EE: Uncovering The Strange New World Of The UK's First 4G Brand

EE: Uncovering The Strange New World Of The UK's First 4G Brand

The UK's first 4G mobile network has a name: EE.

But what is it?

As for the brand itself. Well. It's... sort of, lots of dots. They move. And they're yellow and blue. Sorry - "aqua".

And, er...

Let's go back to the start. What we are sure of is that the now-renamed Everything Everywhere presented its new identity at an event in London's Science Museum. Because we were there.

The setting was apt, EE said, because the brand represented the commencement of a new communications - and presumably marketing - revolution. EE's LTE network is five times as fast as 3G, and could be a game-changer for the mobile economy.

As such, the old generation of logos - created in the pre-internet age, said Steven Day, chief of brand at EE - weren't good enough.

EE's logo is different, they say. The key is that the brand is inspired by light - the light that powers all energy, radio networks and fibre-optic broadband.

"We humans can't see light at that end of the electromagnetic spectrum," Day said. "So we imagined it instead."

In appearance the logo looks like a molecule, with two 'E's in circles made up of "particles". Yes, even the dots which make up the brand ID are renamed "particles" in official EE terminology.

The logo also moves. In a video clip we saw, the twin-E Balloons shifted and shimmered and danced around various London landscapes in a provocatively vague sort of way. The particles (sigh) spin, dive and dance for no very good reason too. It was cool, we suppose, but we hope EE's coverage is not similarly effervescent.

Finally we were presented with the image of the EE logo - in Aqua (again, corporate EE parlance for 'blue') - hovering terrifyingly next to a man and a dog watching something on an iPad. So make of that what you will.

Yes, EE have promised more details in the coming weeks. And yes, it's not as though other mobile networks are blameless on the silly brand front.

But if you're hoping for new ridiculous mobile phone ads, we have a feeling you're not going to be disappointed by the UK's first 4G provider.

And there was some good news at least: Mayor of London Boris Johnson said the new "pollen count dot" idea was "absolutely wonderful".

So there's that.

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