Bringing a brand to life: the ZenKey brand backstory

The challenge: Work with America’s four largest wireless carriers to create a single brand that provides consumers and businesses with a new form of mobile identity technology; one that provides people with peace of mind, control and enhanced levels of security.

The solution: ZenKey. It's the brand name for a next-generation mobile authentication platform painstakingly created by AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon that was unveiled at Mobile World Congress last week in Los Angeles.

AT&T's brand strategy team led the way, working with technologists and brand teams from the other carriers over the course of 18 months. With the consumer very much at the center of the initiative, the brand teams built the brand from scratch through thoughtful research, naming and design – ultimately landing on a symbol and brand name that helps communicate to customers that they now can have “peace-of-mind” that their identity and personal information are reasonably safe and secure.

ZenKey simplifies online account registration and enables highly secure identity verification and related digital transaction authorizations while eliminating the need to use easily stolen or forgotten passwords or set up a password manager. People can simply use ZenKey, which applies layers of authentication and authorization factors, including unique network signals, to not only verify a user’s device but to also verify that the user is who they say they are. It’s a secure bridge between you, your favorite apps and online services, and your wireless carrier – with unique capabilities to identify and protect you and your mobile device.

This is next-gen innovation at its finest, and I’m proud that AT&T played an important role in helping bring not only the technology but, especially, the ZenKey brand to life.