Mr. Crull's most recent position as president-CEO of Bell Media,
Canada's largest media and broadcasting company, ended in April
2015, when he stepped down after admitting he tried to influence
coverage by one of Bell's subsidiaries, CTV.
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According to a press release, while at Bell, Mr. Crull led the
acquisition of CTV Globemedia in late 2010, creating the foundation
for Bell Media, Inc. Following that, he led the acquisition and
integration of Astral Media in 2012 and 2013. He was president of
the Bell Residential Services, a telecommunications company,
providing broadband, home phone, and satellite and fiber television
service in Canada. Before that, he was at AT&T, working on the
consumer and small-business sales and marketing. He was also senior
VP-general manager of AT&T's wireless initiative.
Sprint's former CMO, Jeff Hallock, late last year confirmed he
was departing the company by the end of the first quarter. That
announcement came amid a major agency review and corporate overhaul
by Mr. Claure, who joined the ailing carrier last August.
Sprint did not confirm until December that it had hired
Interpublic's Deutsch as its new
agency, although incumbent Figliulo & Partners was said to
remain on the roster. By the time the company had confirmed
Deutsch's win, the shop had already produced TV spots that were
airing.
"Kevin did an amazing job at Bell Media, and I expect him to do
even better at Sprint," said Mr. Claure in a statement. "Sprint is
privileged to attract someone of his caliber and experience in
media, content and wireless. As the industry shifts towards
providing unique experiences and content to wireless customers,
Kevin's exceptional experience will allow him to be a great
contributor in Sprint's transformation journey."
"I'm thrilled to join Sprint, a company that I believe has
limitless potential for growth and transformation at a very
exciting time in the industry," Mr. Crull said in the statement. "I
believe the Sprint team is showing great momentum and has a plan to
win in the marketplace. The wireless industry offers tremendous
opportunity for profitable growth. My past experience has been all
about execution and transformation and delivering results, and this
is what I intend to do as part of the Sprint team."
One of Mr. Claure's first acts was to pull the "Framily Plan"
pitch, which Figliulo & Partners had marketed with its
"Frobinsons" campaign starring a cast of oddball characters.
As of late December, Sprint commanded 15% of the U.S. market,
trailing Verizon (33%) and AT&T
(28%), according to comScore. Yet amid a network overhaul, Sprint
is bleeding customers -- it lost 714,000 postpaid subscribers over
the past year. It's also confronting a credible challenge from
T-Mobile, which added 2.3 million customers during the third
quarter.