Adweek reported Sprint is seeking a new creative agency. Why bother? Over the years, Sprint has hired some of the top shops—as well as some of the bottom (e.g., Leo Burnett, Digitas and the incumbent shithole)—and always failed to move the sales needle. Innovative advertising is not the answer for the bombing brand.
In January, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son was quoted as saying, “At one recent meeting, I learned that our advertising at Sprint was not cost-effective. This made me quite angry. Sprint spends a large amount of money on advertising every year, but its effects have been almost negligible. … I directed the Sprint executives to terminate all existing contracts with the company’s advertising agencies. We will shortly start from scratch on advertising, with new agents also making proposals.” Okay, but it looks like Son forced the birth of the Frobinson framily, so his creative judgment is questionable at best—and shitty at least.
Given the international diversity at Sprint—from the Midwestern troops to the Bolivian Sprint CEO to the Japanese SoftBank CEO—perhaps it’s time to look beyond the U.S. White agencies. Then again, a galaxy-wide search would probably not identify candidates qualified to resuscitate Sprint.
Sprint Looks for New Creative Lead Agency
Search said to focus on TV work
By Noreen O’Leary
Sprint is looking for a new creative lead agency, sources said. The review is said to be focused on above-the line marketing, much of which is spent on TV. The telecommunications company spends about $800 million annually on measured media but it could not be determined how much of that amount is invested in television advertising.
In late 2011, the Overland Park, Kansas company unexpectedly shifted its account from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners to “Team Sprint,” a unit comprised of Publicis Groupe agencies and led by DigitasLBi. While the Publicis digital shop initially worked with corporate sibling Leo Burnett, which produced Sprint TV commercials, more recently the marketer has moved that assignment to start-up Figliulo & Partners to handle TV spots. (ARC/Leo Burnett continues to handle Sprint’s shopper marketing.)
It’s not clear if the current search also includes digital work handled by DigitasLBi.
The agency search is not entirely a surprise given critical comments the CEO of Sprint’s new parent Softbank made at the beginning of this year: Writing in a January guest column for Nikkei Asian Review, Masayoshi Son said “At one recent meeting, I learned that our advertising at Sprint was not cost-effective. This made me quite angry. Sprint spends a large amount of money on advertising every year, but its effects have been almost negligible.” The executive continued: “I directed the Sprint executives to terminate all existing contracts with the company’s advertising agencies. We will shortly start from scratch on advertising, with new agents also making proposals.”
DigitasLBi and Figliulo, started last fall by former TBWA\Chiat\Day N.Y. chief creative officer Mark Figliulo, could not be reached for comment. A Burnett rep declined to comment, referring calls to Sprint execs who did not respond to an inquiry.
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