Canadian consumers are used to getting two separate bills from their wireless and land phone line suppliers, which often leads to confusion and likely annoyance. Thanks to a new arrangement with Montreal-based Microcell Solutions (Fido), Sprint Canada aims to cut down on mailbox clutter with a ‘full bundled telecom solution’ offering both services, as well as Internet if desired.
‘What we’ve heard from customers is, ‘Why aren’t you in wireless?” explains Phil Hartling, VP of sales and marketing at the Toronto-based telecommunications firm.
‘Consumers are confused by all the bills and they don’t understand why the companies who could have solved this problem haven’t yet. This will show how we’re different and give them what they want – one bill, one point of contact, one great piece, all bundled together.’
The new offer is being communicated to consumers via a campaign that launched in early September with the tagline ‘Red is smarter.’
Crafted by Toronto-based Sharpe Blackmore Euro RSCG, the advertising consists of print, outdoor, radio and DM. The ads are running in major centres such as Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver and London, Ont., as well as ‘many places in between.’
‘We’re using the [wireless] launch to show how Sprint continues to bring value to the marketplace,’ says Hartling. ‘We broke open long-distance competition in Canada. The message is, ‘Here we go again making wireless really accessible.”
The goal, he says, is to ‘grow business and cross-sell wireless to existing customers.’
According to Marcus Wiseman, who handles strategy and planning at Sharpe, the creative is tongue-in-cheek in its depiction of characters living their lives cleverly. He says the tagline refers to the fact that Sprint ‘is the smarter choice because it’s the best bundle for the best price.’
The ads are all black and white except for a single red item to signify how a particular subject is smarter than his peers. For instance, one ad displays a street scene on a rainy day with people scurrying along to keep from getting drenched. One man, however, is smarter; he holds a red umbrella. Another instalment shows a traffic jam and a suit on a bike – again in crimson – easily cycling past a long line of cars. Each ad emphasizes a promotion, such as the wireless offer, or a six months free long distance sign-up proposition.
There are two new phone plans up for grabs. The basic version includes a home phone line with two features, 150 anytime wireless minutes and two cellphone calling features for a monthly rate of $44.95. The ultra plan is basically the same, except with 300 daytime wireless minutes and 1,000 weekend and evening minutes for $64.95. A two-year contract is required and the handsets, which are delivered directly to consumers’ homes, start at $50. (Fido will be paid a royalty for each new subscriber.)
The campaign is both an acquisition and retention strategy and is geared at two targets – suburban families who want to save money and have a need for one or more cell phones and urban professionals who are likely heavy wireless users.
Sprint has over half a million Canadian subscribers in total, with almost 200,000 of them signed up for home phone service, according to Hartling.
A DM and outbound telemarketing campaign will also be implemented, targeting ‘millions’ of consumers, with tens of thousands of calls going out every month.
The new advertising is a follow-up to the ‘new kid in town’ campaign that showed babes in its creative. Adds Hartling, ‘That came out of the notion that we were a new choice for home service. We’re in the market now, and it’s time to talk to customers in a more sophisticated way about choice, value and what we have to offer.’
