Kenny Hirschhorn, executive vice-president of strategy, imagineering and future at Orange, told the conference, "You've got to know what your brand is about."
He then went on to quote David Varney, chairman of mmO2, whose response to the question "What does 'mm' stand for?" at a recent press conference was less than certain.
Varney reportedly responded that it probably stood for multimedia, but that the company had kept it vague in case it all goes wrong and it decided to focus on something else.
Hirschhorn made the comments at the Marketing Society conference held at the Grosvenor hotel in London today. The theme of the conference is 2001-2010: A Marketing Odyssey.
He also told delegates that a major theme of the future would be "simplexity" and that Orange believes technology should make the world a better place.
MmO2 is the demerged mobile phone business, which was formerly part of BT. It floated last week.
During his presentation, Hirshhorn joked, "Is there anyone here from BT? Well, fuck off then."
His remarks came as Orange announced the appointment of Alex Batchelor, a former joint managing director of brand consultancy Interbrand, to the newly created post of vice-president worldwide brand.
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