Coming up for Eir

100 agencies and $16m later, Ireland-based Eircom telecommunications company has successfully rebranded its image and logo. It is now, simply, Eir. It is thought to be the largest rebrand seen in Ireland for almost 20 years.

Starting off as the Department of Posts and Telegraphs, which became Telecom Éireann, and in 1999 Eircom, Eir, now private equity owned, is the new brand name for the company’s fresh image. As Jon Florsheim, managing director of Eir’s consumer division, says, “This is a very different company than the one that came out of examinership three years ago. Everything you see here is a totally new statement about our brand.”

Despite the vast amount of creative agency input that went into the rebranding process, the overall new Eir image can be attributed to international branding creative Moving Brands.

The sharp, modern image of the new brand will serve Eir well, decoupling it from the clichéd imagery of late twentieth century telecommunications branding and the logos to match. Over 20 colours were part of the previous Eircom palette, but the bright pink of the new Eir logo will be offset with its newly rebranded, bright green, fleet of vans. 

In fact, so keen is Eir to leave its turbulent brand past behind that €5m of the €16m rebranding budget has been spent on advertising alone. A new commission of the song Fionnghuala, specially arranged by composer John Walsh, will be the soundtrack to the advertising campaign.

Eir remain the only company in the Irish telecommunications market to offer broadband, landline, mobile and television consumer services. The colour and vitality of Eir’s new visual language will, it is hoped, reflect its versatile and modern customer base.