I wasn’t really surprised, I heard about MTC Kuwait changing their identity a couple of months ago. They are also going to match that along with the other MTC-owned telecom companies. Now after some googling I found this post and it appears that MTC’s contract with Vodafone has expired at the end of August, so they decided to rebrand to “Zain”.

UPDATE: THIS IS THE LEAKED BRANDING FILE.

I received it in a forwarded email, and I also found this link on the post showing the company’s rebranding campaign details. (not responsible, a friend also got it in an email and forwarded it to me).

However, MTC (which is known as MTC-Vodafone in Kuwait and Bahrain, Fastlink in Jordan, MTC Atheer in Iraq, MTC Touch in Lebanon and Celtel in several African countries) is rebranding them all starting with Kuwait on September 8th.

Now after googling, I came across this weird forum and managed to translate what’s (I considered crap) written there:
_{(mind the weak translation, I used google translation services and fixed the mistakes I found)}

Why rebranding? Some may wonder why/what is this change all about, it is a logical question. In fact, after the huge expansion of MTC in Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon and now in Saudi Arabia, The company had tried to enter into international stock exchanges, but could not because it owns several companies under different names and not in behalf of one company decided to change the names of all companies to Zain and to enter stock markets under one name.

Please be advised that the launch date for the brand “Zain” is on Friday, September 7

The meaning of the new logo? The logo consists of three colors, Pink refers to the heart, Blue refers to affiliation and Green refers to brilliance

Why “Zain” was selected as a name for the new business? What is the idea behind it? We are looking for a name everyone can easily spot around the world and does not imply any abuse to any culture, we needed a name that we can legally register and we needed a domain name that is still available, but the most important thing is that we needed an easy to remember name and It was not easy to find a name that reflects the way we conduct ourselves and our feelings to ourselves and to our clients. We found that in Zain, Zain meets the criteria and it is simple and easy to remember which is crucial to the success of any brand, Zain will serve the philosophy that we believe in and which, in a nutshell, the trend towards the future and possess freedom and show how ready we are to provide services and enjoy all that performance.

What is the meaning behind the name Zain? Zain literally means “good”, but when used the word “Zain” to describe our company, it means much more than that. The word “Zain” shows how we work and how we live. “Zain” means to live beautiful and rich, “Zain” means achievement using opportunities and progress, as well as celebrating life, and we believe that people can realize their individual potentials through “Zain” as their families and communities, “Zain” exists in the everywhere there are, also “Zain” reflects the the importance we give each member in the company and give priority to assist each other in achieving our goals and our person, and that means “Zain” Everything we want it to mean. A Name is like an empty bowl we can fill with the brand we create.

Some may consider “Zain” a Kuwaiti word? Is this why have you chosen it? “Zain” is a purely Arab and universally acceptable word because it has no negative connotations in other cultures, but it does not seem Arab to those non-Arabs who hear it, and I wasn’t chosen because it had an Arabic meaning but because people within the focus groups liked it and 95% of names proposed were Latin names and the name “Zain” was among the top three names which entered the list of final selection which meet all criteria required in the name of a solid business and easy to remember and exciting name, and in Africa means “Zain” means extreme happiness while in Latin it means a black house countries, and all meanings are beautiful.

What values does the name “Zain” achieve? Sparkling: money in a visionary and creative imagination, and the joy and the rich diversity it adds to your life. Heart: to live your life in courage and determination, consistently with yourself, related to your feelings, connecting to your soul. Affiliation: to spread the spirit of concord between human beings and communicating with overlooking the cultural and geographical boundaries.

Sorry, I’m ROFLMAO! whoever who wrote this crap in Arabic, you need to get a life! seriously! you made me suffer reading it to understand, and it’s total crap, stop forwarding emails!

Update 2: apparently the trademark has also been registered to them.

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Comments ( 18 )

Moey, I’m with you. What’s with all the rebranding. I guess it’s more PC than choosing one of the company’s names (like FastLink) which has meaning, is easy to remember, and fairly well known regionally. I just posted my thoughts on the other big rebranding happening as we speak here in Jordan. At least I like Zain better than that one. But, if you want it to look universal spell it Zane in English. Then is looks like the first name of the great Western writer in the US Zane Grey. Oh, well. Thanks for the laugh…

MommaBean added these pithy words on Sep 03 07 at 9:51 am

I’m laughing man … but wait … why the hell should we adhere to the dominance of companies … it was Mobilecom then Fastlink ? is it a type of trade marks or brands burning (Mobilecom has burned 5 brand names) .. we lost Mobilecom, the logo, the arabic concept, to an orange square with “Orange” written using “Times New Roman” in it. why is this happening ?? .. will we lose fastlink, the logo, the colors, the english concept to a simple name ZAIN “most probably it’s the owner’s daughter name” ??!! anyway i should have got it when fastlink became part of MTC group.!!!! I HATE THAT, I used to be Fastlink and never give up. !!

Gradly added these pithy words on Sep 03 07 at 2:04 pm

I dont like the logo but i’ll wait to see the whole branding before i judge

Fadi added these pithy words on Sep 04 07 at 3:11 pm

you will never how big is the mistake they make by changing the name to (zain). it is a very bad ward in some cultures i will tell u later about it.
but 1st i will try to meet with mtc managements to make them change it. and save them the consequnces of it.

burashed added these pithy words on Sep 05 07 at 6:44 am

burashed tshedesh 3ala 7alak

someone added these pithy words on Sep 05 07 at 8:43 am

5alleh ya zalameh, fastlink started to put billboards all over the country …

Gradly added these pithy words on Sep 05 07 at 11:12 am

we like zain …. i like the logo and to be honest we didnt deside anything about changing the name unless we study this word really well ,,, and who thinks its so bad no need to think nagatively .. be always positive and go ahead with i totally disagree that zain is a bad idea and please dont try to change it coz its done already save your time and our time my dear

judger added these pithy words on Sep 06 07 at 12:12 pm

i believe ZAIN can’t reflect the brand image for the fastlink as before…you need to use an approriate business name… such as “ROBUST”

Samer added these pithy words on Sep 07 07 at 2:17 pm

i was watching the event, i thought there was something unique this time, honestly i thought there going to be an iPhone for Zain networks !, one hour of Blah Blah blah !

iBader added these pithy words on Sep 08 07 at 9:24 pm

I guess corporate world got its own food chain and tip of the pyramid has that man with that fat wallet, sans the claws and fangs. I’m enjoying this Zain leak! Rock on Moey!

Tazz added these pithy words on Sep 09 07 at 1:12 am

My eldest son’s name is Zein. But this is the way i spell it. it makes it more English and with “ie” not “ai”. If it is changed it will be great.

It is not because i hav echosen this name for my son three years ago, it is really great simple and extraordinary name for business and social alike.

Mahmoud

Mahmoud Saeed added these pithy words on Sep 09 07 at 9:21 pm

This site is awsome love love love the background

Michelle added these pithy words on Oct 10 07 at 7:08 pm

The Marlboro Man was the cowboy that made Marlboro Red Cigarettes cool to its audience from 1954 to 1999. The rugged cowboy was introduced to make filtered cigarettes acceptable to male smokers. However, cigarettes being a lethal habit, the two Marlboro men used succumbed to lung cancer, which gave rise to the brand’s nickname of Cowboy Killers.

Anonymous added these pithy words on Aug 16 08 at 5:16 pm

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