Frontier Communications executed a long-expected brand revamp, unveiling a more modern logo but opting not to change its widely recognized name.
The operator last updated its brand in early 2016 after acquiring Verizon’s wireline assets in California, Florida and Texas, rolling out a refresh of its historic text-based branding with an updated font, brighter color and dotted arc. This time around it has once again refreshed its typeface and adopted a brighter red palette, but also added a new roundel logo that hockey fans might recognize as vaguely reminiscent of the Philadelphia Flyers icon.
John Harrobin, EVP of Frontier’s Consumer business, said the new branding is an “external reflection” of an internal overhaul the company has undertaken in recent months. “Our new brand is a result of the inside-out transformation that has taken place at Frontier,” he stated. “Over the past year, we improved our products and services with a dedicated focus on dramatically improving the customer experience – and emerged as a new company.”
Frontier emerged from bankruptcy almost exactly a year ago, and since then has laid plans to deploy fiber to a total of 10 million locations by the end of 2025. As the company has regained its sea legs and set sail toward its goal, analysts have repeatedly questioned whether a rebranding was in the cards given negative consumer associations with the Frontier name.
During Q3 2021 earnings in November 2021, CEO Nick Jeffery said it was conducting extensive research to determine the best path forward and had completed more than 1,200 interviews across five different states. Among other options, it was evaluating whether to refresh its existing brand somehow or reinvent itself entirely. Atlantic Broadband and Cincinnati Bell recently went the latter route with their own brands, emerging as Breezeline and altafiber, respectively.
On the operator’s Q4 2021 earnings call, Jeffery revealed Frontier had been able to drastically improve its net promoter score from -24 in January to +9 in December. Net promoter scores are measured on a scale of -100 to +100 and indicate consumer satisfaction with a given brand. At the time, New Street Research analyst Jonathan Chaplin flagged the swing as significant and Jeffery highlighted it as an indicator its existing brand was “repairable.”
In a statement, Jeffery said he hopes the new logo will “soon become the unmistakable icon of Gigabit America.” Frontier could not immediately be reached for further comment on the move.
Its new brand is now live on its website and will be rolled out across Frontier's other assets over the coming months.