wide on magazine

Voo: a counter exemple in Brand name decision

February 22nd, 2007

Last Year the belgian historical cable operator Brutele changed its name to Voo.

While merging with other cable operators, Brutele choosed the brand name Voo, wich in French means You (”Vous”).

If the intention seems to be good: Including the customer in the brand. My opinion is that totally missed their target.

One detail they certainly forget to think about is that the brand name will be prononced by customers and not the company. What happens then is a exclusion of the brand by the customers.

So Voo is actually opposing the brand and the customers face to face. Then creating a gap between the brand and its customer base.

As a old customer, I can notice that the budget has first been put on marketing and not on service improvement. This generating more issues and then the brand name choice is more and more powerfull as the customer’s satisfaction get down.

What is sold as a triple play offer is actually meaning that Voo’s side you’ll have to speak with 3 different services, you’ll receive 3 different invoices, with one same brand name Voo.

Moreover: for a frenchspeaking person, misprononciating the name would lead to something like Vo (like the Cow’s baby: Veau in french).
Not a nice image to associate with fast and performant communication services.

The Noo name would have been probably better but with also some major weaknesses.

In summary, we can say that: “what’s inside is visible outside.”

Share This

Entry Filed under: technology, telecoms, marketing, communication