Wireless carriers have been competing for decades, and every year they come up with new ideas for advertising and marketing to help their brand stand above the crowd. This year Sprint is hitting it out of the park with their new “Twice the Price” campaign. Twice the Price is simply their way of saying that they provide everything the customer wants in wireless at half the price.
This message seems aimed at Verizon Wireless, which is the most expensive wireless carrier of the big four. AT&T Mobility and T-Mobile have a wide variety of low-cost options for customers, but Verizon seems to be fighting this downward pricing model as long as they can. Then again, Verizon always seems to be the last to the table as the industry changes. They were also last when it came to re-introducing unlimited data last year as well.
You’ve seen the TV commercials where Sprint shows everyday items that people use and need at twice the price. After watching these you naturally think Verizon must be crazy to charge twice what the competitor charges. And that craziness is a part of the Verizon problem.
Sprint improving over last few years
Sure, during the last decade both Sprint and T-Mobile US were both having problems. Back then, they were not attracting customers. AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless were growing very rapidly offering excellent quality. Then several years ago T-Mobile US hired a new CEO and started their recovery. A few years later Sprint was acquired by SoftBank and is brought in their own new CEO and has started their recovery as well.
Today, all four wireless carriers are successfully competing in the marketplace. While AT&T and Verizon still are king of the hill, Sprint and T-Mobile are rushing to catch up as quickly as they can and are making serious headway.
The bottom line is most users choose their carrier based on the quality of service they get where they make calls. However, all four wireless carriers heavily competing in this space is great for the industry as a whole.
Wireless competitors look different going forward
Looking backward, all wireless players were strictly wireless players. However, looking forward there is a split going on in the industry. AT&T is growing in a wider variety of ways with wireless, telephone, pay-TV like DirecTV, wireless TV, Uverse and more.
Verizon is trying to reinvent themselves going forward by acquiring AOL and Yahoo. They seem to be turning into a sales and marketing company like Amazon.com, using their wireless network. As someone who follows Verizon and the entire space, it’s unclear what they want to become. What they will look like going forward. It was very clear a decade ago. Today, not as much.
Sprint and T-Mobile US are sticking to the wireless side of the equation. They will continue to compete in the wireless industry as wireless competitors. This is the right move for them simply because they are now growing and can play catch-up for the next several years.
However, they still need to get their message out and to be heard. That’s why Sprint advertising and marketing has been so hard hitting during the last couple years. It puts them back on the map and they are more attractive than ever to the customer.
Google Project Fi, Comcast Xfinity Mobile and Charter trust Sprint
Want proof? Consider Google Project Fi. This is Google entering the wireless space as a service provider. They are an MVNO and they resell Sprint and T-Mobile. That means Google thinks Sprint is good enough to put their name on the service.
Want more proof? Comcast and Charter are two cable television companies who are speaking with Sprint as well. Comcast just re-entered the wireless space several weeks ago and Charter plans to do the same next year. They currently resell Verizon Wireless as an MVNO. Now they are also talking with Sprint to be a partner or carrier for their customers.
All of that speaks volumes to Sprints recovery, their quality and reliability. Companies like Google, Comcast and Charter would never risk their brand name on another service that would damage their brand. Yet these three giants are all working with or talking with Sprint. Imagine that.
Different carriers have different strengths and weaknesses. Wireless advertising and marketing wars have been waged for decades. This year is no different. However, suddenly after years of investment and improvement we are seeing Sprint in the marketplace with solid quality and reliability and at a much lower cost.
