Wireless Carriers, Market Share and Media Buys?

Is the advertising of wireless carriers based strictly on what carrier spends the most (on media placement) rather than a spiffy new creative campaign?

No, not fully is the market share of a carrier based only on media buys....call failure, attractive customer service, coverage and rates have an impact-but what about when they are all offering the same or are experiencing similar growth patterns...it may come down to media and how much can you buy...

Speaking to a colleague earlier this week brought this question to the forefront of my thoughts for a few minutes. Sprint has the third place ranking in market share, just over 20% I believe. Ad spending; well thats third place as well.......per Ad Age. Case and point with AT & T and Verizon too; Verizon respectively spends 1 billion more than Sprint in advertising and AT&T, more than 2 billion more exact figures found at Ad Age ...then the runner up I believe is T-Mobile or Alltel Corp with Suncom standing strong near the bottom. Let's not pick on Suncom as they are operate in only several states....and in proportion to the national players their budget is rather heavy. If the ads are consistent and entertaining and they are for the most part-I have come to the conclusion that market share is strongly based on spending more in media than the others.....granted a special offers are in the creative mix and the carrier continues to improve upon their connections and coverage-most of these items are taking place with the top three, even the top 5 which means when high frequency and a large amount of media is purchased by an experienced buyer, a carrier can gain the needed market share overtime. Just a though I wanted to expound on. AT & T needed to capture many different markets with the merger, and purchase of Cingular....the spending was very high and it is a very basic model with the main factor being buying as much media as they can, again high volume and for a long period of time.......even with Sprint's billboards being too long and unreadable they were able to maintain and protect market share while they flip flopped around about what's next....

Sprint Forward, Ahead, Everywhere

quotes from 9/6/2006 and 6/27/2007 appear similar

"The new Sprint advertising campaign will involve both television and print and is a part of a larger strategic move by the company to bring together a positioning that empowers customers to do more. The campaign also reveals the new company tagline: "Sprint. Power Up." The full story can be found at PhoneDog.com and this except from CBS News: "Using the tag line "Sprint Ahead," the eye-catching ads, which will be unveiled in movie theaters Friday and begin airing on television Sunday, are another attempt by the company to........In addition to the TV spots, the company also plans a range of billboards in 26 cities and print advertising, which will appear throughout July and beyond. Advertising does tend to follow a lot of the same ole, same ole in terms of media.... over the years and of course newspaper, TV and billboards are the primary methods still working at some level to reach the masses. Changes in these buys will need to happen and they are slowly, as interested as the carriers are in having the advertising industry go balls to the wall with mobile marketing-I would expect them to be a little more willing to spend on new media channels to promote their own brand-not really happening-yet. They are careful where the precious broadcast dollars move-this is a statement, not right or wrong. We should see some movement in the next 6 months from a few companies that will help to move the needle on specific industries such as digital signage...


"Nationally, Sprint expects to invest more than seven billion dollars in 2007 to enhance its networks, and to meet growing demand for extensive mobile broadband coverage. Sprint is completing an upgrade of its Sprint Mobile Broadband Network to Evolution - Data Optimized Revision A (EV-DO Rev. A) technology. Sprint will also be first to market with a next generation broadband wireless network based on WiMAX technology while continuing to enhance the Nextel National and Sprint National networks." Full Story

The above info is what consumers want to hear and the spending of additional money is going to give Sprint more media share thus creating greater overall market share...here are some links of recent stories about Sprint:


Sprint Full Story-Monster & Critics
Sprint-Washington Psot
Sprint-News and Observer
Sprint-CBS News
Ad Age
PhoneDog.com

Wireless Carriers and My Experience - The Media Landscape

Driven by the dynamic dance between consumer media consumption and new media technologies, virually every medium in America is in constant flux-digital signage included. A generation ago, you could reach all of America with three television commercials. Today, due to the incredible fragmentation in the broadcast market, it takes a mimimum, 125 commercials to have the same impact. In print-same song and dance my friend-you could reach virually every american a generation ago with an ad in the two daily newspapers. Gone is that day, as time-starved consumers tune in- or tune out-the explosion of media alternatives swirls around them. Bottom line is that Sprint shareholders should be scared they will need to require new knowledge, tools, innovation and creativity of thier agencies! Here I write of a recent experiance which will lead into my next post about the greatest and latest Sprint campaign.

Insanity:
Repeating the same behavior over and over but expecting different results....Sprint. Referring to the recent Sprint advertising campaign and some insider views, judgements and predictions that will be discussed in the very next posting on New Media Mindfulness .

The Meeting:
In a meeting with Verizon Wireless's south area advertising team my company's digital signage network was well recieved, ending at a point ready for my next step upon returing to the office. The next day I had a scheduled appointment with the agency for Verizon as well-as requested per Verizon. The lunch meeting with the Verizon media director was not my favorite but it was needed. First off she was not one bit impressed with the fact that I met with Verizon Wireless directly, and she centered on on one picture of one screen location, the budget and lastly, the fact that the agency's job duty for sometime now, has been to reach mass numbers and my network did not reach them (just a very targeted quailfied consumer). Oh, the subtle mention, on more than one occasion that "we do have money for each market, for things like this-so that may be an option." Upon returing from my trip Verizon Wireless responded to my follow up phone call and contacted me via email about a week later and was prepared to move forward with the buy...I worked with Verizon as well as thier agency (the one I met with) whom provided creative. I know this agency is interested in new media outlets, per my conversations with the VP of Media and the clients they work with, but rightly or (understaffed) they appear reserved-plus no school yet teaches the young media account executive about all the new media channels and how to include them in the overall mix. I learned a lot that day of what needs to be provided during an introductory agency meeting, lunch and/or presentation by a digital signage network or other alternative media. Fast forward: the next meeting/presentation to this particular agency was to pitch for the Firehouse Subs account. It appears that they are begining to grasp this idea, especially when the boss is in the room asking the questions; until! It just so happens that the Media Director invited not only the Firehouse team but the Verizon team as well, whom I knew already. Turns out the agency's media department had no actual knowledge of the Verizon campign or buy-no reason for Verizon to tell them or is there; and it appears a lack of communication is taking place between creative and media with-in the agency....this is another topic in which I feel brands can really lose out on-when the creative and media is 100% separate...It appears there was a conferance call about 20 minutes after I left the building, I do not work in an agency, but from what I know, it is important to be in the know with your client and their actions, for the sake of the brand and the account!
Moving on to Suncom; a very traditional organzation recently decided that Bernstein Rein out of Kansas City would be its agency of record begining in Janurary 2007. My talks, many of them with BR, revealed how tough of a job they had in front of them. In terms of saving the brand from a "traditional death" slow and steady......the account team suggests the shaving of TV or print money in order to plan for new media outlets; keeping in mind the Suncom executives have given their past agency clear cut direction-tradional only. What I have heard about and seen to date from the new agency and media in the Raleigh market was a four week buy from a mobile billboard company, in which you could hardly see the creative due to the design-the billbaord company always explains what works best and prefers to work closely with clients for exactly this reason; not sure if BR had miscommunication or this was just the wrong campaign. I think it cost some where between 2k-7k, not really sure. This could have been a soft transistion for the client, who knows, I think it was a waste of time and money. The agency did recommend to Suncom that more non-traditional media be used. After speaking with the Charlotte office of Suncom, you can really see where the politics are and what a big truck (for a small company) you have to turn. I somehow got to the point of BR calling from nowhere to get details on our network-not suprising after further thought. The demogrpahic is one of high demand by most savvy advertisers.

The Wireless Budget and More:
At a panel discussion, titled, New Media, Now What? on April 19th, 2007 hosted by the Raleigh-Durham chapter of the American Advertising Federation the question of budget for new media channels was asked to Verizon Wirless. The answer is about 7% of the south area's budget is put towards new media channels. AT&T now listed 2nd in the Top 100 National Advertisers Ad Age Report, up from 5th last year has spent 3.3 billion in 2006 a 26% increase from last year.s 5th place mark. Sprint comes in at 15, up one place with a 3.5% total increase in speanding. Sprint's new campaign the subject of my next post, was the juice for this post....money is at play with carriers and the co-op manufacturers; if communication between agencies, clients and consumers continues to not exist, then your stock dollar is being wasted. I think it is also important to mention the forefront of this industry and the mobile advertising sub-industry; how strongly the carriers are pushing the industry. John Stratton of Verizon proclaimed that 25% - 30% of the 100 billion spent on brand advertising will soon be spent on the mobile screen. Full Story on Mobile; very interesting when the entire picture is being examined and to notice the making of a market...



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