of the brand attributes. Being a local provider with a long-standing history (100+ years) rose to the top. From there, Fluent developed a new tagline: “Technology. Tradition. Together.” With a new name, logo (designed by an outside vendor) and tagline in place, we spent Q1 2018 launching the new identity in Maine and Missouri.
As part of a robust integrated campaign, Fluent secured earned media opportunities to announce the rebrand and give the CEO a platform for telling the unification story. We also produced a new :30 TV spot featuring the CEO with the company history/vision which fueled online and broadcast channels.
69% uplift in traffic to the new OTELCO.com website in the first 4 months of 2018 vs all domains in December of 2017. Secured earned media placements announcing the rebrand in Maine. The :30 TV spot generated 51,222 views on YouTube, 5,100 views on Facebook. 1.45MM broadcast TV impressions on Maine stations where the company name was being introduced for the first time.