Freeserve Marks Rebrand With New Broadband Services
Freeserve is completely rebranding as Wanadoo today in a move that will consign one of the UK’s biggest and most established internet brands to the dotcom history books.
Wanadoo is currently the second-biggest internet service provider in Europe with 2.6 million customers and its decision to drop the Freeserve brand will make it the market leader in the UK and France.
The long-awaited rebrand will see Freeserve adopt the core brand values and visual identity of its parent company, Wanadoo, with the backing of an extensive £20 million cross-media campaign created by M&C Saatchi (see Freeserve To Spend £20 Million On Wanadoo Rebranding).
To mark the move, the company has unveiled ambitions to offer a range of television services and cheap voice calls over the internet as part a concerted effort to grow the high-speed broadband market in Europe.
Chief executive of Wanadoo’s UK operations, Eric Abensur, said the company was aiming to launch a home gateway box by the summer that would eventually link a number of household devices, such as game consoles and televisions, to the internet. This will be followed by a voice-over IP enabling users to make cheaper national and international calls via the internet.
Wanadoo has also announced the launch of a new 512k broadband service for £17.99 a month and faster 1 megabit broadband product for £34.99 a month. The new services will be promoted by an advertising campaign using the strapline: “Whatever you Wanadoo”.
Commenting on the move, Abensur said: “We are thrilled to be announcing the launch of Wanadoo today. We now represent the most exciting and innovative ISP brand in Europe and our customers will see that in everything we do. Today’s news is great for Wanadoo and great for our customers. Our exciting new broadband offer is just the start and we look forward to further enriching our broadband product range in the next few months for the benefit of all our customers.”
A recent report from eMarketer suggests that almost 250 million people worldwide will subscribe to broadband internet services by 2007. It is expected that broadband’s popularity and strong growth will continue until the end of 2010 with consumers using it to watch videos, play music and shop online (see Broadband Subscribers Set To Hit 250 Million).
Wanadoo: 020 7553 7567 www.wanadoo.co.uk
Recent New Media Stories from NewsLine IAB Expands Operations As Online Adspend Soars BBC To Emerge Unscathed From Online Review Ask Jeeves Ditches Banners From UK Website
Subscribers can access ten years of media news and analysis in the Archive