The United States mobile carrier market is tight and extremely competitive. Changes have been made at T-Mobile and Verizon , and now Sprint Wireless is trying to make up for lost revenue with its "Frobinson Framily" marketing campaign, one that represents any unique family, the Kansas City Star reported.
"Framily" cell phone plans enable any 10 individuals to come together to be a part of a family plan, but still be billed individually. This alternative allows users to add anybody to their cell phone line, without the repercussions of leaving one subscriber responsible for every single line.
"Our families today are more than our relatives, but also our friends, our neighbors – basically all the people we love," Sprint Chief Marketing Office Jeff Hallock said in a press release on the campaign. "So we created a product to give the new American family the flexibility and value they need from a wireless plan, brought to life through the Frobinsons."
Quick history on Sprint's Framily plan
If any of the vinyl signs or billboards look familiar, it is because the Frobinson Framily angle closely resembles SoftBank's commercial. The Japanese-based company has the third-largest client base and took a leap of faith to manage Sprint Wireless last year, according to reports from the Wall Street Journal.
When SoftBank executives were presented Sprint's portfolio of window graphics and other custom print displays, the SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, who is also Sprint's chairman, asked executives to fire its advertising partner DigitasLBi. While Digitas is still on Sprint's payroll, the Framily marketing strategy was led by Figliulo & Partners.
Commercials for the Framily plan include a father who's in fact a hamster, a young daughter who only speaks in French and Aunt Tia, who's a respected avant-garde artist with Latin roots. The large, but unique family is intended to represent today's variety of households. Hallock adds that the Framily is "a fun, lighthearted look at one group going through life.
Sprint Wireless plans to look ahead
"We're in a position right now to really start ramping up the communications around our network and what we're doing with our new network build," Tracy Palmer, Sprint's director of brand and advertising, explained to the Kansas City Star. "Yellow is still absolutely an important color for this brand, but it is not the only color. So we are introducing some new colors."
The "yellow" Palmer is referring to is the background color that complemented the black-colored logo of many of Sprint's previous print advertisements.
What was once deemed as "America's most dependable network" will be rebranded as "America's Newest Network." Residents living in Texas and Missouri will see more of Sprint Wireless graphics because these are the areas the mobile service provider wants to dominate in the near future.
Redesigning a company's brand is no easy feat and sometimes, it may be time to let go of an old partner to explore additional avenues. Business owners who are looking for a better custom graphics solution should consider print services from Pressure Sensitive Products.