12062: Sprint Sputters.

MediaPost reported Sprint is committed to changing its advertising, meaning the Frobinson framily is dead. Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure essentially acknowledged the campaign was an abject failure. There is, however, no acknowledgement that mimicking the SoftBank Shirato family was a major blunder. Additionally, there is no acknowledgement that the campaigns preceding the Frobinsons—from agencies including Digitas, Leo Burnett, Goodby Silverstein & Partners and TBWA\Chiat\Day—have also failed to lift Sprint sales.

While discussing the launch of a new Sprint Family Share Pack, Claure said, “We just kept it simple and it’s always going to be simple. It’s going to be the same price or lower price than AT&T and Verizon and we are always going to give you double the data. And the reason why we did that is I don’t know if any of you know gigs and gigabytes and megabytes, but I don’t.” Online critics have slapped Claure for his ignorance on megabytes; but the truth is, Claure is mega-ignorant in worse ways, as evidenced by subsequent mutterings that included, “Whenever you got to make a choice of why you are going to buy a phone, you are going to buy it because of pricing. That was the T-Mobile play, the value play or you are going to buy because of network. And that’s a Verizon and AT&T play. And unfortunately up to a month ago, we stood nowhere. We were the most expensive. And our network, it’s a work in progress. So, you are going to see us now be the value driver and then you are going to see us potentially in the market for really strong advertisement network, which means if you can have price on networks, I think you have a winning value proposition.” Okay-doke. Claure admits his company is deficient in the two most important areas for consumers, yet he believes Sprint will succeed regardless. Actually, he’s not even correct in his summation of the industry, as iPhone and Android show that devices are key drivers too.

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son (who probably influenced the creation of the Frobinson framily), Claure and the Midwestern Sprint troops are starting to make the Frobinsons and Shiratos look downright normal.

Oops, We Had A Hamster Talking To People — Sprint Will Simplify Ad Messaging

By Larissa Faw

Telecommunications is a competitive industry. AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint all battle for the same customer. This spring, Sprint spent millions advertising a plan called Framily with a family called the Frobinsons. “We said we are going to make things different,” says Marcelo Claure, the new president and CEO of Sprint, speaking at the Goldman Sachs 23rd Annual Communacopia Conference.

Well, Framily didn’t work. In the first six months of the year, Sprint lost 1.4 million customers. “I spoke to few people who were in the stores and we have about 2,000 doors of dealers. They said it’s really hard to sell. Our plans are confusing or marketing was a hamster talking to people. We are having a hard time selling the products. So, what we did is that we basically completely changed our value proposition.”

Sprint is focused “100% in terms of changing its advertising,” says Claure, to instead bring the right value proposition to customers. The company has put its advertising account in review.

Now, the brand has ditched the Frobinsons to launch the Family Share Pack. “We just kept it simple and it’s always going to be simple,” says Claure. “It’s going to be the same price or lower price than AT&T and Verizon and we are always going to give you double the data. And the reason why we did that is I don’t know if any of you know gigs and gigabytes and megabytes, but I don’t.”

Ultimately, Sprint realizes that it has to compete with straight-forward advertising, rather than obscure messaging. “Whenever you got to make a choice of why you are going to buy a phone, you are going to buy it because of pricing,” says Claure. “That was the T-Mobile play, the value play or you are going to buy because of network. And that’s a Verizon and AT&T play. And unfortunately up to a month ago, we stood nowhere. We were the most expensive. And our network, it’s a work in progress. So, you are going to see us now be the value driver and then you are going to see us potentially in the market for really strong advertisement network, which means if you can have price on networks, I think you have a winning value proposition.”