Salt boss: name change pays off
Salt Instead of Orange: CEO Johan Andsjö is convinced that the mobile carrier’s name change is the right move—despite the 40 million Swiss francs in costs. According to Andsjö, the Swiss company’s new owner, Frenchman Xavier Niel, has largely remained in the background so far.
Salt CEO Andsjö contrasts the cost of the name change with annual marketing expenses: These amounted to an average of 55 million francs, "plus around 30 million francs in our stores, all this for a brand that no longer belonged to us," Andsjö said in an interview published by the French-speaking Swiss newspaper Le Temps on Saturday. The new name will also allow the mobile operator to save on license payments. To use the Orange brand, the company previously had to pay 20 million francs a year to former owner France Télécom, which owns the brand. Asked about the relationship with the new owner, Frenchman Xavier Niel, Andsjö said he had not had much contact with him so far. Niel has introduced himself to all employees and has been involved in the rebranding, but that is all, Andsjö said. Meetings with Niel take place monthly, he said.
737 possible names evaluated
After the takeover by Niel, Orange Switzerland had renamed itself Salt on April 23. The name change had taken some time: The search for the new name began more than a year earlier, as Andsjö had announced at the launch event in April. Over time, 737 possible brand names were evaluated. Six concepts were looked at more closely, two were developed further and finally one was selected. For this, 1300 customers were surveyed. The company wants to score points with subscriptions that allow unlimited use within Switzerland. The existing Orange subscriptions will remain valid, Andsjö said at the launch. A radical change in the tariff structure was never intended. Andsjö thus rejected speculation about a price war that had circulated after the takeover by Niel. (SDA)
