"We're going to change that with the new Sprint," he continued.
"As we offer the best value in wireless, we're going to offer
consumers three things: value, clarity and simplicity."
Since his appointment in August, Mr. Claure has been busy. He
promptly ditched the carrier's new 'Framily' offering -- and its
accompanying ad campaign -- replacing it with a new Family data
plan and a slew of pricing promotions. Mr. Claure also
launched an ad agency review.
The agency review is still ongoing. Dave Mellin, a Sprint
spokesman, said the simplified messaging in the carrier's marketing
will continue but declined to comment on the agency review.
On the call, Mr. Claure admitted that "consumers were a little
confused by our Framily offering." That ad campaign featured a
multi-species, oddball family.
Starting with its recent iPhone offering, Sprint has ramped up
its discounts, including its unlimited data and family plans.
T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T have
followed suit with rapid-fire promotions.
Last week, Sprint appointed a Softbank executive, Junichi
Miyakawa, to lead its LTE network expansion. Mr. Claure said his
company will roll out the technology in select markets in 2015,
another reason for an advertising push. "This approach will allow
us to begin marketing the network experience in those markets
sooner," he said.
Mr. Claure voiced frustration that as his bigger foes "spent
billions of dollars advertising," consumers remain unaware of
Sprint's offering. "[Most] consumers don't know what a great value
is, so you're going to see us be very aggressive in terms of
advertising," he told investors.
In 2013, Sprint spent $1.6 billion in U.S. advertising,
according to the Ad Age DataCenter. Both AT&T and Verizon
outspent Sprint at $3.3 billion and $2.4 billion, respectively;
T-Mobile, at $1.1 billion, spent less.
During the second quarter, Sprint reported an operating loss of
$192 million amid a lengthy network overhaul. Another 500,000
customers deserted the carrier during the three months, marking its
eleventh straight quarter of losing customers.
Sprint also announced it was eliminating 2,000 positions from
the company, a move that it said would save $400 million annually.
The company did not provide further detail on the layoffs.
