The History of Orange.
Orange were something of a sensation when they burst on to the market in 1994. The British public had never really seen a brand like them; bold, new and innovative, they looked to uproot a young market and remould it in their own image. Put simply, they were quite remarkable and though you can’t switch your phone on today and see their logo, the company is still around, living amongst us under a different name. Such a pioneering and important company deserve to have their story told, and so, let’s do just that.
Orange began life in 1990, right here in the UK. At this point, it was known as Microtel Communications Ltd, and was a consortium formed by the American owned Pactel Corporation, British Aerospace (who seem to have their fingers in every pie), Millicom and Mantra, who were French. This multinational and multilingual consortium didn’t last very long, however, as British Aerospace quickly bought out its partners shares and took total control of the young company, retaining the Microtel name. This was to be just the first in a string of sales for the company in its early years.
In July 1991 Hutchison Whampoa (who currently own Three, and are hoping to complete the purchase of O2 in early 2016) agreed a stock swap deal with BAe. As part of the deal, Whampoa would take a controlling stake of 65% in Microtel Communications. By this stage, the company had won a license to develop a ‘personal communications network’ in the UK, one of the earliest such licenses granted to a company.
It was at this time that the company began to work on their revolutionary branding. At the time of its launch, it was a complete revolution in the world of advertising and marketing. Not one mobile network would have dared to launch such a bold, ambiguous brand into a young marketplace. Yet today, we see countless such examples out in the market, seen in O2, EE, Three and many others. The new branding was created by an internal team within Microtel, headed by Marketing Director Chris Moss (who has gone on to work for B&Q) and supported by Martin Keogh, Rob Furness and Ian Pond. Wolff Olins were tasked with designing the brand values and logo, whilst WCRS worked on that most iconic of slogans – ‘The Future’s Bright, The Future’s Orange’.
On the 28th of April, 1994, Orange launched a 1800MHz GSM network in the UK alongside a huge advertising campaign which teased the brand, but didn’t give much away. By 1995, a holding company was established called Orange plc, thus removing all trace of the Microtel brand.
Growth, put simply, was explosive, and by April 1996 the company was to be launched on the London Stock Exchange. Following that float, the company was majority owned by Whampoa (48.22%), with a smaller amount owned by BAe (21.1%). Such was the valuation of the company that by July of 1996, Orange became the youngest company ever to enter the FTSE 100, valued at £2.4 billion.
October 1999 would see the company purchased by German conglomerate Mannesmann AG for $33 billion, shortly before Mannessman was bought by Vodafone for $183 billion in February 2000. Vodafone, however, could not hold two mobile licenses, so sold Orange to France Telecom for £37 billion, a transaction completed in 2000. At this stage, Orange's growth was incredible, and new customers choosing to contact Orange shot up.
The company remained in that state until the 1st of April, 2010, when a deal between Orange and T-Mobile was struck to bring the two companies together in the UK to become the largest network with 37% of the market. Now known as EE, Orange might not be on the high street anymore, but their influence can be felt everywhere.
