Sprint Customer Listening Tour Goes Sour, Company Has To Pull Ad Calling T-Mobile A 'Ghetto'
from the bungled-PR dept
Poor Sprint. Ever since T-Mobile became the darling of the wireless industry simply for treating consumers well (ingenious!), Sprint hasn't quite known what to do with itself. After T-Mobile leap-frogged Sprint to become the nation's third-largest carrier last year, Sprint has been trying desperately to convince customers that hey, it's really cool too. But Sprint has found it hard to shake the image that it's little more than a decidedly unhip copycat with a less competent network. A lot of Sprint's PR struggles have been thanks to the fact that it hasn't been easy keeping up with T-Mobile's foul-mouthed, hipster-esque CEO, John Legere.Sprint's latest effort was to involve a series of ads featuring Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure sitting down with hundreds of "normal folk" in 10 different cities to, apparently, make fun of T-Mobile. Unfortunately the company's very first ad in the series has ruffled more than a few feathers for being little more than thirty seconds of people laughing at the idea of T-Mobile as a "ghetto":
We're sharing real comments from real customers. Maybe not the best choice of words by the customer. Not meant to offend anyone.
— MarceloClaure (@marceloclaure) April 13, 2016
My job is to listen to consumers. Our point was to share customer views. Bad judgment on our part. Apologies. Taking the video down.
— MarceloClaure (@marceloclaure) April 13, 2016
@luism1023 that I won't take. I am as Latino as you are so don't try to pull that card.
— MarceloClaure (@marceloclaure) April 13, 2016
Maybe next time just try lower prices and a better network?
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Filed Under: advertising, ghetto, marcelo claure, pr
Companies: sprint, t-mobile
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And I should give that up because they got some goobers to laugh at my carrier on TV?
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And I'm supposed to give it up because they got some dorks to laugh at my carrier on TV?
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The corporate idea of "listening"
From that ad, it's clear they think "listening" means "holding a focus group". Which is wrong on many levels, but especially so when that focus group is clearly going to be fed a very nice meal afterwards (based on the place settings).
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I thought that this was the usual over-blown hang-wringing. But now that I've seen the commercial, it's hard to believe that there wasn't someone with a tiny bit of sense to stop them.
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Which is truly hilarious, because it wasn't the people talking who decided that was the 30 seconds (or what was undoubtedly a few hours of footage) that should be edited into a commercial and aired.
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Quick
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The words might have been the same as the original comments, and those actors might be actual customers, but I doubt that those were the same people that made the original comments.
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Meantime... This reeks of political campaigns. Vote for me because the other guy sucks instead of vote for me because of my values. Not a way to sell yourself, you just look petty.
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Basically, it's to suggest it's cheap, jury rigged, or for the lower classes. It's like a rusty car with brand new twanky deuces on it. It's ghetto.
The funny part is that in that sense, it's even more insulting. Just calling it a slide area wouldn't be as bad.
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a group of mostly white people?
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Confused as to the point.
Unless someone directly asks, people don't know what my telecom service is (my phone was purchased from the manufacturer, not from a telecom service provider). Since I can generally get a signal when I want one, why would I care what people associate with the service provider?
Trying to sell Sprint as a more socially upscale service seems to suggest that they don't have anything better to offer (e.g. faster data, wider coverage, fewer outages, better customer service, cheaper rates...)
If all they can offer is you will be less embarrassed by your telecom service provider, then they must not have any more substantial way to differentiate their service from their competitors.
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Yes. Sprint sucks....but
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The first scene is an establishing shot. It's a camera angle that might conceivably been used for a focus group. The camera angle is slightly high, with a wide depth of field. It captures most of the people at the table, but certainly not all of them. You don't notice it, but it's very steady.
Combined with the captioning, you now believe that it's a hidden camera at a focus group. Your stop thinking about the situation.
The next camera shot is a smooth cut while the woman is still speaking. If asked later, you probably remember it as the same shot. But this camera is centered on the "moderator" and "panel woman", with a shallow depth of field. The camera is subtly moving slightly, but never quickly or losing center. This is a video trick to keep your attention.
This was absolutely a staged scene, created by professionals. They thought carefully about the "feel" of the result when they selected the cameras, lenses and mounts. The second camera was carefully aimed, it was locked to a shallow depth of field -- something you wouldn't do in a unscripted situation. And the focus was locked on just the woman talking.
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The first thing that comes to mind when I hear Sprint is even worse signal coverage than T-Mobile.
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