±±¾©Èü³µpk10

Orange has ended the prolonged review of its pounds 60m ad business

by handing the account to Lowe Lintas with the brief to build its brand

on a global basis.

Orange cited Lowe Lintas’ global network as the main reason behind its

decision to shift the account.

Following Orange’s acquisition by France Telecom earlier this year, the

brand will increase the number of countries it rolls out to from eight

to 28 as the parent company drops its mobile phone brands, Itineris and

Ola, in favour of Orange.

The win, a major coup for Lowe Lintas’ London office, ends Orange’s

six-year relationship with its original agency WCRS. Despite the split

Orange will retain its famous slogan, developed by WCRS, ’The future’s

bright, the future’s Orange’. The branding is widely regarded as among

the strongest in the mobile telecoms industry.

Talking to Marketing this week, chief executive Hans Snook said Orange

wants to position itself as a ’life services’ brand. Snook said he

expected the key challenge to Orange to come not from existing

communication operators, but from brands such as Tesco and Sony.

’The direction we’re heading in is mobile commerce, to be an e-wallet or

an e-purse. The Orange mobile phone is going to become a remote control

for your life - for buying, controlling your house or listening to

music,’ said Snook.

He added: ’Today we’re the most trusted brand in wire-free and mobile

communications (and) one of the unique things about the Orange brand is

that it does travel well across language and cultural borders.’

Orange is also in the process of developing a range of personalised

consumer services following its pounds 95m acquisition of Ananova, the

online news service fronted by a virtual female newscaster of the same

name. The company will integrate this service with technology from

Wildfire, its voice-recognition company.

Lowe Lintas will be asked to promote Orange’s new range of online

services, provisionally dubbed OrangeWorld, which will extend the brand

into new areas such as online banking, healthcare and travel.