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Executive Summary
It all started as a local telephone company and evolved into one of the leading
telecommunication companies in the country. Throughout its 100 years of existence
Sprint’s main goal has been customer satisfaction.
Through this campaign we intend to uphold Sprint’s current customers while
expanding our brand to new potential customers seeking 4G and unlimited data plans.
Through research we found that Sprint can make its biggest growth within
telecommunication users in the 35 to 49 year old demographic. Our target audience is
primarily businessmen and women who have a family to tend to, as well as, focus on
their career. Their days don’t end after 5PM and having a smartphone with an unlimited
data plan at the tip of their fingers gives them more time to focus on their daily
responsibilities and less time on how much data they are using.
In our creative, we have showcased everything Sprint phones have to offer, from
applications and games to 4G networking which no other company offers. These
advertisements will be used to show fresh elements of a cell phone company that would
entice non-Sprint users to switch to Sprint.
Our campaign will begin in the 2013 fiscal year. The first promotion will centered
around Valentine’s Day in the months of January and February. After one month of
slower advertising in March, our promotions pick back up in April just in time with the
Major League Baseball season. To keep Sprint at the number one at consumer’s minds,
advertisements will run consistently during the months July, August, September and
October. In typical advertising fashion, advertisments will increase during the holiday
season in November and December. During our promotion months spot advertising will
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be implemented in areas that have the highest percentage of our target audience:
Washington D.C, Boston, Los Angeles and New York.
Within our $80,000,000 budget we successfully will end this year $8,845.00
under budget. We expect to hit 8,129 GRPs, as well as, 4,877,400,000 Gross
Impressions. Through the year both Sprint and non-Sprint users will become more aware
of our company and everything we have to offer, and this will lead to an increase in the
number of subscribers we have nation-wide.
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Situational Analysis
I.
Brand Positioning and the History of Sprint:
Although Sprint Nextel is ranked third amongst wireless communication device
companies they have been able to uphold their position due to many different facets
through advertising, marketing strategies, and strategic alliances with other companies.
Sprint originated as the company that offered, “pin drop clear service,” along with being
the largest independent local telephone provider. Sprint has formed many partnerships
with companies including Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile, payLO; this allows cell coverage
to cover more of the country. Along with these other wireless companies Sprint merged
with Nextel Corporation on December 15, 2004. At this time they were considered the
third and fifth wireless companies within the wireless service device market, however
they were considered equals when going through the merger.
Current Marketing Factors:
1) Brand History
In 1899 Brown Telephone Corporation, now known as Sprint Nextel Corporation,
was founded by Cleyson Brown with one goal in mind: provide telephone service to a
rural area of Kansas. At first, Brown Telephone Corp. thought small, but rapidly grew
and 1903 they joined forced with 14 other Kansas independent phone companies, which
would now provide long-distance to Kansas City. By 1911, Brown Telephone joined
with three more independent telephone companies to form the United Telephone
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Company. In 1925, in order to have a larger reach Brown decided to change the name
United Telephone and Electric Company.
Until the Great Depression in 1931, United Telephone Company was the second
largest in Kansas, however, when the depression forced three million subscribers to give
up their phone services. The Depression caused six of its 85 companies to shut down,
however it wasn’t till 1938 when UT&E was dissolving and transferred their assets to
United Utilities, Incorporated.
1964 is when UT&E began to see bigger changes. With a new president, Paul H. Henson,
evolved the company and by 1972 UT&E changed their name to United
Telecommunications. And by the mid-1970s, the company was known as the largest
independent local telephone provider, which remains true till today.
While United Telecommunications dominated the independent genre of telephone
companies, Sprint Corporation was emerging from California and expanded nation-wide.
Sprint provided long distance telephone across borders to its consumers and United
Telecommunication recognized the opportunity for growth and in 1989 began purchased
a large part of the company and in 1991 completed the purchase of US Sprint. United
Telecommunications changed its name once again and became Sprint Corporation,
recognizing the potential growth that came with the nationally recognized brand
name. By 1993, Sprint Corporation became the first major company to provide local,
long distance and wireless services.
As Sprint developed and remained in its number one spot, Nextel was emerging into
the world of cell phones. Nextel enabled consumers nation-wide and in Canada to
communicate via a two-way radio. As years went by Nextel developed creating a lot of
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“first” in the industry. Eventually Nextel caught the eye of Sprint Corporation and in
2004 Sprint Nextel announced their merger and for the last time Sprint Corporation
changed their name to Sprint Nextel Corporation in 2005. In the month of October 2012,
a Japanese firm bought out 70% of Sprint’s company for 20 billion dollars.
2)
“4 P’s”:

Product: There are two levels of product. Sprint produces phone devices
including “smartphones, mobile broadband devices such as air-cards and
hotspots, and embedded tablets and laptops manufactured by various suppliers
for use with our voice and data services;” Next is Data and Voice Services.
Other products are internet access, messaging, email, wireless photo and video
services, entertainment options, like TV, as well as, GPS navigation tools.

Price: Has plans such as Pay As You Go, Individual, Family and Business
plans. Price ranges from $30-$109/month. “We generally sell these devices at
prices below our cost in response to competition to attract new subscribers and
as retention inducements for existing subscribers.

3)
Place: All 50 United States, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, and Japan.
How brand differs from competition:
“Our ability to compete successfully will depend on our ability to anticipate and
respond to various competitive factors affecting the industry, including new services that
may be introduced, changes in consumer preferences, demographic trends, economic
conditions and pricing strategies.”
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4)
Total size of the market:
1.16 trillion dollars
5)
Market Share: 349.5 million subscribers within AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and
Verizon. Sprint is the 3rd largest telecommunications company owning 27.4%(including
Japan, 48 million subscribers without) of the market share (seekingalpha.com). In 2011 it
was reported that Sprint Nextel had the largest sequential increase in net operating
revenues in more than five years. Also, at its highest level ever, Sprint Nextel now serves
over 55 million customers. The iPhone helped dramatically increased sales for Sprint
Nextel, selling around 40% (1.8 million) to new customers. In 2010 the company
recorded revenues of $32,563,000, which is a 0.9% increase from the year 2009. Driven
by the Sprint platform, wireless services increased in fourth quarter revenue by more than
7%. Sprint was also reported to have the “largest year-over-year increase on record across
the United States wireless industry” with an ARPU growth of $3.69. Although there was
a major increase in sales, the operating loss of the company increased by over one million
between the years 2009-2010. Sprint Nextel CEO, Dan Hesse, believes that the
company’s strong fourth quarter performance “illustrates the power of matching iconic
devices like the iPhone with our simple, unlimited plans and industry-leading customer
experience.” In just this past year Sprint added five million new net customers to their
network. The company offers wireless services to subscribers in all 50 states, Puerto Rico
and the US Virgin Islands. This includes all companies under the Sprint corporate brands,
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such as Nextel, Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile, Assurance Wireless and Common Cents
(transnewsworld.com).
6)
Life Cycle:
The cell phone industry is in the Mature Life Cycle Stage, where nearly allpotential customers are already users of the industry’s product. The
cell phone industry’s growth and profitability depends entirely on its
ability to attract new customers. By increasing and improving the cell
phones and services, it will attract more potential buyers, because
technology alone will not attract buyers, instead companies want value-added
services for mobile-phone securities.
Cell Phone companies attract buyers in two ways during the Mature Life Cycle
State:

Service: Making cell phone more affordable will attract buyers to buy
more cell phones and increase competition between companies to lower
service fee.

Sprint cell phone plans start at $30
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
pay as you go plans with Boost Mobile

offers not only different plans, but different sections of the
company; Nextel and Boost.
Innovative Phone Style: The new designs and improvement in the physical
appearance of the cell phones, and more add-on features attracts customers
to buy it at a higher rate.

7)
8)
offer the iPhone and Android phones.
Geographic breakdown:
Methods used to sell the product:
Sprint uses
CURRENT MARKETING FACTORS: SWOT
Strengths:
·
Large geographic coverage
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·
Strong market position
·
Operations in 341 of 349 largest metropolitan areas
·
Offers services under several brands (Sprint, Nextel, Boost
Mobile)
Weaknesses:
·
It’s 27.4% of the market share
·
It is third among wireless communications devices
·
Heavily dependent on the iPhone device
·
Room for growth and expansion within market
·
Mobile broadband network
·
Carrying the iPhone
·
The ability to develop more flexible solutions among costumers
·
Competitors
·
Competitor expansion to locations Sprint is not in
·
Other carriers have iPhone
·
Control larger portions of the market share
·
Sprint was just purchased
Opportunities:
Threats:
II. Advertising/Creative History:
Brand Differentiation from Competition:
Currently AT&T and Verizon Wireless control 70% of the wireless carriers in the
market and Sprint Nextel comes in third with 96 million subscribers (27.5%). While other
carriers dominate the market Sprint prides their costumers on the fact that they are
number one in costumer satisfaction (newsroom.sprint.com). With 1.4 billion dollars
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spent in their Ad campaigning new chief executive Bill Malloy slipped in and fired
Goodby Silverstein & Partners in 2011 with a switch to Publicis Groupe. In addition to
making a major switch within their advertising structure they heavily focus on factual
information not on attacking their competitors. Their positioning is very different from
other rival companies because of their ability to deliver technology that avoids limited
coverage and dropped calls. Currently they advertise against competitors with the
advantage that they offer unlimited data to any mobile device, not just carriers of Sprint.
In addition to combating companies who specifically have unlimited data to only carriers
within that company they also entirely skip the idea of “sharing data,” within families.
Since their company is entirely unlimited data it really sets them apart from other
companies.
In addition to their “unlimited data plan,” Sprint is very different from the two
leading companies Verizon and AT&T because they have the highest ranking among
their competitors with customer satisfaction (sprint.newsroom.com). Sprint identifies
themselves in a different manner from other telecommunication companies by presenting
the capabilities that their company has in an honest manner with fewer strings than other
wireless companies.
The original Sprint logo was modified to appropriately combine that of both
companies. The original logo featured the red and grey typeface alongside the read logo
that symbolized communications and predecessors of the many different companies that
originally made up the company as can be seen below. The original predecessors
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represented in this logo were United Telecommunications, US Sprint and Centel.
After the merger was complete Sprint and Nextel rebranded and combined their
logos creating a new look for both companies. Their mission was to become, “Number
one in providing a simple, instant, enriching and productive customer experience.” The
company combined in 2005 and has never looked back. Through providing their
costumers with a dedication to their happiness and excellent costumer service they have
continually been ranked number 1 among all national carriers.
For the majority of Sprint history they have been represented within the
advertising world by Goodby Silverstein & Partners who embarked on three different
rebranding campaigns before Sprint ultimately called it quits in 2011 to switch to Publicis
Groupe and Digitas who now control their advertising endeavors. In 2007 Goodby
launched a new rebranding campaign for Sprint with the tag line, “Sprint Ahead,” the
goal to be switching the focus from long distance phone usage to service speed. The
whole mission of this campaign and rebranding effort was to establish sprint within the
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market place as having speed adding the additional rebranding phrase, “Sprint Speed.”
Prior to this rebranding in 2007 they began another positioning effort to use the phrase,
“Power Up,” which featured actor Ron Livingston. To go even further back into Sprint’s
branding efforts before the “Power Up,” campaign the company’s tagline was, “Yes You
Can.” They concluded one of their campaigns, by rebranding Sprint as the “Now
Network,” in 2008 which was before the switch to Digitas and Publicis.
When Publicis officially took over the positioning and branding of Sprint the idea
behind the move was to look for a fresh approach and a progressive thinking concept.
They made the decision to switch with the intent of getting back into the competitive
nature. In addition to looking for a new advertising method they also made this change
with the goal of advancing their competitive nature through online advertisements, which
has become increasingly more prevalent in importance amongst the various types of
media. Digitas and Publicis were campaigning for Sprint’s brand managing and
eventually won after their work with other companies seemed to be effective and similar
to the way that they intended to move toward. Their focus, “continuing to build the Sprint
brand, bringing value and simplicity to customers across all segments.” Their current
Youtube slogan is “Truly Unlimited Data,” which is the non-typical “sharing data”
opposition. Publicis and Digitas have massively increased their Internet based advertising
as well as achieving new advertisements in all the various media elements.
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Advertising Promotion:
Pinsight Media+ has partnered with Amobee to build a sophisticated mobile
advertising platform capable of delivering targeted ads. With guidance from digital-led,
integrated brand agency Digitas, Pinsight Media+ is building an ecosystem where wellknown brands, such as WhitePages, and advertising networks, including Jumptap and
Hispanic-focused mobile ad network RedMas, can effectively connect with third-party
publishers such as AccuWeather, Scout by Telenav and Sprint’s 2Zona Latina.
Sprint Nextel Brand Media Mix 2011:
Co. B2B Channel Mix
Ad Spending ($000)
Business Publications
$4,740
Internet
Network TV
$8,888
$57,122
Spot TV
$1,439
Spanish-language TV
$7,269
Cable TV networks
$19,138
Syndicated TV
Consumer magazines
$322
$9,539
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Sunday magazines
$3,553
Local magazines
$0
Hispanic magazines
$14
National newspapers
$6,915
Local newspapers
$25,592
Hispanic newspapers
$155
Network spot radio
$868
National spot radio
$1,333
Local spot radio
$2,061
Outdoor
$8,414
Total ’11 spending
$1.4B
*Source: “Top B-to-B Advertisers.” BtoB Online Special Report, September 14, 2009.
Brand Benefits, Promises, Offers and Delivery:
Sprint offers their costumers unlimited data, which is very rare considering both
Verizon and AT&T have eliminated their data plans, putting caps on the amount each
customer can use each month.
Sprint offers a “Sprint Nextel Discount Program” for their
customers. SummitOne Credit Union and Sprint offers a discounted wireless service for
members through this plan. Its features include, nationwide coverage, national rates with
no roaming or long distance charges, available to new and existing sprint/nextel
customers. Some benefits include, 10% off most regularly price Sprint/Nextel Service
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plans, waived activation fee on new activations, and waived upgrade fee. There are also
special benefits for their business member benefits such as, 15% discount on most
corporate liable monthly recurring Sprint Nextel charges, waived activation fee on new
activations, waived upgrade fee, 20% accessories discount, and equipment discounts.
Current Perception Awareness Attitudes:
Due to the fact that Sprint is a publically traded company they list a large portion
of their information regarding various costumer related policies online. In addition to
their strong costumer policies they also were voted #3 in Newsweek’s Top 10 Greenest
companies rating higher than any other telecommunications company with a score of
75.6 (thedailybeast.com).
ADVERTISING / CREATIVE SWOT:
Strengths:
·
Actual 4G network
·
Unlimited data advertising
·
Operate under different carriers providing consumers with more
options
·
Bright yellow
·
Niche marketing
Weakness:
·
Brand association can be misinterpreted with “sprinting” the
action – vs competitors who don’t have this issue
·
Lack of branding
·
Change in advertising firms
·
Integration of Nextel and Sprint losses brand identity
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Opportunities:
·
Advertising being the #3 greenest company
·
Mobile advertising on the phone
·
To remain one of the only unlimited data carriers
·
Ability to advertise their great costumer service reports from
Newsweek
Threats:
·
Advertisement need’s to be tech savvy to sell tech product
·
Haven’t raised their advertisement budget
·
Other companies with a clearly defined brand
·
Competitors with consistent slogan
III. Competitive Considerations:
Who Are the Major Competitors?
Sprint’s major competitors are Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile; these
companies are front-runners in the wireless industry. Sprint claims that since they now
offer the iPhone as well as other superior smart phones, they do not see Verizon Wireless
and AT&T as major threats. Throughout 2011 they saw a stable increase in revenue each
quarter, doubling their revenue from 2010 according to the Annual Report.
AT&T: AT&T is the second largest wireless communication company in the U.S.
providing over 103 million subscribers in the U.S. with wireless cell phone service. This
number falls closely behind Verizon by five million subscribers. The two companies
combined make up 75% of the wireless market share almost entirely eliminating other
companies from the mixture of wireless providers. Over the past few years AT&T has
picked up the shared data plan approach and has been phasing out unlimited data plans
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with the exception of their “grandfathered customers,” according to a Huffington Post
article focusing on AT&T growth and development.
AT&T’s brand positioning is a series of statements regarding their fluid service
and possibilities that their brand has to offer over others. Their brand slogan is, “Rethink
possible,” and they call themselves a, “Network of possibilities,” additionally
** Graph is from yousigma.com
Verizon is dominated the telecommunications world, with being ranked number one
with 108 million subscribers. In the 2011, Verizon had an annual revenue of 7.2 billion.
Verizon’s positioning is that it is the best network because they have invested more than
70 billion dollars since 2000 in order to increase capacity and coverage of the network.
Through a series of daily test Verizon makes sure that its networks are always up and
running well enough to keep their customers happy. In Q2 of 2012 allow, Verizon nearly
doubled their totally revenue from 2011 bringing in a total of 18.6 billion dollars. Daily,
Verizon makes over four million transactions with new potential consumers, as well as,
existing.
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Timeline of their slogans:
2000 – Join in
o Marketing “In calling and In messaging”
2002 – We Never Stop Working for You
o Shown through commercials
o “Can you hear me now?” “Good”
2005—It’s the Network
o Emphasize their network quality
o Advertised on their website, toll free number, and shopping bags
2008—Verizon sponsored Korean Pop Sensation “Se7en”
o Also began a television Ad campaign with a parody of horror movies,
called it don’t be afraid of “Dead Zones”
2009—“There is an app for that,” changed to, “There’s a map for that”
o iPhone launch, shows maps of United States covered in red to show
Verizon’s 3G service
Sales, Market Share, and Awareness?
The company’s headquarters are located in Overland Park, Kansas and is made up
of 40,000 employees. Sprint positions itself as the first and only nationwide wireless
carrier to offer fourth generation (4G) service. This service utilizes Worldwide
Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) through the network operator. The
company’s network vision is to hopefully generate $10–$11 billion in costs and savings
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within the next seven years. To save the Sprint stock, which is currently down and
continues to drop; the company plans to purchase 30.5 million iPhones within the next
four years, committing to a $20 billion allowance (stealingshare.com). Now that Sprint
carries the iPhone along with Verizon and AT&T the “playing field” for choosing a
wireless carrier has become more level.
Positioning and Product Attributes?
Sprint is currently in a difficult position with its competitors, being third in sales
behind Verizon and AT&T. Sprint does its best to pull its brand positioning from its
“unlimited data” plan; something that neither of its higher competitors offer. Sprint is
also in a difficult position because those customers who do plan to switch carriers are
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currently locked into contracts with other companies, forcing them to wait it out. Being
called the “Now Network,” it was very important for Sprint to be up to date with current
phones and plans, as well as fast service. Its strategy also includes multi-branding. By
definition, multi-branding is the marketing of two or more similar and competing
products by the same firm under different and unrelated brands. By producing multiple
brands such as Virgin Mobile (a no contract prepaid wireless plan), Boost Mobile (a pay
as you go, or monthly contract plan), Assurance Wireless (Sprint’s free cell phone service
for low income households), and Common Cents (a pay as you go program exclusive to
Wal-Mart) Sprint is able to target many different audiences.
Not only does Sprint Nextel offer a variety of high end and high ranked smart
phones, but their prepaid companies do as well. Although these smart phones are sold at
retail price, which Verizon and AT&T sell them for hundreds less, the prepaid
companies; such as Virgin Mobile, make up for the cost by not locking to consumer into
a two-year contract. Not only does this allow Sprint’s prepaid companies to target a
different audience, it also allows Apple and the iPhone to be sold to a new type of
customer.
Share of Voice?
Sprints spending in advertisements has sky rocketed by 40% since 2009; now
making up 4.4% of Sprint’s revenues, double the level of its peers (buinessweek.com).
As most advertising companies know, money isn’t everything, and whether Sprint’s
aggressive marketing has paid off is debatable. While Sprint has struggled to retain
subscribers in the past, Verizon Wireless managed to grow its customer base even when
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cutting its advertising budget by 7%. While ad spending by U.S.’s six largest wireless
carriers declined steadily throughout 2008, it jumped 4.3% in 2010 (businessweek.com).
If anything, we have learned that carriers’ ad spending no longer translates into
subscriber gains. As Sprint has slowly gained customers and a larger audience over
several years, many analysts blamed that on a shortage of advertising spending by the
company. Certainly, now that Sprint has ramped that spending up, it’s still not helping as
much as anticipated by analysts.
In 2010 the U.S Sprint Nextel Corporation spent a total of $1.4 billion on
advertising. The estimated measured media spending was $89.1 million, yet unmeasured
media is $880.8. More specifically, Sprint’s media spending in magazines was $69.3
million; newspaper, $10.5 million; outdoor, $584.5 million; television, $13.1 million; and
lastly radio, spending about $114.4 million.
IV. Sprint’s Target Audience:
According to Simmons OneView full time employed men who earn over $100,000
a year are more likely (42%) to use this carrier. Another audience targeted is families,
specifically families with 1-3 children. Simmons states that families with 1-3 children are
24% more likely to use Sprint Nextel. This correlates to their current campaign, and their
unlimited data plan.
Statistics show that males are 6% more likely to use Sprint and females are 6%
less likely to use Sprint. Also, the most popular age group, among Sprint Nextel
customers, is those between 35-44, who are 27% more likely to use this company. In
second comes ages 25-34, and in last comes the younger buyers ranging 18-24. Among
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different races, African Americans are 13% more likely to have Sprint Nextel, but TMobile is the most popular, leading by 50%. “Some Other Race,” as titled by Simmons
was shown to have to most popular usage by 36%. If an individual has had three full
years of college education or more, but did not graduate, they are 54% more likely to use
Sprint Nextel. The most educated of people tend to lean towards using Verizon. Ten
percent of people are more likely to use Sprint Nextel if they are currently married, but
48% less likely if they are widowed. Full-time employees are definitely more targeted in
Sprint’s campaign; which shows 27% of people more likely to use Sprint Nextel. If an
individual is a part-time employee they are 3% less likely to use this company. Lastly,
although rich businessmen are more heavily targeted, Simmons shoes that those who are
the opposite end of the spectrum earning less than $25,000 a year are 36% more likely to
choose Sprint Nextel.
Segmentation Strategies Useful:
The specifics that Sprint as a company looks for in a customer:
1)
Wireless Addicts

Average age: mid 30’s

Visits a Sprint store monthly

Always wants to know
o What is the latest Android device?
o
What’s the best thing in Sprint’s portfolio?
o What are the best Sprint applications out there?
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
Ensures they have the latest technology before their friends

Constantly educating people on latest in wireless technology

Deserves significant focus in the store because they will influence other users

Sprint must ensure they know Sprint is the best
2)
Head of Households

Average age: Mid 30’s

90% female

Mastered the art of texting

Now advancing to social networking and want to use Facebook on their phone

Social networking is huge for this user

Customers need assistance to learn about the device features
3)
Multi-Taskers

60% female and 40% male

Focus on device usage for business and personal productivity

Minimal interest in social networking

More interested on speed in task completion

Looking for value and productivity

Need assistance in educating them on device usage
Also appeals to Student Demographic:
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
Unlimited text, surf, mobile-to-mobile calls

Only $7/month

Special “ID packs” to sort through applications (ex. ESPN, Disney packs)
Boost Mobile

Prepaid

Shifted from 14-24 year old crowd (emphasis on urban youth and action sports)

Targeted to 18-35 year old market for singles and families looking for a reliable
network and Flexible Payment Options

“what you see is what you get” – 10 cents per minute for all calls

“pay as you go plan”
Nextel

Business community

Users look for speed

Option of unique handse
Purchaser Same as User:

Family plans- purchaser not same as user except 1 person

Individual plans- purchaser same

College kids plan- probably still parents that buy it but make it specific for college
kids
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What Media Does Target Audience Use?

Sponsor of 2007 MTV music Awards

Sponsor of 24 and currently Fringe

Product placement in movies

NBA official wireless partner

Sponsors NASCAR 2008-2016

Magazine ads

TV commercials
V. Timing/Purchase Cycle:
Buying Decision:
The decision to use the Sprint Nextel network can be made at any time by an
individual, or company. Purchasing is available online, in-store, and over the phone.
Sprint has been broadening their audience to businesses, small and large, to “help grow”
their corporation. The front page of the Sprint Nextel website directly compares their
pricing to its top two competitors, Verizon and AT&T. This was done strategically to
influence customers to believe that Sprint will give you more per month for less money.
Purchase Cycle:
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This company offers strict 2-year contracts for all customers. If the customer
breaks the contract early there can be up to a $350 early termination fee. Payments for the
plans are required to be paid monthly, and a late fee can also be tacked on. Research
shows that ⅔ of the Sprint’s phones purchased last quarter were smartphones.
Brand and Positioning:
At certain times Sprint is spends more than others but, there has been a zero
percent increase in their spending budget this year from 2010-2011 (Top 100 National
Advertisers chart).
Sales and Usage Peaks:
Usage and sales for the Sprint Nextel network are shown to peak in the twenty-six
metropolitan areas, simply because these areas provide the best 4G service.
VI. SWOT Analysis
Strengths:

Family based company

Unlimited data

4G network

First in costumer service among wireless providers

Business friendly

Student demographic
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
Recently started selling iPhone

Ranked #3 among top 500 greenest companies in America
Weaknesses:

Not very competitive with the leading carriers Verizon and AT&T

Takes longer to send a text message as opposed to faster service providers

Patchy service

Current consumer is very narrow – average consumer male, educated, and
wealthy which leaves them with a very small demographic

Tends to spend a lot of money on advertising, but lacks growth (0% change in
spending percent from the past year to this year in advertising)

One of the most expensive cell phone companies
Opportunities:

Offer’s 4G network, which other companies do not

Competitively priced calling plans, including sometimes unlimited data packages

Ability to expand narrow consumer audience

Good family plans – sharing oriented

Switch in Advertising firms allowing new ideas
Threats:

Other companies having competitive pricing
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
Other companies developing 4G network

Companies spending more on advertisement’s and different outreach methods

Companies having wider audience bases

Companies providing better and faster service
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Creative Brief
Objectives:
Sprint is currently the number three leading telecommunication company in
America, however, there is plenty of room for growth and improvement. Not only are
there people getting new cell phones daily, people are constantly looking to switch or
upgrade their providers. Sprint stands by their mission statement of unlimited data and
excellent customer service, this is our competitive advantage over every other
telecommunication company. Throughout our campaign this is the main point that we try
to emphasize because we know it means the most to our target demographic.
Positioning Statement:
Our positioning statement is Sprint advertising strategy will convey to our target
audience that we provide impeccable customer service while still providing them with the
only truly unlimited data plan.
Sprint’s Promise:
To expand on our customer service we promise that our company will maintain its
place as the number one telecommunication company in the customer service category
while continuing to provide our current customers with loyalty.
Not only is an unlimited data plan important to our target audience, but having a
phone that does more than texting and calling is just as desired. Our target audience of 35
to 49-years-old who prefer a device that allows them work and play from their phones.
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We want to position ourselves among these people as the brand that offers them, “Access
to Everything.”
Tone:
Sprint wants their customers to feel a personal attachment to the company. We
want our customers to feel as though they aren’t a balance or a number, but a person with
a name.
Tagline and Slogan:
“Access to Everything”
“Access to Everything” means more than just a tagline it truly offers these
costumers an unlimited source of data that doesn’t stop at any point. They can use their
phone to access Google Drive and work on spreadsheets or they can be access ESPN
Score Center. Ultimately it allows them to be unlimited, which is our position, “Why be
limited?” We want our costumer satisfied and happy that they can use all the media they
want without being excessively charged.
Executions:
Sprint, The Data Smackdown Radio: 30sec
Our campaign will run throughout the year, with high frequencies during the
months that we have promotions and lower frequencies in non-promotional months.
Throughout the campaign we intend to showcase all that Sprint has to offer by using all
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traditional and outdoor advertising. In our radio spot, we wanted to emphasize on our
unlimited data plans. The setting starts with a man on the phone talking to his wife in the
mall. They are making plans to see a movie later that night, while they are the phone the
male is checking times on his smartphone. The conversation ends and a male goes up the
phone owner and asks to borrow his phone, seconds later another male asks to use his
phone, seconds later a female asks and then seconds later the voices become a big group
of people asking to use his phone next. Then the phone owner takes his phone back and
calls his wife and tells her that he might not be making it to the movie tonight because he
is getting “held up” at the mall. Then there is a voice over and he says that the secret is
out, Sprint has unlimited data and now you have “Access to everything” at the tips of
your fingers. Scene.
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Fingertips Print Ad
In our research we found that our target audience is most interested in a phone
that is capable of things beyond the text messaging and calling option. That is exactly
what we wanted to tackle in our print ad. This ad will show an up-close shot of a
smartphone and feature all of its capabilities. At the top of the ad we have our tagline
“Why be limited” and the body copy that says “Sprint offers more than just a phone.
Sprint offers unlimited access to all forms of social media, the app world, and so much
more. Don’t get stuck spending more on data when you can have access to everything.”
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Promotions:
We have developed a three part promotion strategy which coincides our brand
image and existing goals. The components to our promotions include incentives and
rewards, which are exclusive to Sprint customers, as well as, promotions that build brand
awareness among all cell phone users.
1-800-Flowers
In our research we found that majority of the target
audience is married or dating. What do most people do with
their significant others? They celebrate Valentine’s Day.
Our first quarter promotion will run nationally from
January to Valentine’s Day. Sprint users that text an
exclusive Sprint code to 1-800-flowers will receive 25% off
their first order. We decided to go with this promotion
because in our research we found that cell phone users
within our target audience would happily receive
advertisements to their phones as long as they received an
incentive. The budget for this promotion is $1.6 million.
With this budget Sprint will pay the 25% difference so
1-800-flowers does not lose money, however, they will gain brand awareness.
We decided to use this form of promotion because it allows our customers to use
our product to do things beyond making calls. It shows them that they can use their
34
phones to make purchases and gives them opportunities to get to know their phones as
well. Also, when the flowers are delivered a QR code will be attached to the card that
will take them directly to the Sprint website so they can see what else Sprint has to offer.
Sprint Deck
To focus on our spot market we
have decided to place a second
promotion in four major cities with
popular baseball teams. The four
locations we have chosen are New York
Yankees, Washington D.C. Nationals,
Boston Red Sox, and the Los Angeles
Dodgers. Due to the Simmons research that we conducted these locations are heavily
populated for our target audience who like to attend sporting events with their family.
The advantage of these cities is that the surrounding states are heavily populated with our
target audience as well, for example Connecticut and New Jersey. This promotion sets
aside 102 prime stadium seats alongside the field for $100-200 depending on the
popularity of the game. This section will provide “unlimited everything,” food,
beverages, and Wi-Fi for those that buy these seats. The seats are available to the ticket
holders two hours prior to the game. In addition to choosing this promotion we found that
having this “Sprint Deck” alongside the field will allow for additional product placement
during game broadcasts.
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This promotion appeals to our target audience because the free Wi-Fi benefits to
the businessmen and women while also allowing for family oriented fun. This “Sprint
Deck” will bring a new meaning to the definition of box seating. The estimated cost of
this promotion is $500,000 per stadium per year adding up to $2 million.
Target Audience
We decided to target males and females between the ages of 35-49 because we
found that in this age group Sprint/Nextel could be doing better. 35-49-year-olds are
interested in reliable phones that they would primary use for business. They are interested
in a phone company that offers them better plans and allows them to move forward in the
future with features beyond voicemail and text messaging all of which Sprint/Nextel has
to offer.
This demographic is family orientated, with children and their significant other
they are looking to keep in contact with the family and want services that make that
possible at an affordable price. Sprint has affordable family plans, and caters to the
business needs all under the same carrier.
Demographic Profile:
-Men and Women ages 35-29
-Likely to live on East Coast or California
Demographic Specifics:
-Ages 35-49: Family oriented, business oriented
- 61% more likely to have 1-3 children
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-39% more likely to have 4 or more children
- 13% more likely to be married
- More likely to be a registered voter
Psychographic Profile:
- Take interest in Sporting events, Fantasy Leagues, going to
bars/nightclubs/dancing, going to the beach/lake with their families, tailgating,
and attend concerts
Basis for Strategy
Sprint’s customers are very reliant on using large amounts of data; because of this
Sprint is dedicated to consumer loyalty and will hold true to their unlimited data plan.
Our defensive strategy will be used in order to reach our target audience appropriately.
Our strategy is mainly defensive, rather than offensive by focusing mostly on the cities
where our target resides.
Rationale
Although Sprint is number three among telecommunication companies their brand
is still recognizable. The Sprint customers are between the ages of 35- 49 and seem to be
family orientated. We found in our research over 300 million people have cell phones in
the US, however, only around 56 million are Sprint/Nextel subscribers. We also found
that our target audience “agrees a lot” that they would be willing to switch providers if
37
the provider offered better plans. While the primary purpose for a phone for our target
audience is for business, they are 13% more likely to be married and are 61% more likely
to have one to three children and 39% more likely to have four children.
We found that our target audience prone to radio and TV during Prime Time
hours, as well as, print magazine advertisements. Simmons OneView gave us the outlook
on our target audience that allowed us to better understand and choose our media outlets.
Marketing Factors that Affect Frequency:
Established Brand: -.2
High Market Share: +.1
Dominate Brand: -.1
High Brand Loyalty:-.2
Long Purchase Cycle: -.2
Product Used Occasionally:+.2
Need to Beat Competition:+.2
Advertising to Older Consumers/ Children:+.1
Total= -.1
Copy Factors that Affect Frequency:
Simple Copy: -.2
Copy more unique then competition: +.1
Continuing campaign: +.2
Product sell copy: +.1
Single kind of message: -.2
To avoid wear out: New Messages? -.1
Large Ad Units: +.1
Total= 0
Media Factors that Affect Frequency:
Lower Ad Clutter:-.2
Compatible Editorial:-.1
Attentiveness High:-.2
Continuous Advertising: -.2
Few Media Used:+.1
Opportunities for Media Repetition: -.2
Total= -.8
-.9+ 3.0 = 2.1 minimum frequency
38
According to the Ostrow Model, the benchmark frequency for Sprint is 2.1. This
frequency is too low for the goals and expectations that Sprint is going to meet. Due to
the fact that Sprint is already an established company with very high loyalty from its
costumers this frequency will not be accurate when reaching our potential target
audience. We anticipate a much higher frequency and to counter this low number we are
hoping to address our audience with “truly unlimited data” so that they can get a sense of
what Sprint can offer them. To keep our audience our base reach is 70 and our base
frequency is 3.5. With these numbers the minimum monthly GRP is 250. Our
expectations of Sprint will be much higher than those set by the Ostrow Model.
Total GRPs for an entire year (national/spot) equal 8,129.
 Winter
o December
 Reach: 94.7
 Frequency: 11.3
 GRP: 1,069, 350 in spot only
o January
 Reach: 94.3
 Frequency: 8.9
 GRP: 849, 249 in spot only
o February
 Reach: 94.3
 Frequency: 8.9
 GRP: 849, 249 in spot only
 Spring
o March
 Reach: 84
 Frequency: 5.6
 GRP: 470
o April
 Reach: 94.2
 Frequency: 9.2
 GRP: 864, 324 in spot only
o May
 Reach: 94.2
 Frequency: 8.8
 GRP: 824, 449 in spot only
39

Summer
o June
 Reach: 93.5
 Frequency: 9.1
 GRP: 949, 550 in spot only
o July
 Reach: 77
 Frequency: 4.3
 GRP: 330
o August
 Reach: 71.3
 Frequency: 3.5
 GRP: 249

Fall
o September
 Reach: 70.5
 Frequency: 3.5
 GRP: 205
o October
 Reach: 84.4
 Frequency: 5.7
 GRP: 480
o November
 Reach: 94.7
 Frequency: 11.3
 GRP: 1,069, 350 in spot only
Media Budget Objective
Overall, the budget for this campaign was $80,000,000. $1.6 million was spent on
the Valentine’s Day promotion along with $400,000 set aside on the on-floor promotions.
$2 million of this budget was spent on the Sprint Deck promotion. The cost of the tickets
that range from $100-$200 will cover the cost of the food, drinks, service and Wi-Fi.
Additionally, $2 million of this budget was spent on the Sprint Deck promotion. The cost
of the tickets that range from $100-$200 will cover the cost of the food, drinks, service
and Wi-Fi. The majority of our budget was spent on advertising ($67,000,000).
40
Our target audience is primarily on the East Coast and because of this we will
target our spot audience in the cities of Washington D.C, Boston, New York and Los
Angeles. This is a defensive strategy used to maximize our revenue. We will have pulsing
strategy in the months of promotion, but we remain continuous throughout the year.
Geographical Objectives
In this campaign, geography plays an important role when pertaining to spot
markets. Our spot markets contain much of our target audience, this ensures that Sprint
will maintain customers, as well as, gain new ones. Through research our spot cities are
Los Angeles, Washington D.C, Boston and New York. Currently, Sprint’s spot spending
is $11,825,800 while the national expenditure totals $55, 329, 200. The majority of our
spending was done nationally, but the spot market made up 17.6% because of the
population of our target audience in our selected cities.
Chart one shows spending on national versus spot advertising.
Cost (000)
11825.8
55329.2
National
Spot
Scheduling/Timing Objective
41
Although Sprint is year-a-round service we found it necessary to advertise higher
during some months. Through research we found that quarter four would be our most
expensive time of year because of holiday season and the demand to advertise during this
time of year. Besides the holiday season, our promotion months are placed on strategic
advertising schedule with more sales. During the second promotion period, our
advertisements take place during the beginning of the season, which is when most people
purchase MLB season tickets, as well as, individual game/series tickets.
The following chart, depicts national and spot GRP goals by month.
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
1334.7
1369.5
255.4
969.1
1442.1
1254.6
Cost (000)
1620.9
473
2365
4833.9
21035.5
613.1
1745.6
2830
2901.6
8315.4
2497.2
2795.5
2235.6
Net Tv-Morning
Net Tv-Sports
Natl Syndication
Net Radio-Daytime
Net Radio-nighttime
Magazines-General Interest
Internet-Trgtd Sites
Media
6267
Net Tv-Prime
Net Cable-prime
Net Radio-Morning
Net Radio- Evening
Magazines-Mens
Internet-keyword/search
Spot TV-Prime
The chart below
shows the
42
breakdown of the budget per a medium.
The chart below shows how many GRP’s were received per a medium.
GRPs
100
300
210
720
100
2677
1035
745
425
500
325
1090
550
1025
300
425
Net Tv-Morning
Net Cable-prime
Net Radio-Daytime
Magazines-Mens
Internet-Trgtd Sites
Spot Radio-morning drive
Spot radio-nighttime
20
100 60 100
Net Tv-Prime
Natl Syndication
Net Radio- Evening
Magazines-General Interest
Spot TV-Prime
Spot Radio-Daytime
Outdoor
Net Tv-Sports
Net Radio-Morning
Net Radio-nighttime
Internet-keyword/search
Spot Cable
Spot Radio- Evening drive
43
TV
Through Simmons OneView we found that our target audience is very susceptible
to TV advertisements especially during Primetime hours. This is why the majority of our
spending is spent here. When participants were surveyed through Simmons, 47.2 million
35-49-year-olds had watched TV within the last seven days. Of all channels and things to
watch, sports were among the most frequently viewed, with baseball bringing in the
highest numbers. Of our target audience a large majority watched regular season baseball
regularly and watched postseason baseball even more. This coincides with our Sprint
Deck promotion. Expensive for TV was $43,327,300.
Radio
Radio advertising was another big component for advertising within our
target audience. Because our audience is aged between 35-49 years old, they are
listening to the radio at prime hours such as the morning drive, and prime time.
According to Simmons, our target audience heavily relies on the radio for news
and entertainment, more so than magazines or TV. Although most of our spending
was done in TV advertisements, radio comes in second spending $15,060,400.
Radio advertising was really helpful with our reach and frequency goals, because
of the price. Radio allows you to maximize your spending more efficiently by
being less expensive then TV, but reaching a broader audience. As you can see in
our GRP of select media chart, radio produced more GRPs than television.
Total Gross Impressions
44
4,877,400,000
GRPs
2524
5604
National
Spot
This chart shows how many GRPs were received from national versus spot advertising in
2013.
45
Appendix:
Media Flow Chart:
46
Year-At-A-Glance
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