Sprint and new agency Deutsch Los Angeles showed off the brand's reinvigorated tone even before Super Bowl Sunday in 2015, releasing a teaser that begins with a faux apology to Verizon and AT&T. "We recently compared you to a sheep in an advertisement," a voiceover says. "It was funny. It was really funny."

That was a reference to Sprint's November ad featuring a braying farm animal. That was the first ad for the brand by Deutsch L.A., which was picked after an overhaul of the company by new CEO Marcelo Claure. The marketer followed up with a brash plan, announced in December, to allow subscribers from the two larger wireless companies to trim their bill in half (with caveats).

"Apology" brought that pitch to advertising's largest stage, with more farm animals. It wasn't even the only farm-animal ad in Super Bowl XLIX (see also Discover's "Surprise"). But it was just the sort of low-concept, easy joke that could make a room full of easily distracted Super Bowl viewers laugh.

Sprint had gone the text-heavy route before, incidentally, although with less humor: Its 1992 Super Bowl ad "Why Go Back" used only words on the screen as visuals.

BRAND: Sprint

YEAR: 2015

AGENCY: Deutsch

SUPERBOWL: XLIX

QUARTER AIRED: Q3