AT&T plans multi-year effort to burnish its brand image

By Sheila Dang

(Reuters) -AT&T Inc will pursue a "multi-year effort" to improve its reputation with customers, its Chief Executive John Stankey said on Tuesday.

Speaking at Goldman Sachs' Communacopia conference, Stankey said he was not satisfied with the U.S. wireless company's current brand image and added the company is not currently perceived by customers as "being the best in all cases."

The Dallas-based company is working to spin off its media unit WarnerMedia to combine the assets with Discovery Inc, ending AT&T's ambitious journey to become an entertainment powerhouse and allowing it to refocus on its original communications business.

Stankey said the brand turnaround plan is not an advertising campaign, but rather ensuring that its products, such as fiber home internet, are the best in the market.

AT&T has so far implemented $2 billion in "cost efficiencies" out of its goal of $6 billion, which the company is investing back into its business, Stankey said.

(Reporting by Sheila Dang in Dallas; additional reporting by Helen Coster in New York;Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)