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NEW YORK -- What better way to get the word out about a new company name than with front-page headlines in major cities around the country? Phone giant Verizon
spells its new name
S-T-R-I-K-EAssociated Press
However, free publicity can be a double-edged sword when it comes because 87,000 of your employees go on strike, as they did Sunday at Verizon Communications, the huge telephone company formed in June by the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE Corp.
A prolonged, nasty dispute can't be very good for a company's image, especially if customer service suffers.
But if the strike, which entered its fifth day today, comes to a speedy resolution, the timing of this week's media coverage may turn out rather opportune for a company that's trying to forge a new identity.
It was just last week that Verizon launched a national media campaign to let people know that pretty soon they'll be seeing the new name and logo show up on phone bills, pay phones, Web sites, repair trucks, signs and anywhere else the Bell Atlantic or GTE brands currently appear.
While it may seem an awkward moment to be flashing a new corporate smile, a name change can be confusing -- especially when it comes to replacing two long-established brands in a market where many consumers still think they get their local phone service from AT&T Corp.
For Verizon, the strike may drive the point home.
"They've been my phone company for more than a month and I didn't know it (until this week)," said Don Reynolds, of Wakefield, Mass.
The strike "is probably helping Verizon get simple awareness faster," said Robert Kahn, executive director at FutureBrand, a New York-based consulting firm, adding that labor strife usually doesn't have a lasting impact in terms of public image.
Richard Wilke, a senior partner at Lippincott & Margulies, the New York-based consulting firm that helped devise the Verizon name agreed.
"They're getting an awful lot of free media for the new name as a result of the strike," he said. "It will facilitate the transition from Bell Atlantic to Verizon in a more economical fashion."
As contract talks continued today. Verizon managers are struggling with a growing backlog of telephone repair orders as technicians and customer service workers, picketing from Maine to Virginia, press on with their strike.
(The company is the parent of Verizon Hawaii, which includes the former GTE Hawaiian Tel, but local service has been unaffected by the East Coast strike.)
