Sprint’s big advertising focus lately has been on the fact that their cost is lower than the competition, while their network reliability is “within 1% of Verizon”. Recently, the results of network densification have shown as much, of course, so the advertising is far from being all hype. Their last advertisement, featuring Paul Marcarelli again, focused on those points and took place in a very dangerously moving vehicle. This newest spot doesn’t feature the ex-Verizon pitchman, but does feature a rather bold proposition, albeit as a set-up for a commercial.
The commercial starts out with a Sprint pitchman on an elevator, who presses the button for the first rider. Of course, the button glows Sprint yellow. The pitchman does something just a bit radical; he offers each rider $100 if he can’t convince them to switch to Sprint by the time they hit their floor. While the participants, all AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon customers, are compensated for their appearance in the ad, the punch would be lost if they were told ahead of time to leave the money and swear fealty to Sprint, so it’s to be assumed that this isn’t the case. Either way, the pitchman proceeds to tell the riders about how Sprint has surpassed T-Mobile in network reliability, and is within 1% of Verizon and AT&T. From there, he tells the riders that Sprint can save them about 50% off their current bills. He caps it all off with a 30-day satisfaction guarantee.
Predictably, when he offers his captive audience their choice of the money or an opportunity to check out Sprint’s network, the participants shown predictably choose to switch to Sprint. Logically, this may not have been every participant shown; some who weren’t shown could very well have taken the money and switched to Sprint afterward, and yet more could have been unimpressed. The whole thing could, of course, have all been scripted. Whatever the case, the Sprint rep’s elevator antics score him credit for a few new subscribers, and make a rather catchy way of letting the viewing public know that Sprint’s network is worth consideration and that the prices are lower than the competition.