Familiarity of BT rebrand breeds some contempt

We’ve heard of recycled plastics, recycled paints and even recycled loo paper. But recycled logos? Well, as Elmwood chairman Jonathan Sands might say, shit happens.

BT’s ‘new’ identity, which last week replaced the prancing piper (‘too poofy for the engineers,’ said one report), has been recycled not once, but twice. Wolff Olins initially designed it for the Concert joint venture with AT&T. When that business proved less than tuneful, the logo was pressed into service on Internet operation BT Openworld. Now, heavens to Beattie, it represents the whole darn hog.

Has Wolff Olins been paid a reuse fee? Ha! Pity designers aren’t more like musicians in that regard. But a spokeswoman says she’s pleased with the ‘continuity’. Perhaps the ‘new’ BT identity will find its way into the group’s creds book after all?