Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2003/03/24/last_post_for_bts_trumpet/

Last post for BT's trumpet bloke

Prancing piper put out to pasture

By Lester Haines

Posted in Bootnotes, 24th March 2003 16:28 GMT

LogoWatch

BT's much-ridiculed prancing piper: Gone and very quickly forgotten

Telecoms monolith BT has decided to ditch its infamous and much-ridiculed "prancing piper" logo.

Long-suffering customers have for 12 years endured this preposterous piece of rebranding, which provoked much tabloid ire on its unveiling in 1991. The Sun, as we recall, was moved to emblazon its front page with "BT blows £5m on trumpet!", or words to that effect. In fact, the eventual cost of the discordant fanfare was a cool £50 million and heralded mass redundancies at the company, as The Daily Mirror recalls.

The logo will be phased out over three years, and it is with great anticipation that we await its replacement. This will doubtless be a majestic and synergistic celebration of BT's corporate paradigm shift, courtesy of the market realignment team at a leading UK strategy boutique. Anyone care to speculate on the eventual cost? ®